Rauli is constantly told to repress Cassandra, even when he is asked to put on dresses and make-up for the admiration of others rather than himself. Even without the dangers of being outed that many transgender people face, as a young person swept up in the dangerous mixtures of hope, lust, and fear, he still lives a hollowed-out life. He knows when he will die, and refuses to minimize himself in the meantime. And third, that he is the reincarnation of the Trojan princess Cassandra.’’ Set between Cienfuegos, Cuba, the battlefields of Angola, and ancient Troy, Call Me Cassandra is a lyrical and mesmerizing tale of destiny and dreaming in the wrong body.Īs Cuba’s conflict with Angola intensifies into war, Rauli lives a near-fearless life. Second, that he will die at eighteen, as a Cuban soldier in Angola.

‘‘First, that he was born in the wrong body. Despite the abuse, because of Cassandra’s curse Rauli knows three things to be true. Fate, gods, and violence swirl around Rauli as his father demands that he ‘‘man up,’’ and his classmates bully him for his interests. His father and brother are violent, and his mother can only do so much to protect him from their brutality and misplaced anger.

Rauli is not like other children he’s quiet, sensitive, and always reading stories of gods and myths. Note: The main character is referred to as ‘‘he’’ by the author/translator. Lyrical and gritty, heartbreaking and luminous, Rauli’s is the story of the inexorable pull of destiny.Call Me Cassandra, Marcial Gala ( Farrar, Straus, Giroux 978-1-7, $26.00, 211pp, hc) January 2022.Ĭontent warning for Call Me Cassandra by Marcial Gala: transphobic violence and abuse. Burdened with knowledge of tragedies yet to come, Rauli nonetheless strives to know himself. Moving between Rauli’s childhood and adolescence, between the Angolan battlefield, the Cuban city of Cienfuegos, and the shores of ancient Troy, Marcial Gala’s Call Me Cassandra tells of the search for identity amid the collapse of Cuba’s utopian dreams. And third, that he is the reincarnation of the Trojan princess Cassandra. Second, that he will die, aged eighteen, as a soldier in the Cuban intervention in Angola.

Despite the signs that warn Rauli to repress and fear what he is, he knows three things to be true: First, that he was born in the wrong body. He loves to read, especially Greek myths, but in Cuba in the 1970s, novels and gods can be dangerous. His older brother is violent his philandering father doesn’t understand him his intelligence and sensitivity do not endear him to the other children at school. Ten-year-old Rauli lives in a world that is often hostile.