Havana Red Book

This is a crime novel set in Havana, written by a Cuban writer. At the beginning of the book, a transvestite is found murdered in a park in Havana. The rest of the plot of the novel is about Inspector Mario Conde and his attempts to solve the case.

I was kind of surprised to see that a Cuban writer was able to write a book which is largely about homosexuality and has many gay characters, as most Communist countries are pretty oppressed when it come to what you can write about. And the author is quite explicit in his opinions as to the way gay people are treated in Cuba. And he has negative things to say about Cuban society in general, which makes it all the more surprising that he was able to write this book. And quite a few more. It's been translated into quite a few languages and has won several literary prizes.

The only problem with the book is that there is not enough about the plot and story that takes place, and too many philosophical meanderings that seem to go nowhere. In short, it was an okay book nevertheless, so I will definitely try another one in the series.