Book Review: Waiting for Snow in Havana : Confessions of a Cuban Boy

Reviewed By: Woodstock - RAM

Waiting for Snow in Havana : Confessions of a Cuban Boy     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Carlos Eire
Class/Genre:   Non-Fiction   Biography

Carlos Eire was born in Havana in the early 1950's, making him a young elementary school student with Fidel Castro seized power. Prior to the revolution, his family was solidly middle class, living in a large comfortable house, with servants, a car, and the economic means to enjoy the rich cultural life of Havana. Little by little their way of life evaporated before their eyes, beginning with cruel taunts from a maid, and culminating in empty houses where friends once lived, the terror of aerial bombardment during the Bay of Pigs invasion, and the realization by Carlos' mother that she must send her sons to safety away from what Cuba had become. Carlos and his older brother were part of an airlift of several thousand children to the United States. The family had every expectation that the boys' mother would soon follow. But it was more than three years before she was able to obtain the necessary exit permit.

This remarkable autobiography swings from straight forward story telling to stream of consciousness and back again. Included along the way are somewhat whimsical "proof of the existence of God," bitter musings on the role played by his father in the events, heartbreaking nostalgia for the Cuba of his memories, and a relating of his desperate struggle to obtain an education and economic security as an American.

Highly recommended!

Woodstock - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Woodstock - RAM