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Required Reading- A Classic
A quick and rewarding read
A Continuing Saga--The Old Man and the Sea
Great little book
Clear, powerful writing.

The Old Man and The Sea
Ernest Hemingway
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0684801221

Amazon.com

Here, for a change, is a fish tale that actually does honor to the author. In fact The Old Man and the Sea revived Ernest Hemingway's career, which was foundering under the weight of such postwar stinkers as Across the River and into the Trees. It also led directly to his receipt of the Nobel Prize in 1954 (an award Hemingway gladly accepted, despite his earlier observation that "no son of a bitch that ever won the Nobel Prize ever wrote anything worth reading afterwards"). A half century later, it's still easy to see why. This tale of an aged Cuban fisherman going head-to-head (or hand-to-fin) with a magnificent marlin encapsulates Hemingway's favorite motifs of physical and moral challenge. Yet Santiago is too old and infirm to partake of the gun-toting machismo that disfigured much of the author's later work: "The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords." Hemingway's style, too, reverts to those superb snapshots of perception that won him his initial fame:

Just before it was dark, as they passed a great island of Sargasso weed that heaved and swung in the light sea as though the ocean were making love with something under a yellow blanket, his small line was taken by a dolphin. He saw it first when it jumped in the air, true gold in the last of the sun and bending and flapping wildly in the air.

If a younger Hemingway had written this novella, Santiago most likely would have towed the enormous fish back to port and posed for a triumphal photograph--just as the author delighted in doing, circa 1935. Instead his prize gets devoured by a school of sharks. Returning with little more than a skeleton, he takes to his bed and, in the very last line, cements his identification with his creator: "The old man was dreaming about the lions." Perhaps there's some allegory of art and experience floating around in there somewhere--but The Old Man and the Sea was, in any case, the last great catch of Hemingway's career. --James Marcus

Book Description

The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway's most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal -- a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Here Hemingway recasts, in strikingly contemporary style, the classic theme of courage in the face of defeat, of personal triumph won from loss. Written in 1952, this hugely successful novella confirmed his power and presence in the literary world and played a large part in his winning the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Customer Reviews:

Required Reading- A Classic.......2007-06-22

I remember reading other Hemingway works when I was in school, and I also remember feeling truly satisfied after I read the last pages of those books. I felt as if I had just learned something of value, and believe it or not, those lessons have stayed with me through the years. Somehow, I missed out on reading The Old Man And The Sea, or else I read it and don't remember doing so (which could very well be), so I recently bought it and I read it in about three sittings. Again, Hemingway didn't disappoint me. Santiago, the main character, reminded me of a few friends and family members, who are on the downside of...let's say fifty ;-), and who are not ready to throw in the towel and fade away into oblivion just yet, despite the unbeatable odds against them. I actually felt as if I was sitting out there in the boat with poor old Santiago, or better yet, I felt like I was the man himself, which is a little tricky since I'm a woman. Hemingway has a truly unique style of writing, which defies a lot of the "rules", but he knows how to tell a tale and he knows how to get into the brains and minds of his characters. If you've never read Hemingway, perhaps it's time. God rest his blessed soul.
Joyce Marie Taylor-Author and Poet

A quick and rewarding read.......2007-06-20

I hadn't read a Hemingway novel since I tackled "A Farewell to Arms" during my freshman year in college. And granted, to call this one a novel is a bit generous, but it won the Pulitzer (1953), so it has to be at least considered in that company.

I read "The Old Man and the Sea" last week simply because I never had before. Somehow I escaped reading it during high school and read Dickens instead. I think that had I read this in high school, I would have found it kind of boring. Now that I have almost 20 years under my belt since high school, it's a much more meaningful book than it would have been then. What's the point of explaining symbolism to bored students? Once you're old enough, you can see the symbolism right there, because you've lived through some of the same things that the protagonist has.

A great book, and well worth the 1-2 hours you'll only need to spend reading it. Santiago is an everyman, and his struggles on the sea during a 72 hour time period mirror the struggles that we all face in our lives.

A Continuing Saga--The Old Man and the Sea.......2007-05-29

One line says it all: "It is he that has the hook in his mouth..."

But the question remains, after all these years, "Who has hooked whom?" Does the old man have the fish or does the fish have the old man?

Yes, in our grown and mature understanding, we now understand that the Old Man has hooked the fish and the great fish has hooked the Old Man. They need each other. Like much of life, most of life really, there is a "Yin/Yang" effect,two opposing forces that combine to make us who we are and what we are.

No matter how many times you have read it, it is always worth reading again..and again, and again...

One suggestion: To really enjoy reading it, for the first time or for the umpteenth time, read it by the ocean or on the ocean, with the sights, sounds and aromas of the the sea, all around you. Still, after all these years, a moving experience. Perhaps more moving as we age.

An often overlooked, but the saddest, most touching line of the book: "Did they look for me..."

Great little book.......2007-05-28

The book takes place in Cuba between and old man and his young apprentice. The book is a very simple book to read and can be read in one quick sitting. Part of Hemingway's brilliance was his ability to make prose, both interesting and very simple to read. You get the feeling that it was written much in the same way that Mr. Hemingway would speak, without any unnecessary convoluted words that are often used to "refine" the story and give the work an intellectual aspect. After reading about Hemingway's life I got the feeling that the old man could have easily been him drunk and old, living life on his own terms, although it has been written that the story was inspired by an old Cuban fisherman that he knew. The respect the boy had for the old man in the book is indicative of another era where admiration and respect for the old was commonplace. This book won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Clear, powerful writing........2007-05-25

The Old Man and the Sea is a simple story with a powerful impact. It's about an old man, and, well, the sea. He goes out day after day, trying to catch a fish and comes up empty handed over and over.

