Customer Reviews

Blessed by Thunder: Memoir of a Cuban Girlhood

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
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At age 10, I went to Girl Scout camp, where I cooked outdoors, got in trouble for playing pranks, spent the days hiking and swimming, and went home after a week. At age 10, the author and her schoolmates were taken out of school and forced into a labor camp where they ate wormy food (when they had it), got in serious trouble for not following the Communist party line, spent the days picking tobacco, and did this for TWO YEARS! Makes you think just how ineffective the Castro system really is, doesn't it? This book should be required reading for those Anglos like me who are trying to understand the Cuban-American experience.

What a beautifully spirited young woman you share w/us Flor. Her familial and spiritual support and courage to endure through much adversity make this a very inspiring read. There are many stories of struggle under the Castro regim, but this is the first gift of the view through the eyes of a child. Mil Gracias!!

Flor's written her memoir in the voice of the young girl who watched her life, home and family be taken away from her. It is quite a powerful story in its own right and amazing to think of the plight she and her family endured. What is even more inspiring is the way she remained connected to her Cuban roots and found strength in the memories and lessons of her family.

"...Flor Fernandez Barrios, in Blessed By Thunder, ushers readers into startling proximity to a Cuba seen through the eyes of a woman whose childhood was both shaped and shattered by the beautiful island. Like the most powerful of fiction or nonfiction coming-of-age tales, the book is rich with tactile memories, laced with the scents of strong Cuban coffee, tobacco and jasmine blossoms, freshly fried plaintains, and much more....The indelible quality of Barrios' observations, specific and true, make Blessed by Thunder an important chronicle of the Cuban experience. Not only that, but her voice stands alongside those of Hispanic writers such as Oscar Hijuelos, Kathleen Alcala, Isable Allende, Laura Esquivel, Rudolfo Anaya, and others in revealing the way in which spirits inhabit the very elements of life....In the voice of a survivor who has both culled the strongest roots of her Cuban culture and looked forward to a rebuilt life in America..., Flor Fernandez Barrios moves readers beyond politics and into the depths of the healing heart." --Marlene Blessing, The Bloomsbury Review

What a superb memoir Ms. Fernandez has written! Not only is it beatifully written, but it is also a historical important book. Blessed by Thunder chronicles the little known child labor camps that exist in Cuba to this day by someone who was there. Ms. Fernandez learned magic from her grandmother and her nanny and she weaves a mean literary spell.

Blessed By Thunder is a stunning achievement and a heartfelt story about what it is to grow up too quickly, what it is to lose your home and your country and to find yourself in the land of magnificent promises and deferred dreams... America! Flor Fernandez Barrios has written an exceptional memoir that recounts shocking stories of the layers and layers of betrayal and deception the Cuban people have endured through Castro's four-decade-old revolution. As the child of Cuban exiles I devour books about that mysterious jewel of an island called Cuba...so near and yet so far.... We are Blessed by writers such as Fernandez Barrios who has pierced the exotic veil of this intoxicating neighbor of ours and who has laced her stories with wrenching details of how ordinary lives have been touched by this larger world event. Her memoir is elegant and deeply provoking and her stories stay with you long after the book is done.

As I read on, I felt as though it was MY OWN story! I, too came from Cuba at 15 and being the author's age went through most of the same experiences. It's about time that we put it out there for non Cuban-Americans to know. There is NOTHING fun, romantic or exotic about Cuba. Castro's is a bloody dictatorship that destroys human beings! I admire the author for her courage. She has inspired me to some day tell my own story.

Marina, Pembroke Pines, Florida

I thank God daily for the decision my parents made when sending me alone out of Cuba . Since my parents thought that they could say they were going on vacation, they had also packed to leave with me but the militia was too wise for that and held my mom's and dad's visa at the docks since they had not left everything to the government.At the precise moment they decided to send me alone (8-05-61)on the last cargo ferry that left Havana with sugar,under the care of Pedro Pan Operation. I was starting fourth grade that September of 1961 and I would have gone through the same ordeal Teresa went through. I admire Flor Teresa for the loyalty to her parents and family, for her courage of making the best of the moment and for her maturity at such young age. I believe that young as well as old will get teachings from this book. Teachingsof survival, of meeting with your goals, of distinguishing what is right from what is wrong and of giving a value to the simple things in life. As an adult Flor Teresa must be an extraordinary human being.

The author tells her story with humor, grace and compassion, focusing on the human story of what happens to the people caught up in political turmoil and whirlwinds. There are tears lightened by laughter and the human details of life in political upheaval. And the strength of the women of the author's family shines throughout the narrative. Brava and let's hear more from this author.

I too felt blessed by thunder, as a reader, I was catapulted into a world never known to me, a world of terror and loss of homeland & workcamps, Courage,determination, deep family values and a spiritual heritage held the glue of her world. This work is a catlayst for the spirit and a homeage to the blessings that life has to offer