Author: Carlos Eire
Length: 400 pages
Waiting for Snow in Havana
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Description
“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 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.”
Janet Dore –
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/4
“[Fidel] was telling us what was good. Telling us how we should think. He was telling us what to choose and how to choose it. He was telling us we had no choice. And he was telling us we were free. Free at last.”
It’s unsettling when a quote about Fidel Castro sounds eerily familiar to the narratives we’re hearing today in supposedly democratic countries. This made me pay even closer attention to Carlos Eire’s story.
In his memoir, Carlos tells the story of his life in Cuba as a young boy until he boarded a plane at 11 years old with his older brother, and without his parents, bound for a new life in the U.S.
The lack of a cohesive timeline made this a challenging read for me. You never knew where you were going to be—in place and time—with each chapter, which caused some emotional disconnection. However, Carlos’ poetic writing drew me back and kept me interested until the end.
Another initial irritation for me was a lack of emotion given the serious shit that was going down in Carlos’ life. But, it clicked when I imagined how my own son would have handled some of the situations.
I realized that Carlos was authentically portraying how his young boy self deflected, projected, adapted, denied, and tried to make the best of all the craziness around him…exactly like most young boys would. Until he couldn’t any more. The moment I realized this was the moment my irritation turned to heartache.
Mission accomplished. I definitely have more insight into what happened to Cuba and her people when the Revolution hit in 1958…and, have so much more empathy for all who were displaced. Truly heartbreaking.