This book is a great read because, unlike some of Hemmingway's other books, it is not overly long. It's 'short and sweet', as people say. As is his style, Hemmingway writes in clear, reticent sentences that are packed with meaning.

I highly recommend this book.

True Believer: Inside the Investigation and Capture of Ana Montes, Cuba's Master Spy

Average customer rating:

An Eye Opener....
True Believer
surprising facts
Capturing a Cuban Spy
None So Blind

True Believer: Inside the Investigation and Capture of Ana Montes, Cuba's Master Spy
Scott W. Carmichael
Manufacturer: US Naval Institute Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1591141001
Release Date: 2007-03-03

Product Description

Ana Montes appeared to be a model employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Known to her coworkers as the Queen of Cuba, she was an overachiever who advanced quickly through the ranks of Latin American specialists to become the intelligence community's top analyst on Cuban affairs. But throughout her sixteen-year career at DIA, Montes sent Castro some of America's most closely guarded secrets and at the same time influenced what the United States thought it knew about Cuba. When she was finally arrested in September 2001, she became the most senior American intelligence official ever accused of operating as a Cuban spy from within the federal government. Unrepentant as she serves out her time in a federal prison in Texas, Montes remains the only member of the intelligence community ever convicted of espionage on behalf of the Cuban government.

This inside account of the investigation that led to her arrest was written by Scott W. Carmichael, the DIA's senior counterintelligence investigator who persuaded the FBI to delve deeper into Montes activities. Although Montes did not fit the FBI's profile of a spy and easily managed to defeat the agency's polygraph exam, Carmichael became suspicious of her activities and, with the FBI, over a period of several years developed a solid case against her. Here he tells the story of that long and ultimately successful spy hunt. Carmichael reveals the details of their efforts to bring her to justice, offering readers a front-row seat for the first major U.S. espionage case of the twenty-first century. She was arrested less than twenty-four hours before learning details of the U.S. plan to invade Afghanistan post-September 11. Motivated by ideology and not money, Montes was one of the last "true believers" of the Communist era. Because her arrest came just ten days after 9/11, it went largely unnoticed by the American public. This book calls attention to the grave damage Montes inflicted on U.S. security--Carmichael even implicates her in the death of a Green Beret fighting Cuban-backed insurgent in El Salvador and the damage she would have continued to inflict had she not been caught.

Customer Reviews:

An Eye Opener...........2007-06-17

The book leaves me thinking two things: The amount of shortsightedness or ego that stops someone from being able to see and deal with a truth, will be our nations downfall. We can't seem to call and spade a spade anymore without suffering the incriminating looks of those who don't like to hear something potentially negative about the least of things, let alone something so important as our nations security. Two books should be required reading on a reoccurring basis for anyone responsible for our nations health and welfare: Blink by Malcom Gladwell and Good to Great by Jim Collins. The first book is about trusting and understanding our instincts. Something we tend to ignore at the most important times of our lives. The second is about comparing the management styles between good businesses and great businesses. Here I think the main thread through the book is about the core motives of each individual, be it the owner down to the worker bee, are they self promoting something or are the motives for the good of the business as a whole?

I'm amazed at our nations lack of concentrated effort to boil the facts down to the basics. It sounds to me like we caught the other spy's because they were egocentric therefore more obvious, which evidently helped us get over our falling over our own feet to finally catch them. If I was an agent, THE last thing I would be doing is calling attention to myself in any way shape or form, I would keep my head down and work. Especially if I was committed to the same belief and ideals as the group or country I was spying for. For that reason, money would not be an issue, which is a real concern. Most of the spy's we have caught I have read about were more obvious in their motes operandi, unlike Ana Montes; I'm not a rocket scientist, just a simple accountant, but I'm smart enough to know if I was working as a spy, not to call attention to myself, so this tells me there are many more like her then not....and probably women to boot!

True Believer.......2007-05-22

An excellent book, I could not put it down!
While it was very clear that the author was not able to reveal a lot of information because of the nature of the story and the environment in which events took place, nevertheless, he gives one a very good impression of the real life world of espionage and counter espionage. It really left one gasping for more, but it is also an eye opener to activities which we the public are totally ignorant about.

surprising facts.......2007-05-13

This book allows the reader to learn some very surprising facts. It is well researched and can be read as easily as a novel even if it is not fiction.

Capturing a Cuban Spy.......2007-05-13

This excellent true story discusses the investigation and capture of a Cuban spy within the Defense Intelligence Agency. Ana Montes was considered the top analyst on Cuba for the US and, as such, was in a position to cause great harm to US intelligence. Unfortunately many details of the story have been omitted for security reasons. The book left me wondering how many other people within our intelligence agences are spying for foreign governments.

None So Blind .......2007-04-20

The story is that of a dedicated Cuban agent climbing through the American intelligence community. Although often lost on the general public traitors generally come in two varieties, intelligence sources and agents of influence. Montes was both plus in a great position to help others inside the US intelligence community.

