A novel of love and loss set against the rapidly-changing backdrop of 1950s Puerto RicoJuan MartÃnez Capó called it a "novel that is a joyful chronicle of Puerto Rican solidarity," and EfraÃn Barradas stated that its "combination of traditional mythical structure and contemporary realism gives GarcÃa Ramis' novel a very special appeal, a present-day ambiguity."