Stories from local neighbors, gang members and inmates feel interchangeable, while poets, architects, and religious philosophers all rhapsodize in a similar pitch. The fragments of Gala’s story can be divided into two categories: a low-brow, “realist” narrative and a heady, conceptual one. One of the biggest flaws of The Black Cathedral is that despite its panoply of narrators, its many voices blur together. And while some readers may argue that this is indeed Gala’s plan - that, like tested faith, this story too has strayed from its fundamentals - it makes for a somewhat sloppy novel that feels made up as it was written.

The Black Cathedral runs away from itself and loses its own plot new narrators appear one after the other, while some characters’ threads dominate the story with personal developments far from the novel’s architectural nexus. Stylistically, this is an interesting parallel to make - connecting the tapestry of a multi-part narrative to a network of believers - but Gala isn’t able to execute this concept in a way that feels purposeful. Gala’s prose expands at a similarly uncontrollable clip. Told Rashomon – style, with neighbors and onlookers contributing short accounts of the troubling events surrounding the preacher’s family, Gala molds his relentless novel into an allegory about faith, community and modern Cuba. As Arturo Stuart’s congregation gains an unwieldy following, his temple grows like a cancer, blooming into an unfathomable size. Split into a prism of countless fractured narratives, Marcial Gala’s The Black Cathedral pieces together the story of the religious Stuart family, who moves into the neighborhood of Cienfuegos, Cuba to begin construction on a Sacramentalist temple.

Marcial gala the black cathedral