It matters not that Cuba is a flacid threat to the US, they are involved in Latin American leftist movements and looking to trade intel for goods and favors from the whose who of dictatorships. The author links Mondes directly to the death of a US military advisor working in Latin America. It is likely that there were more casualties.

One of the great frustrations of the case is the glacial pace of investigations. Again months and months were lost as the FBI agents worked with the DOJ's staff to try to get the required authorizations to bring the case foreward. In the end the events of 9-11 and the probability that Montes would compromise major anti-terror activities lead to her arrest before all the evidence could be gathered.

Just as we wondery why we could not connect the dots at Virginia Tech, one wonders why we keep erasing the dots in the interest of "justice" .

Like so many of these stories it begins with one suspicions person, initially ignored as onbody wants to believe that one of their own have betrayed the trust.

Update 5-10-07

Mr. Cespedes ( see comments) offered the following insightful comments, "What this reviewer neglects to mention is that the damage done to US security by this Cuban spy is tremendous. The fact is that the Cuban dictatorship has close relationships with Iran, Syria, China, Russia and all other terrorist states in the world. The vast amounts of information passed to the Castro regime has found its way to all of them. This damage has been as grave as any done to this nation by any other "famous spies" uncovered previously. Cuba is a threat to America, all of it, be North, Central and most certainly South. I has long been the "aircraft carrier" of communism and terrorism in the Western Hemisphere as evidenced by Chavez, Ortega, Morales and as sponsor, trainer and safe haven for all guerrilla terrorist-movements. This book is a "must read" for all Americans concerned with our safety." I would only add to this the potential additional damage she has probably done by advancing the careers of other Cuban agents in various agencies.

This is one of many examples of where America's very cumbersome laws have affected the effectiveness of our counter intelligence operations with catastrophic results. Too much of the effort is devoted to meet process requirements between DOJ and other organizations.

Average customer rating:

Maybe a little too quirky
Not believable
What a mess!
"On the same day Umberto Anastasia was killed in New York, a hippopotamus escaped from the zoo in Havana."
From a Cuban to a Cuban

Dancing to "Almendra": A Novel
Mayra Montero
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0374102775
Release Date: 2007-01-23

Book Description

Havana, 1957. On the same day that the Mafia capo Umberto Anastasia is assassinated in a barber’s chair in New York, a hippopotamus escapes from the Havana zoo and is shot and killed by its pursuers. Assigned to cover the zoo story, Joaquín Porrata, a young Cuban journalist, instead finds himself embroiled in the mysterious connections between the hippo’s death and the mobster’s when a secretive zookeeper whispers to him that he “knows too much.” In exchange for a promise to introduce the keeper to his idol, the film star George Raft, now the host of the Capri Casino, Joaquín gets information that ensnares him in an ever-thickening plot of murder, mobsters, and, finally, love.

The love story is, of course, another mystery. Told by Yolanda, a beautiful ex-circus performer now working for the famed cabaret San Souci, it interleaves through Joaquín’s underworld investigations, eventually revealing a family secret deeper even than Havana’s brilliantly evoked enigmas.

In Dancing to "Almendra," Mayra Montero has created an ardent and thrilling tale of innocence lost, of Havana’s secret world that is “the basis for the clamor of the city,” and of the end of a violent era of fantastic characters and extravagant crimes. Based on the true history of a bewitching city and its denizens, Almendra is the latest “triumph” (Library Journal) from one of Latin America’s most impassioned and intoxicating voices.

Customer Reviews:

Maybe a little too quirky.......2007-06-05

I enjoyed this book in spite of some of its characters, who were unbelievable, at best. But the story fit into my mental picture of Havana in the last days before Castro-decaying from within, but still charming and slightly manic(which also describes some of the characters). Great writing, I liked the mixing of historic characters with fictional.

Not believable.......2007-05-31

Jim Lewis's review in the Sunday NYT caused me to buy this book. This novel also interested me since I spent some time in Havana around the time the book was set. Lewis states that he is "tired of gangster stories and wary of grotesques" but then went on the praise the novel to the skies. I found it to be a grotesque gangster story and not credible.

What a mess!.......2007-04-14

This book is messy, disorganized and cluttered. Historical and fictional characters appear and disappear for no particular reason. The plot lurches around and eventually falls flat on its face. It wastes an atmospheric setting and some engagingly quirky characters.

"On the same day Umberto Anastasia was killed in New York, a hippopotamus escaped from the zoo in Havana.".......2007-04-13

This opening line introduces a crime thriller that takes off at a gallop--a unique combination of dark actions and absurd, often humorous, commentary. Set in Havana in 1957, when Castro was still organizing his revolution in Oriente Province, and Mafia bosses Meyer Lansky and Santo Trafficante were sending suitcases full of money from their Havana gambling interests to Miami, the novel captures the last moments of Cuban high life, just before the revolution. Joaquin Porrada, a twenty-two year-old entertainment reporter, reads the teletype report of Mafia boss Anastasia's death in New York, and soon gets a tip that the gunshot death of the escaped Havana hippo was a belated warning to Anastasia from other Mafia dons--Anastasia was not being an "obedient hippopotamus."

Filled with period details of Cuban night life, Havana's American Mafia, the corrupt officials of Fulgencio Batista's ironman rule, and the lives of ordinary Cubans and their families during this turbulent period, the novel follows Joaquin as he investigates the deaths of the hippo and Anastasia and decides to report on them. To get at the truth, he visits strippers and prostitutes; covers the action at Trafficante's club; meets George Raft, who is host at the Capri; travels to New York to investigate the recent Apalachin meeting of mobsters; falls in love with a one-armed woman maimed during a performance of "magic"; and eventually is warned, beaten, and threatened with death.

