Customer Reviews

Bridges to Cuba / Puentes a Cuba

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Bridges to Cuba is a collection of art, poetry, personal essays, and fiction written by Cubans on both sides of the straits of Florida.

A magnificent attempt to bring together all who are Cuban by birth, to share the complexities of what it has been like to be separated these many years. The submissions in this book capture magnificently the diversity of experiences, thoughts, emotions and conflicts caused by the separation of Cubans from each other, and for many, from the land of their birth. Having been born in Cuba and having lived in the U.S. for the last forty years, the contributions in this book spoke personally to me in a way that nothing I have ever read before has done. But the beauty of this book and the gift Behar has given, is to present the challenges and emotional depth of separation that all us feel in our lives. Each contribution gives us a different perspective, a unique view of the subject, and a deeper understanding of what it is like to be separated from that and those which we love.

Ruth, thank you.

It has been over ten years already since this anthology was first published, but the writings, photos, art, and interviews contained within it are still as stimulating, inspiring and necessary as when Behar's beautifully edited book first came out. Despite what was hoped for in the mid-90's, relations between Cuba and the United States have worsened and it seems that the possibility for dialogue between the two countries has narrowed even further. But at least we have the dialogue that Behar has so elegantly revealed in this volume.
Bridges to Cuba presents a diversity of perspectives in an attempt to piece back together the fragments of what politics and exile have divided. An excellent interview with poet Nancy Morejon succinctly summarizes this project. Morejon says, "the miracle that we could hold a conversation. That we could confront each other. Without imposing exile as a precondition, and without us imposing the precondition of being revolutionary islanders... it was only through [Cuban] culture that we could establish those links, recognize each other" (134).
The conversations are physical, between Cubans on the island and exiled Cubans, as well as intertextual. Fundamentally, however, this book converses with the reader, challenging his or her notions of the Cuba that resides in the popular imagination. Until the embargo is lifted, this book is the closest the average American reader can get to Cuba.

I had the pleasure of being a student of Ms. Behar and she is a wonderful woman. It's no surprise that her book is as informative and exciting as the class. I only wish I had asked her to sign it...