Amazon.com Inspired by their heroes Xavier Cugat and Desi Arnaz， brothers Cesar and Nestor Castillo come to New York City from Cuba in 1949 with designs on becoming mambo stars. Eventually they do--performing with Arnaz on "I Love Lucy" in 1955 and recording 78s with their own band， the Mambo Kings. In his second novel， Hijuelos traces the lives of the flashy， guitar-strumming Cesar and the timid， lovelorn Nestor as they cruise the East Coast club circuit in a flamingo-pink bus. Enriching the story are the brothers friends and family members--all driven by their own private dreams. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love won a Pulitzer Prize in 1990. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Publishers Weekly The Mambo Kings are two brothers， Cesar and Nestor Castillo， Cuban-born musicians who immigrate to New York City in 1949. They form a band and enjoy modest success， their popularity peaking in 1956 with a guest appearance on the I Love Lucy show. PW lauded this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel: "Hijuelos s pure storytelling skills commission every incident with a life and breath of its own." Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information， Inc. See all Editorial Reviews