Cuban author Mayra Montero's novel, ostensibly in the tradition of Cuban noir, is filled with broad humor, and the absurdities she highlights within the narrative provide a light, sometimes farcical, touch which keeps the reader amused, even as the blood is flowing. Joachin is hopelessly naïve at age twenty-two, but he is imaginative, and his fumbling attempts to investigate and write about crime in Havana do produce results, though not always the results he wants. Told alternately from his breezy point of view and that of Yolanda, his thirty-six-year-old, one-armed lover, who is also the mistress of Santo Trafficante, the novel is full of intrigue, overlapping characters, secret identities, and surprise twists.

The numerous characters, many of whom have two or three aliases, are sometimes hard to track, but the action is lively and entertaining. Montero's characterizations of Joachin, his friends and family, combined with the story of Yolanda and her life and family, are well drawn and intriguing, though they sometimes veer off and have little to do with the violence among the Mafia dons. Extravagant and sometimes over-the-top in its details, this exuberant novel is a fast read, full of fun. n Mary Whipple

From a Cuban to a Cuban.......2007-04-07

After reading the Spanish version of this book, I must compliment the English translator for the accuracy of her work.

Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy

Average customer rating:

Getting to know a Pedro Pan
I am without words
Strikes true in every way
Slow reading, disjointed stories
An Excellent Book!

Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy
Carlos Eire
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0743246411

Book Description

"Have mercy on me, Lord, I am Cuban." In 1962, Carlos Eire was one of 14,000 children airlifted out of Cuba -- exiled from his family, his country, and his own childhood by the revolution. The memories of Carlos's life in Havana, cut short when he was just eleven years old, are at the heart of this stunning, evocative, and unforgettable memoir.

Waiting for Snow in Havana is both an exorcism and an ode to a paradise lost. For the Cuba of Carlos's youth -- with its lizards and turquoise seas and sun-drenched siestas -- becomes an island of condemnation once a cigar-smoking guerrilla named Fidel Castro ousts President Batista on January 1, 1959. Suddenly the music in the streets sounds like gunfire. Christmas is made illegal, political dissent leads to imprisonment, and too many of Carlos's friends are leaving Cuba for a place as far away and unthinkable as the United States. Carlos will end up there, too, and fulfill his mother's dreams by becoming a modern American man -- even if his soul remains in the country he left behind.

Narrated with the urgency of a confession, Waiting for Snow in Havana is a eulogy for a native land and a loving testament to the collective spirit of Cubans everywhere.

Download Description

"In 1962, at the age of eleven, Carlos Eire was one of 14,000 children airlifted out of Cuba, his parents left behind. His life until then is the subject of Waiting for Snow in Havana, a wry, heartbreaking, intoxicatingly beautiful memoir of growing up in a privileged Havana household -- and of being exiled from his own childhood by the Cuban revolution. That childhood, until his world changes, is as joyous and troubled as any other -- but with exotic differences. Lizards roam the house and grounds. Fights aren't waged with snowballs but with breadfruit. The rich are outlandishly rich, like the eight-year-old son of a sugar baron who has a real miniature race car, or the neighbor with a private animal garden, complete with tiger. All this is bathed in sunlight and shades of turquoise and tangerine: the island of Cuba, says one of the stern monks at Carlos's school, might have been the original Paradise -- and it is tempting to believe. His father is a municipal judge and an obsessive collector of art and antiques, convinced that in a past life he was Louis XVI and that his wife was Marie Antoinette. His mother looks to the future; conceived on a transatlantic liner bound for Cuba from Spain, she wants her children to be modern, which means embracing all things American. His older brother electrocutes lizards. Surrounded by eccentrics, in a home crammed with portraits of Jesus that speak to him in dreams and nightmares, Carlos searches for secret proofs of the existence of God. Narrated with the urgency of a confession, Waiting for Snow in Havana is an both an exorcism and an ode to a paradise lost. More than that, it captures the terrible beauty of those times in our lives when we are certain we have died -- and then are somehow, miraculously, reborn. "

Customer Reviews:

Getting to know a Pedro Pan.......2007-06-25

During my career I have worked with and developed close friendships with several Cuban Americans, including two "Pedro Pans" - one of whom is currently a US Ambassador to an important European country. I could never quite imagine what life might have been like for them as boys in Cuba and how their lives were turned upside down. Their resilience has been an inspiration.

Eire's book, mentioned to me by a former high school English teacher, answers many of my questions far better than I could have hoped. It is a literary masterpiece that provides anthropological insights about the life of the privileged under Batista. Remarkably Eire does not whitewash this era - he makes it clear that the sons of Batista, of his chief torturer, and of upper class professionals enjoyed privileges unavailable to most. He admits to serial shop-lifting as a boy and the materialism that made birthday parties stressful events. But it came to a sudden end when Castro took power and banned Christmas, persecuted his opponents, and caused families to send their children abroad.

Over the weekend I had a conversation with someone whose family fled Tehran after the ouster of the Shah. Somehow her stories were evocative of Eire describing Cuba under Batista.

I am without words.......2007-06-20

Nothing I can say can do this book -- and Dr. Eire -- justice. I read this book on a (Cuban-American) friend's recommendation. I knew very little about Cuba or Castro. I have never been so moved by a book in my life. This is a must-read for everyone on the planet.

