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Cleyvis Natera: Authors Interviewing Characters

May 17, 2022 | By Women Writers Women Books | Reply More

Neruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera

An exhilarating debut novel following members of a Dominican family in New York City who take radically different paths when faced with encroaching gentrification

“Strikes all the right notes—captivating characters, lyrical language, and a storyline that captures your imagination and refuses to let go . . . an unforgettable debut!”—Tayari Jones, New York Times bestselling author of An American Marriage

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2022—The Rumpus, Electric Lit, The Millions, Lit Hub

The Guerreros have lived in Nothar Park, a predominantly Dominican part of New York City, for twenty years. When demolition begins on a neighboring tenement, Eusebia, an elder of the community, takes matters into her own hands by devising an increasingly dangerous series of schemes to stop construction of the luxury condos. Meanwhile Eusebia’s daughter, Luz, a rising associate at a top Manhattan law firm who strives to live the bougie lifestyle her parents worked hard to give her, becomes distracted by a sweltering romance with the handsome white developer of the company her mother so vehemently opposes.

As Luz’s father, Vladimir, secretly designs their retirement home in the Dominican Republic, mother and daughter collide, ramping up tensions in Nothar Park, racing towards a near fatal climax. A beautifully layered portrait of family, friendship and ambition, Neruda on the Park weaves a rich and vivid tapestry of community as well as the sacrifices we make to protect what we love most.

A most anticipated book of 2022 by Entertainment Weekly, Lit Hub, Electric Lit, Refinery 29’s Somos, Latinx in Publishing and The Millions, Neruda on the Park is poised to be an electrifying debut.

Cleyvis Natera interviewing Eusebia de Guerrero

CN: “Thanks for making time to meet with me, Eusebia.”

Eusebia:

CN: “I’m surprised to see you here, back in Nothar Park.”

Eusebia: “I bet you are.”

I cough, scratch my neck nervously. Make some scratch marks in the notebook I hold, testing out the pen. Eusebia stares at the ink. Red was a bad choice.

CN: “What brought you back after five years? Wild that you’re here just as the book you’re in is about to be published.”

Eusebia: “Look around. All the work I did was for nothing.”

Beyond the bench where we sit, Nothar Park remains the same, but the neighborhood that surrounds it has been transformed. Raul’s shipping store has been replaced by a Chase Manhattan Bank. Juan Juan’s bodega, two storefronts down from the old shipping store, has also been replaced by a Chase Manhattan Bank. Of most note is the luxury building, Neruda on the Park, which is now complete. There is a snake of moving trucks around the park, a stream of people – all white – moving in.

CN: 2Some early readers are surprised, even horrified, by the things you did to save this neighborhood from gentrification.”

Eusebia: “Is there a question?”

CN: “People seem most shocked at your influence, that your neighbors were willing to go along with such a dangerous scheme.”

Eusebia: “Shocked? Are these the same people who can’t believe parents would send unaccompanied children across the border by themselves?”

CN: “Maybe. You look good. Strong. Healthy. Such a nice tan. How was living in DR for all that time? Did you get used to the heat?”

Eusebia: “Self-care is what Luz says people call it now. I hired some people. Supervised the cleaning and the cooking. I swam five miles a day, five days a week. I put myself through a training regimen, you know. You like to run. Really structured, disciplined.”

CN: “Oh. What are you training for?”

Eusebia takes a frustrated sigh. She sweeps her hand around the neighborhood, then says, “Obviously, for war.”

Just as I’m about to ask her to explain, Eusebia’s gaze intensifies, forcing me to follow its direction. Luz makes her way to us from their old building. She’s cut most of her hair off and has comb it out, so the afro forms a halo around her pretty face. She’s wearing a wide-mouth t-shirt that falls off one shoulder, the groovy design’s Afro-Dominicana in a swirl of oranges, yellows and browns. She touches her hair self-consciously, as if she’s still getting used to the short hair. I notice an enormous engagement ring. Who is she engaged to? As she nears, she looks through, then past me, as if I’m not sitting next to her mother. The effect is chilling. I wonder, for a moment, where I am.

Luz: “Ma, you ready?”

Eusebia nods, stands.

The two women move away from me, their strides long and sure. They head toward the luxury building. I shake the unease, hurry to catch up to them, pen and paper in hand.

—

Cleyvis Natera is the author of the debut novel Neruda on the Park. She was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New York City. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Skidmore College and a Master of Fine Arts from New York University. Her fiction, essays and criticism have appeared in Alien Nation: 36 True Tales of Immigration, TIME, Gagosian Quarterly, The Washington Post, The Kenyon Review, Aster(ix) and Kweli Journal, among other publications. She teaches creative writing at the graduate and undergraduate level in NYC. She lives with her husband and young children in Montclair, New Jersey.