Cuba and the Night

by Pico Iyer

Book Overview

Having captivated readers with such gems of travel writing as Video Night in Kathmandu, Pico Iyer now presents a novel whose central character is another place: the melancholy, ebullient, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067976075X
• ISBN13: 9780679760757
• Release Date: April 1996
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Cuba Dark and Light

I've only been to Cuba once, a few years ago, but Pico Iyer's novel brought back to me the essence of that fantastic island and its marvelous citizen prisoners. If you were to read only two books before you make a trip yourself, read Cuba and the Night and Tom Miller's non-fiction Trading with the Enemy.

A gray, dreary read of a Terrifically Vibrant Country

This book reads like one of those foriegn 'art' films where you follow people agonizing through everyday life but nothing much ever happens - you wait for hours for a flat, non-ending. Oh well, you got through it. Protagonist Richard is an adrenaline junkie global news photographer, who seems to feel deeply but never really gets past his hornmones or intellectualizing everything, including his 'love affair' with Lourdes. He is actually a very shallow person (sort of like an unfunny Seinfeld character - there is no humor in the book). It is a credit to Pico Iyer's talent that I could read this entire book and still think the trip was worth it, sort of. Nihilistic, full of angst and dreary images of life in Cuba of the early '90s. What haunts me is the real implication of what the USA's 40-y embargo has wraught on the citizens of Cuba. Very Sad.

Great details of Cuban life and a good love story

This is a delightfully insightful look at life in communist Cuba and also a love story between an international photojournalist and a young Cuban woman. Told in the first person from the photographer's point of view, we slowly see the complexities of Cuban life unfold as he becomes more involved with this woman and her life in Cuba. The contrasts between the needs of men and women in relationships and capitalism and communism are well presented. Although written during the early 1990s, the portrayal of life in Cuba and the Cuban people is still valid.

Bravo Mr. Iyer!

I read this book many years ago when Cuba wasn't so much in the news and I must say that I have only the fondest memories of reading this passion packed novel. I felt every emotion whether happy or sad that the protagonists felt. It is a wonderful book that provides an accurate not exaggerated insight of how Cubans really live in Castro's Cuba. If you love the Cuban culture, its music and people, I recommend you read this novel. It will transport you to la Habana in seconds and it may even help you better understand the very sad and depressing Cuban phlight.

Dead-On

Pico Iyer's "Cuba and the Night" is the only realistic depiction of life in present-day Cuba that I have found written in English. Sure, the plot is a little weak on action. But this sameness serves as the perfect vehicle for conveying the muddle that is present-day Havana. The only "action" in Cuba is of the emotional and psychological variety. I agree that there is an awkward reliance on the use of letters to impart the story throughout the book. But as one who has spent time in Cuba, I can affirm that MUCH of one's interrelation with those on the island occurs through letters. The occasional distorted phone call and two-month-delayed letter are of indescribable emotional significance--to both those "afuera," and those that remain in the land of Fidel. Cuba haunts the mind and spurs the emotions; oftentimes most profoundly AFTER one has left the island--after one has left behind one's friends and lovers. There are no car chases or shoot-outs in Cuba. But day-to-day life IS the psychological and emotional minefield that Iyer so deftly evokes. Cuba is a society unrestrained; both a heartbreaker and an addiction. And the romance, intrigue, mistrust and agitation that I once found so uncomfortable to accept as a reader indeed represent the REALITY of the place. When I first read "Cuba and the Night," several years ago, I was immune to its charms (To put it mildly). But--having revisited the book after six uninterrupted months in Havana this year--I can only describe it as a perfect rendition of the place. I love Cuba. And I love the Cuban people. But NO ONE leaves the place with their innocence intact, and NO ONE of sensitivity leaves the island without being profoundly changed. I only wish that I had accepted the book as reality before boarding that flight from Cancun to Havana eleven months--and what seems like a lifetime--ago.