Strikes true in every way.......2007-05-15

Carlos Eire's account is heartwarming, entertaining and feels as genuine as anything I have ever read in the genre.

As a Cuban American who was fortunate to have been born in the US, I have heard many first person accounts of similar experiences. This book helps people like me, that live the Cuban experience in S. Florida everyday, learn a little bit more of what might have been.

The book is sometimes painful in it's honesty. The confusion and fear from leaving your country and your upbringing. The disfunction and feelings of betrayal from his father feels universal. Parents abandon their kids sometimes for reasons that make no sense.

This book feels much like the "KiteRunner" felt. Both extremely moving portrayals of the immigrant experience.

Slow reading, disjointed stories.......2007-05-07

I heard about this book on a morning talk radio show and thought the author sounded very sincere and his story very interesting. It is an interesting story and I'm sure the author tells it how he lived it but unfortunately I found it to be just OK. Normally I can fly thru a book...Kite Runner for example, however this is definitely not on the same scale.

An Excellent Book!.......2007-05-05

I had been searching for a good read for a while and just happened to stumble upon this book in the store. It is excellent and fresh!

Average customer rating:

Tastes of Perfection....
Difficult, but interesting
Wow!
Women in Cuba...
Beautiful Story

Dreaming in Cuban
Cristina Garcia
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Down These Mean Streets

ASIN: 0345381432
Release Date: 1993-02-10

Book Description

"Remarkable...An intricate weaving of dramatic events with the supernatural and the cosmic...Evocative and lush...A rich and haunting narrative, an excellent new voice in contemporary fiction."
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Now available in a Spanish language edition from Ballantine Books.
Here is the dreamy and bittersweet story of a family divided by politics and geography by the Cuban revolution. It is the family story of Celia del Pino, and her husband, daughter and grandchildren, from the mid-1930s to 1980. Celia's story mirrors the magical realism of Cuba itself, a country of beauty and poverty, idealism and corruption. DREAMING IN CUBAN presents a unique vision and a haunting lamentation for a past that might have been.

Customer Reviews:

Tastes of Perfection...........2007-04-27

While it may sound like an overstatement, this book really does taste of perfection. The fact that Garcia began it as a poem which blossomed into a novel is apparent. The language is simply beautiful. Garcia tracks the del Pino women through their different experiences with exile, showing us both extremes (the pro-Castro, anti-American and the assimilated immigrant who hates communism and loves American democracy). However, Garcia does not leave us with merely polar opposites. She fills in the gaps with the angst ridden one-and-a-halfer Pilar (Life on the Hyphen), the male-dependant Felicia, and the repulsive men who walk in and out of the story. Garcia puts her money where her mouth is revealing that "no two exile experiences are the same."

The interweaving of letters from abuela Celia to her lost lover are a wonderful reinforcement (and even enhancement) of the narrative. If you are interested in Cuban American Studies, this book is a great outlet to see the effects of exile.

Whether you want to learn more about exile and Cuban-Americans or you just want a solid, entertaining novel, I highly recommend Cristina Garcia's masterpiece, Dreaming in Cuban.

Difficult, but interesting.......2006-12-12

I read this book for a graduate level class on Latino-American literature. It was the last book we read in the semester, so I have a lot to compare it to in the category. It was not my favorite. While fragmentation is a common theme and technique in writing literature of this genre, the fragmentation in this novel is felt more than it is observed. Readers experience some of the lost feelings and confusion that we would suppose modern Latin-American immigrants would feel in America. The writer's technique is so effective that it makes the story less compelling than others I have read that present fragmentation clearly and cleverly. Nevertheless, I learned something about Cuba, and generational conflicts, and about people when I read this book.

Wow!.......2006-10-20

I bought this book with out knowing anything about it, and by the time I finished it, I was captivated by the author's writing skill! This is the type of book you just can't put down! I have told all of my friends about it, and I have re-read it about four times. This book was great from start to finish, the characters were totally believable. I felt as if the author could have been spying on my family when she wrote this. I can't give this book enough praise, just go out and read it already!

Women in Cuba..........2006-07-24

I teetered between three and four stars for the rating of this book, but then decided on four. If I could've I probably would've given it 3 and ¾'s stars. It was a very quick read since the book consists of many short stories from all the characters' points of view.

I love reading about Cuba and any information about their culture and the revolution times. Cuba is just so amazing to me because it's so close - so close to us, but SO different. I was first attracted to this book because of the female perspective of the social and political changes that happened in Cuba.

I felt that Garcia had a very conversational and clear voice when writing each of her characters. What I find so strange though about books like this, is that so many women resign to hysteria or dementia. I've never known anyone who got so fed up with their inlaws/husbands/ex-lovers that they suddenly had to be put away for years and years. I guess I was hoping for a more realistic take on women's lives in Cuba, but who knows - maybe women in Cuba are more apt to hysteria.

Garcia does an interesting take on both sides of the revolution, both with Lourdes in America and her mother in Cuba who are passionate about opposite sides. I loved all the information about Santeria, even though the entire three days I read the book I had the Sublime song stuck in my head, "I don't practice Santeria, Ain't got no crystal ball..." You know the rest.

Beautiful Story.......2006-07-19

"Dreaming in Cuban" was beautifully written from the point of view of various members of the same family. The story is told through the eyes of different generations of women (and occasionally their men), each with fascinatingly different outlooks. I found the story compelling, and I was unable to put down the book until I finished it.

