Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capo Crucet

January 24, 2024

Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capo Crucet

Recent high school graduate Ismael Reyes (aka Izzy) is searching for a life plan. His original intention to be a Pitbull impersonator falls through when he receives a cease-and-desist order from the artist's attorney, so he decides that his next best option is to become a gangster by imitating the fictional Cuban gangster Tony Montana from the movie Scarface. He enlists his high school friend Rudy to be his sidekick (and briefly becomes involved with Rudy's beautiful sister Julisa), and the two begin planning their new life of crime. Meanwhile, there is a female orca (calling her a killer whale or Shamu is not PC) named Lolita at the Miami Seaquarium who has somehow begun influencing Izzy's thoughts and dreams. While Izzy pursues his goal of gangsterdom, he inadvertently begins asking dangerous questions about his mother, who drowned after they left Cuba on a raft.

Life imitates art in this edgy contemporary novel/fantasy that has been described as the offspring of a marriage between the movie Scarface and the novel Moby Dick. Possibly due to his youth, possibly due to his circumstances, Izzy fails to recognize the dangerous people he is already associating with, even though all the signs are there. There is plenty of dark humor in this quirky read as Izzy stumbles his way through life.  Honestly? Things probably would have worked out better for Izzy if he had tried to emulate Joe Montana rather Tony Montana.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Al Pacino as the gangster Tony Montana in the movie Scarface