A review by ioana_cis
Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
5.0
//listened to the audiobook in a day - cleaning around the house, riding outside, on 1.5x speed.
Loved the story - initially choosen to be read for the Around the World Reading challenge (one book per country) so i was not that high in my expectations. Later figured out that Chanel was born in USA and wrote this from family memories so .. i guess it does not qualify to Cuban writer? Or does she?
Back to the story - i liked the splitting by now pretty used between to timelines that overlap in a person - this case the niece that travels back with her grandmother ashes to Cuba and meets her past there.
The chapter exchange, and the real events in history mix with personal stories and lives. Being in Cuba a few years back, it brought me there, in Miramar, Malecon, Old Center, Notel National and made me crave a Ropa Vieja. I could easily follow the narative and even if it is not the best and more outstanding writting i enjoyed reading it and was eager to see how it develops. I also did not know it is a series and now i am looking for part 2.
Marisol travels to Cuba with her Grandmother's ashes and she is welcome by decices childhood friend - Anna's grandson Luis which is a history profesor and also a bit of a rebel against the cuban administration. She discovers Cuba with his help and .. of course.. falls in love. She also finds a tresure that was digged under a banana tree and she finds out her grandmother had a relation with a revolutionary man that turns out to be her original grandfather. She enbarks into finding him just to end up saved by him when Luis is improsioned. The Perez name.
They escape Cuba with the promise of Next Year in Havana..
Loved the story - initially choosen to be read for the Around the World Reading challenge (one book per country) so i was not that high in my expectations. Later figured out that Chanel was born in USA and wrote this from family memories so .. i guess it does not qualify to Cuban writer? Or does she?
Back to the story - i liked the splitting by now pretty used between to timelines that overlap in a person - this case the niece that travels back with her grandmother ashes to Cuba and meets her past there.
The chapter exchange, and the real events in history mix with personal stories and lives. Being in Cuba a few years back, it brought me there, in Miramar, Malecon, Old Center, Notel National and made me crave a Ropa Vieja. I could easily follow the narative and even if it is not the best and more outstanding writting i enjoyed reading it and was eager to see how it develops. I also did not know it is a series and now i am looking for part 2.
Marisol travels to Cuba with her Grandmother's ashes and she is welcome by decices childhood friend - Anna's grandson Luis which is a history profesor and also a bit of a rebel against the cuban administration. She discovers Cuba with his help and .. of course.. falls in love. She also finds a tresure that was digged under a banana tree and she finds out her grandmother had a relation with a revolutionary man that turns out to be her original grandfather. She enbarks into finding him just to end up saved by him when Luis is improsioned. The Perez name.
They escape Cuba with the promise of Next Year in Havana..