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Search - Waiting for Snow in Havana : Confessions of a Cuban Boy
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Book Description:
Members who requested this book also requested:"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.
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Genres:Other Versions of this Book: Hardcover, Hardcover
Top Member Reviews
I got this book from a friend...it's a great insight into Havana Cuba both pre and post Castro ( if we assume Castro will not reascend the presidency after his current illness.) It is the tale of a young boy from his unusual upper middle class family. It is also a story of family separation, class distinction, and lies of Castro...also the sabotage of the Kennedy's Bay of Pigs. It left alot of questions unanswered but was at all times interesting and compelling.
Susan R. from BARTONSVILLE, PA wrote on 4/8/2007...I learned so much about growing up in Havana, the joy of life , in the upper class. The reality of the communist way of life was pne of escape. It was a great story and I would like to talk to the author about howq he feels today?!
Rate These Member Reviews
This is a WONDERFUL (non-fiction) recollection of a boyood in Havana just prior to and at the beginning of Castro's takeover of the island. Carlos Eire is from an upper middle class family but led a pretty carefree existence which ended abruptly in 1959. I visited Cuba in 1959 and his descriptions of the place brought back a lot of memories. Easy and very enjoyable reading.