At 77 years of age, Cuca has a vibrant spiritual life--she regularly converses with her deceased husband, brother, and grandmother, asking them for advice on helping Victor and consoling Maribel. Cuca's daughter Adela is something of a wild woman, a sexy, middle-aged beautician who distracts herself from the baby's woes by playing the lottery and having an affair with her best friend's husband. Until Victor's birth, Maribel thought she was completely different from her mother. She was a marketing analyst, an orderly, cautious person. Her son's difficulties shatter her beliefs in rules and justice. In the wake of the tragedy, she hardly recognizes herself: "The Maribel who had thought life could be simplified into charts, where had she gone?" It is difficult to write about a sick and dying baby without resorting to clichés or becoming overly sentimental. Ana Veciana-Suarez makes a valiant effort to do so in The Chin Kiss King. --Jill Marquis

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