Not only was there a glimpse of the political situation in Cuba, there was also a description of the relationships between mothers and their daughters, the way that the women interact with each other and with the world around them.

Although I typically find letters thrown into a novel to tell parts of the story confusing and distracting, here the letters written by Ceila to her ex-lover provide a beautiful complement to the flow of the tale.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has an appreciation for an interesting method of storytelling. The way that the book jumps around between times and characters may be confusing for some, but I found it only added to my overall enjoyment.

Memories of a Cuban Kitchen: More Than 200 Classic Recipes

Average customer rating:

cookbook that tells great stories
Cuban Cooking for an Okie
Memories of a Cuban Kitchen: More Than 200 Classic Recipes
Just like home!
A Real Cuban Cook Book

Memories of a Cuban Kitchen: More Than 200 Classic Recipes
Mary Urrutia Randelman , and Joan Schwartz
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0028609980

Book Description

Authentic Cuban recipes offer a mixture of Spanish, Indian, African, Chinese, and Portuguese cuisine, from appetizers like Green Plantain Chips, to such entrees as Roast Pork Creole, to tropical rum-based drinks and desserts.

Filled with reminiscences and evocative halftone photos of Randelman's childhood in pre-Castro Cuba, this book presents more than 200 traditional recipes for Cuban dishes, a cuisine that lusciously combines Spanish, Indian, African, Chinese, and Portuguese influences.

Customer Reviews:

cookbook that tells great stories.......2007-05-15

I love this book and have given it to many friends and family members over the years.

The book is easy to follow, the recipes are excellent and the stories associated with each chapter are interesting.

Cuban Cooking for an Okie.......2007-05-13

I live in Oklahoma and we have no Cuban community so I can't vouch for the authenticity of the recipes, but the food is delicious and the recipes are easy to follow. I can find most of the ingredients at the local Mexican markets like plantains, black beans, red bannanas etc. I like most ethnic foods and this user friendly recipe book give me a chance to try a cuisine I wouldn't get to otherwise.

Memories of a Cuban Kitchen: More Than 200 Classic Recipes .......2007-04-25

My family heritage is Italian. We all love Italian food. My sister learned to cook from her mother-in-law, whom is Cuban. A few months ago, my brother bought a copy of "Memories of a Cuban Kitchen" from a second hand shop. I fell in love with the book. I ordered two-copies for my sister (for each of her daughters). She is now writing in the books adjusting the recipes to match their family favorites. This is our way of keeping my nieces' heritage alive for them. I will soon be ordering two more copies. One copy for my nephew and the other for my son. We all love my sister's cooking and hope to preserve that heritage which is now part of our lives. I only wish there were more cook books like this for other nationalities.

Just like home!.......2007-03-13

This is the second Cuban cookbook that I have ordered from Amazon. The first fell short when it came to true home cooking and was more in the line of a high end restaurant menu. But with Memories of a Cuban Kitchen, I am "oh sooo pleased!" This is authentic "comida criolla". The real deal. I was brought up on Cuba's great food and I have prepared it for years, but my recipes have been somewhat limited. I have now been able to add variety to my family's dinners. This is a book that I will buy again. For my daughter and future daughter-in-laws! For Cubans, food is not only one of the primary ways that we hold on to our culture, but also a way that we show our love to others! Mary Urrutia Randelman understands this!

A Real Cuban Cook Book.......2007-01-10

I have bought this book several times. I gave my daughter the first copy, the second went to my cousin, and the third I guard jealously for myself. The recipe for Frijoles Negros (Black Bean Soup)is my litmus test for real Cuban cuisine. I was delighted to find a true Havana black beans recipe in this book. As I continued to read it, one after another recipe fell into the "authentic" category, evoking memories of my mother's cooking and my own childhood. Yes, it is a wonderful book to give mothers, daughters, and nieces. If you are a Cuban-American, buy it. If you are not, buy it too, and you'll be delighted to discover the exotic flavors of truly authentic Cuban food.

Average customer rating:

The Best of Cuba in a book.
Colourful Cuba
Astonishing
Beautiful photos and fine writing about Cuban furniture
Cuban Elegance

Cuban Elegance
Michael Connors
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Houses of Old Cuba
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ASIN: 0810943379

Book Description

At a time when more and more travelers are discovering Cuba, which has been locked away from the outside world for more than 40 years, this lavishly illustrated, absorbing volume offers a completely different view of the island from the one seen by most visitors. This book presents not the picturesque Cuba of Castro's era with its derelict buildings and peeling paint, but the opulent world of the Spanish Creole aristocracy of the colonial period, which has continued to influence Cuban taste and cultural life on a more modest scale even to this day.

Emphasizing the palatial homes and elegant furnishings of the island's enormously rich sugar, cotton, and tobacco barons, Cuban Elegance relates the social, cultural, architectural, and interior design history of Cuba, and of the Caribbean region in general. With an engaging text and gorgeous photographs taken especially for this sumptuous volume, Cuban Elegance offers a fresh, surprising perspective on an intriguing country.

Customer Reviews:

The Best of Cuba in a book........2007-04-16

I recently bought this book and despite that I had never being in Cuba before this is better than the real thing. Cuba was one the biggest economies in the region and such growth gave the possibility to create one of the most selected elites in the Caribbean islands. That prestige and class is all what you can find in this book full of excellent pictures. The reading of the book is pleasant, accurate and, full of details. I was amaze by the work around Cuban furniture which reflects the passion of the author in the topic. It's worth 5 out 5 starts with any doubts.

