servemethesky's review against another edition
3.0
This book was...mildly interesting. The writing is beautiful, but that's just about all I have to say for the book. Maybe it's the kind of thing you won't understand unless you're Cuban. I just felt very detached, never really connecting with the narrator or her mother. [a:Roxane Gay|3360355|Roxane Gay|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1407278304p2/3360355.jpg]'s novel, [b:An Untamed State|27865163|An Untamed State|Roxane Gay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1448023315s/27865163.jpg|26127435], about a woman's tangled relationship with Haiti was more powerful and poignant for me than this book about a Cuban exile.
The pictures were fun to look at, though!
The pictures were fun to look at, though!
whatevermarlene's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.5
emmyelizabeth's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book is just beautiful. An exploration of memory, culture, family, legacy, heritage, history, love, loss, and so much more in less than 230 pages. It left me with the incredible sensation of time moving through me. Truly a work of art.
alexplores's review against another edition
3.0
Alright, so about this book. I really like the way it was written, though I was confused at so many parts. Who's speaking? Who's dead, and who's not dead? The context of which the book was written was so good that I was able to overlook all of this, though. I just wish I could have known a few more details.
Like: Is Che alive at the end of the book? Is Calixto? And who's speaking at the beginning?
But all in all, it was a good read.
Like: Is Che alive at the end of the book? Is Calixto? And who's speaking at the beginning?
But all in all, it was a good read.
sundaydutro's review against another edition
3.0
A beautiful book. I kept having to remind myself that it’s fiction. I was going to give it 4 stars but I feel like it was missing something and I’m not even sure what... I wanted more out of it though. It feels like the book pushed to an end instead of flowed. The first part being very poetic and the second part being very straightforward. I guess I was hoping for more poetry.
pepper1133's review against another edition
1.0
Oh my God, this was awful. I had to create the "couldn't finish reading" category just for this book. Please don't bother with this drivel. Read something by Allende or Alvarez instead. Those authors are who this one wants to be, but she fails miserably at it.
thatwhichmeowsalsohisses's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
i really liked this book. it was a super and easy light read but also very well written. it’s romantic but not grossly graphic or cliche, but very beautifully described and poetic.
dylannleigh's review against another edition
4.0
The first section is an intriguing opening. The second section is so beautifully written I frequently read excerpts aloud to myself to enjoy the sound. But the third....it just feels almost like a draft. Like unedited diary pages. Certain scenes felt pointless and took too long while hugely important things were addressed and wrapped up in a few paragraphs. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this very much. If you have an interest in Cuba, I would recommend this book very much.
jessferg's review against another edition
3.0
My Amazon review: With beautiful imagery and intriguing language, Menendez has created a mysterious and intriguing story about love, family, and revolutionary Cuba.
This enchanting diptych of a novel begins in standard form with the narrator questioning her childhood in Miami and expressing her frustration at the lack of information she is able to get from her grandfather about her past and her parents. When a mysterious package arrives filled with letters and photos, the novel takes a stylistic turn and we are thrust into a wholly different life; the life of an artist in Cuba in the 1950s. In brief and beautifully written vignettes, these "letters" seemingly explain the narrator's mother's life and her clandestine affair with Che Guevara.
A return to the narrator's voice at the end of the novel details a renewed search for her mother using the information that has been revealed in the letters. While at the heart of the matter the question seems to be whether or not the narrator is the daughter of Che Guevara, the narrator focuses on her search for her mother and Guevara seems to be an afterthought.
While the initial change in narrative is slightly jarring, it is reflective of how we remember and of how and what one chooses to tell about ones life. The return of the narrator's voice is a smooth transition and further illuminates the letters and the difficulty in both sharing secrets and yet keeping them. As Teresa writes to her daughter "...life is not a tidy narrative.... We learn this late. These scraps of memory that become untethered from the rest, flapping disconsolately in the wind, these memories are the most important of all. Memories like these remind us that life is also loose ends, small events that have no bearing on the story we come to write of ourselves."
This enchanting diptych of a novel begins in standard form with the narrator questioning her childhood in Miami and expressing her frustration at the lack of information she is able to get from her grandfather about her past and her parents. When a mysterious package arrives filled with letters and photos, the novel takes a stylistic turn and we are thrust into a wholly different life; the life of an artist in Cuba in the 1950s. In brief and beautifully written vignettes, these "letters" seemingly explain the narrator's mother's life and her clandestine affair with Che Guevara.
A return to the narrator's voice at the end of the novel details a renewed search for her mother using the information that has been revealed in the letters. While at the heart of the matter the question seems to be whether or not the narrator is the daughter of Che Guevara, the narrator focuses on her search for her mother and Guevara seems to be an afterthought.
While the initial change in narrative is slightly jarring, it is reflective of how we remember and of how and what one chooses to tell about ones life. The return of the narrator's voice is a smooth transition and further illuminates the letters and the difficulty in both sharing secrets and yet keeping them. As Teresa writes to her daughter "...life is not a tidy narrative.... We learn this late. These scraps of memory that become untethered from the rest, flapping disconsolately in the wind, these memories are the most important of all. Memories like these remind us that life is also loose ends, small events that have no bearing on the story we come to write of ourselves."