Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy

by Carlos Eire

Book Overview

"Have mercy on me, Lord, I am Cuban." In 1962, Carlos Eire was one of 14,000 children airlifted out of Havana--exiled from his family, his country, and his own childhood by Fidel Castro's revolution. Winner of the National Book Award, this stunning memoir is a vibrant and evocative look at Latin America from a child's unforgettable experience.

Waiting for Snow in Havana is both an exorcism and an ode to a paradise lost. For the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743246411
• ISBN13: 9780743246415
• Release Date: December 2004
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

The price of freedom

A magical experience, reliving lost(Cuba) and found (USA) shattered dreams and the finality of adjusting at an early age to a different world. Touching on the lives of parents who willingly vanished their children to freedom not knowing if ever to see them again.

El precio de la Libertad

Es un magnífico detalle en la vida de un miembro de los Peter Pan: niños que viajaban solos desde Cuba, enviados por sus padres para librarlos de la sociedad comunista que se implantaba en Cuba.Es un vívido ejemplo de todos los logros que se pueden obtener con sacrificios en un país libre que generosamente te acoge. Después de leer esta obra se aprecian más las libertades y oportunidades en medio de las cuales vivimos.

Waiting for Snow in Havana

A very good look into what Cuban life was like for the upper middle class in Havana during their revolution.

Magical evocation of innocence lost

Carlos Eire has created a memorable record of his childhood in Havana writng beautifully of his lovely surroundings populated by colorful characters, many of them related to him. The shadow of impending doom in the shape of Fidel's revolution slowly but relentlessly advances over this idylic scene and ultimately results in his secure world and his family being torn apart.This book brilliantly combines a distinctly Cuban coming of age tale with a view into Cuba at the time of the revolution as experienced through the eyes of a comfortable middle class child.Eire's writing is so evocative of the feelings he associates with the various episodes in his early life that the reader is drawn into his experience in a very visceral way.I thought this book was beautifully written and at times emotionally wrenching. A wonderful eye-opening read . Highest reccomendation.

Miserere mei, Domine, Cubanus sum.

Carlos Eire's ironic yet desperately needful alteration of St. Jerome's prayer: " Have mercy on me, Lord, I am a Cuban. "-----------------------------------------------------------------Hundreds of books have been written about the horrors inflicted on the Cuban people by Castro, or to call him by the official title he bestowed upon himself, in a characteristic moment of humility, " The Maximum Leader. " Some have been written by survivors of Casro's prison camps, or by other Cubans, who nowdays are as bewildered as they are angered when some Hollywood Celeb--or some other famous twit-- makes a trip to Havana to shoot the breeze with Fidel. (Pol Pot and Nero being unavailable) And come back singing his praises. For Carlos Eire, his reawakening came in the aftermath of the Elian Gonzales affair. Carlos knew the kid was being sent back to hell by a sleazy administration under the eyes of a largely uncaring American public.Eire had done well for himself. A happily married family man and a respected professor at Yale, he thought he had put his Cuban past behind him, that it was no longer was capable of hurting him.He was wrong. As he admitted on T.V., He became wildly frantic and was unable to know a moment's peace until he finished writing his story, the confessions of a boy growing up in Havana at the time of Castro's takeover. For a hurriedly written memoir, this is a magnificent masterpiece. More poignant than the graphic documentations of tortured prisoners. Eire is truly an amazing writer. He weaves vivid imagery and dark humor into a fast paced, fascinating tale. As he states in his preamble: " This is not a work of fiction. But the author would like it to be. "This is a Greek tragedy set in the Caribbean. Fate may not be personified, but it's there, whether one calls it luck or any other name. Moderns who are into positive thinking may not relate to that aspect of it; Sophocles would have no problem. But for anyone who appreciates great writing, this work leaves one stunned by its brilliance and its honesty.