Colourful Cuba.......2006-02-08

This is a great coffee table book of good quality. The colour photographs are excellent, accompanied by descriptive text. I bought it out of a sense of curiosity of how the more affluent Cubans might live. Unfortunately, as it turns out, I don't generally share their taste in design or dark furniture, but don't let that put you off an excellent and informative book.

Astonishing.......2004-10-01

Cuban Elegance is an astonishing work. That Michael Connors and Bruce Buck were able to navigate the bureaucracies to get to Cuba and to the subjects of the book; astonishing that with an admitted paucity of research material they were able to craft a book that reveals the wealth of historic artifacts in Cuba.

Connors' concise, comprehensive and well-researched narrative along with Bruce Buck's beautiful images bring to light the stylistic and historical influences of three centuries of Cuba's heritage.

Kudos to both gentleman for what must have been an arduous task. The fruits of their labors is a book that should be an elegant addition to a great many libraries.

Beautiful photos and fine writing about Cuban furniture.......2004-06-29

This book is the first comprehensive review of Cuban furniture from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century. Connors and Buck, the author and photographer, spent months touring Cuba and doing detective work to gain access to relics of past eras.

Connors stays clear of the contentious times of Cuba, avoiding this battleground of American politics over the past 50 years. He gained the cooperation of American and Cuban authorities, no mean feat, and produces a veritable feast. He also used archives and collections of Cuban artifacts from other Caribbean countries to gain this masterful view which he presents in a prose that is descriptive but not ornate.

The color and style of Cuban furniture needs only an honest narrative for its story to be told. Connors cites Hispanic-Moorish, African and French influences on the many pieces of furniture sited in rooms lit through mamparas (tinted glass swinging doors) and mediopuntos (fanlights, semicircular windows made of complex forms of stained and plain glass set above doors and windows) of old Cuban haciendas.

This is a beautiful book designed to bring a touch of our hemisphere's elegant beauty into everyone's living room and even our lives. It does to ours and to anyone who owns it.

Cuban Elegance.......2004-05-26

Cuban Elegance is one of those rare books that combines gorgeous photography with knowledgeable scholarship about the architecture, furniture and decorative arts it features. So often, books that are big on style are fluff to read, and books that are written by academics are heavy going and not fun to look at. As someone who writes in this field, I appreciate when people get it right. Michael Connors and Bruce Buck nailed it on this one -- the images throughout the book are as beautiful as the one on the cover, and the text is informative, readable and engaging. They have made it possible for people to have a glimpse of an incredible world that so few get to see -- 500 years of Cuban history and culture as expressed in buildings and their furnishings. Five stars. As folks in the antiques business say, this one's a keeper.

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Havana: Autobiography of a City
Alfredo Jose Estrada
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1403975094
Release Date: 2007-03-20

Book Description

Havana: Autobiography of a City takes readers from the Plaza de Armas, the tree-lined square where Havana was founded by conquistadors in 1519, to the Malecón, the elegant boulevard along the shore where Fidel Castro rode a Russian tank in triumph. Estrada portrays the adventurers and dreamers who left their mark on Havana, including José Martí, martyr for Cuban independence; and Ernest Hemingway, the most American of writers who became an unabashed Habanero. The book is a deeply personal account of a love affair with a city, as well as an entertaining portrait of a place not easily forgotten.

Cuba: A Short History (Cambridge History of Latin America)

Average customer rating:

Only Academic Historians Could Make Cuba this Boring!
There is such a thing as a TOO SHORT HISTORY

Cuba: A Short History (Cambridge History of Latin America)

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0521436826

Book Description

Cuba: A Short History brings together four chapters from Volumes 3, 5, and 7 of The Cambridge History of Latin America to provide for scholars, students and general readers a concise history of this important island nation. Contributors, top scholars in the field, trace the political, economic, and social development of Cuba from the middle of the eighteenth century to the present day. The concluding chapter, updated for this volume, considers the dilemmas and challenges that Castro's Cuba faces in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse. Each chapter is accompanied by a bibliographical essay that many readers will find useful.

Customer Reviews:

Only Academic Historians Could Make Cuba this Boring!.......2002-10-11

I used this book in a Cuban history course that I taught last year, and man did the students hate it. This collection of 4 articles from the multi-volume Cambridge History of Latin America is meant to provide a concise overview of Cuban history. But they begin in the 1600s, missing the first several hundred years, and end in the 1970s, missing the last two pivotal decades. The articles themselves are informative enough, but so boring and poorly written as to make the reader weep. This is an awful book.

There is such a thing as a TOO SHORT HISTORY.......1999-10-20

I was surprised to find a so-called history book should skip the first two hundred years of any country. At the beginning of this "history" we are hurtled into the mid-eighteenth century with absolutely no preamble; no background as to what came before. Where is the history of the discovery of the island, the natives who inhabited it, the process by which we arrived at the 18th century? Add to this the fact that each successive event is treated so lightly, with scant detail and such pompous, overblown language, and you can understand why I simply put it down after a few chapters and have not picked it up since. My advise?: If you really want to learn about Cuba, don't bother with this comic book sketch.

Ultimate Sacrifice: John and Robert Kennedy, the Plan for a Coup in Cuba, and the Murder of JFK

Average customer rating:

Very Interesting
Weighs a Ton -- Doesn't Miss Many Tricks
Don't buy this disinformation
Confirms the Conspiracy Theory
The truth at last?

Ultimate Sacrifice: John and Robert Kennedy, the Plan for a Coup in Cuba, and the Murder of JFK
Lamar Waldron , and Thom Hartmann
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Essays | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0786718323

Book Description

Cuba's number 2 official today — Commander Juan Almeida — was secretly working with JFK in November 1963 to overthrow Fidel. The US government recently revealed Almeida's work for JFK, allowing the updated trade paperback of Ultimate Sacrifice to tell the full story for the first time (complete with new photos and documents).
The authors obtained the story from almost two dozen associates of John and Robert Kennedy, starting in 1990 with JFK's Secretary of State Dean Rusk. Their accounts are supported by thousands of newly-released files at the National Archives.
Almeida's "palace coup" set for December 1, 1963, was to be backed up by US forces "invited" in by Commander Almeida, then Chief of the Cuban Army. However, three Mafia bosses being targeted by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy used several CIA assets to infiltrate the secret plot and murder JFK.
This resulted in cover-ups by officials like RFK and LBJ, to prevent the exposure of Almeida and a possible nuclear confrontation with the Soviets. The new edition explains why Almeida was not a double agent, why Fidel suspected Almeida's ally Che Guevara, and what Fidel did in 1990 when he finally found out about Almeida's work for JFK.

Customer Reviews:

Very Interesting.......2007-06-27

I have read alot of books regarding JFK, and I have to say that this one was very interesting.

Weighs a Ton -- Doesn't Miss Many Tricks.......2007-06-25

I was a pre-teen in England when JFK was killed, and I've been an agnostic on the topic of conspiracy ever since. On the one hand, the Warren Commission report, for all its length, always seemed superficial and almost certainly undermined by political influence. On the other, the start point for all conspiracy theorists is the notion that one lone crazy couldn't possibly pull off something as audacious as an assassination of a president. Who sez? After all, every other successful and attempted presidential assassination was unquestionably the act of a lone crazy (okay, a crazy PAIR, in the case of Truman), including -- for all the lessons learned by the secret service in 1963 -- three later close calls (Ford x 2, Reagan).

In recent years, all the major forensic myths that CTs have leaned on for decades -- Oswald's poor marksmanship; the impossibility of his rifle firing three shots in the time; the backwards riccochet of JFK's body; the "magic bullet" -- have been conclusively debunked. What are left are some real, circumstantial issues concerning Oswald's movements in the two or three years before 11/22/63, his affiliation with pro-Cuba and anti-Cuba movements, the CIA, big business and organized crime, his multiple passports and corporeal manifestations; plus eyewitness accounts and the highly questionable activities of the FBI, CIA and the mob.

"Ultimate Sacrifice" covers the lot exhaustively, if repetitively and in prose that doesn't set the pulse racing. It doesn't provide too many answers, but it does ask most of the questions that still deserve to be asked (along with many that don't), and is probably the best bet currently available for the general reader who wants to know which one book on the subject she or he should read.

Don't buy this disinformation.......2007-06-11

This book is disinformation. It is an attempt to discredit serious critics of the Warren Commission and confuse everyone else. DON'T BUY THIS TRASH. This is your tax dollars at work.

Confirms the Conspiracy Theory.......2007-02-26

I remember, vividly, the day JFK was assassinted in Dallas, and I distinctly remember the reports of the time talking about "shots from the grassy knoll". And I know that I doubted the veracity of the Warren Commission's Report after it was published. After reading this WELL RESEARCHED AND DOCUMENTED book, and utilizing all of the interview material obtained by some of the people closely involved, all the pieces fall into place..Case Closed! Waldron and Hartmann have solved the mystery. MUST READING FOR ALL CONSPIRACY THEORISTS.

The truth at last?.......2007-02-21

Ultimate Sacrifice is a truly remarkable book. The riddle of who really killed John F. Kennedy has haunted the common imagination for over 40 years, and this work may well have solved the puzzle. Over 900-odd pages, Ultimate Sacrifice states its' case - that the Mafia used the elements of a US government plan to murder Fidel Castro in December 1963 to kill JFK -with relentless precision. Dozens of freshly-released US government files buttress the book's often startling conclusions throughout. This is the sort of book that makes you think "Oh, yes! That makes sense now!": This book indeed makes sense of the so-called Crime Of The Century.

This is a highly repetitive work...the same facts are stated over and and over and over again...but then, the case at hand is very complex and requires step-by-step explanation. Until the CIA release their files on the JFK murder in ten years' time, this will stand as the definitive document of what happened in Nov. 63. The facts are laid out so clearly that a fool could grasp them - Lee Oswald was an agent and a tool of US intelligence, Ruby was up to his ears in Mob chicanery, Castro was the target of countless US murder plots from 1959-63 and so forth. This is not so much an antidote to the egregious lies of Posner's "Case Closed" as a challenge to history. The Mafia killed Kennedy, and elements of the CIA helped them do it. Read this book to find out why and how. It's that simple. Ultimate Sacrifice details who planned the murder, who abetted it, what the cover story was, how Oswald fitted into it, and why it remained secret for so long. The one and only book any serious JFK assassination buff needs. Must read. 10/10. Best book on the case of all time.

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