24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
couldn't put it down!, March 22, 1999
By A Customer
I have lived in Miami 39 years. Every day I think of Cuba, talk about Cuba and hear the exile's radio. I thought I knew a lot about life in Cuba - the missery, the control - but never, imagined how horrible life could be for the cubans - Alina's description is a revelation. Life put her in a difficult - to say the least - position. I'm happy she was able to leave hell behind!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
best look inside castro's cuba to date, January 11, 1999
By A Customer
alina fernandez must have nerves made of pig iron to have survived the life she did in cuba as a young girl. her book paints a picture of a world so alien and biased that i feel i have finally read what modern day cuba is all about.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
26 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Look for commies to discredit this book, May 4, 2004
By A Customer
This is a great book, written by Fidel Castro's own daughter. Would you question her authenticity? I think not. Knowing the extent that the Cuban government's propaganda campaign will go to in order to discredit her, would you think that another reader named Cube could be spouting out the same rhetoric?
Cube, you are a bigger clown than Castro. You regurgitate the same excuses used on the island. Everyone knows that the United States is only 35% of the world's economy and Cuba trades with the rest of the world - do the math yourself. Everyone knows that the reason Cubans are starving is because all funds are diverted to exporting communism: in Colombia (FARC), in Venezuela (Hugo Chavez), in Brazil (Lula) in Nicaragua (Sandinistas), in El Salvador (FMLN), in Africa, in Vietnam, in Grenada, and in the United States (wasn't Lee Harvey Oswald distributing Pro-Castro leaflets just before Kennedy was assassinated?). The planes shot down in 1996 were flying in international waters looking for Cubans, like yourself, who chose to leave the island on a raft rather than live under this regime. You yourself live in Brazil - did you leave for a better life, or are you working for the Cuban government like your father? The percentages you quote ("95% of the population was starving, living in the streets, illiterate, poorly educated, had no job opportunity, etc. the other 5% lived in mansions, ate the finest food, bathed everyday, slept on a matress, etc") closely resemble what is presently happening in Cuba. Under Batista, the 5% represented wealthy land owners; under Castro, that 5% represents government officials.
Universal health care in Cuba translates to a lack of medical supplies - try and find gauze for your wounds or stitches for your surgery. Education is simply indoctrination. There exists no access to outside news agencies (the only news in Cuba is the official government news agency). Try and find a book written by George Orwell (himself an admitted socialist) or better yet, find a book by Ayn Rand. What a wonderful education system that jails individuals for up to 30 years simply for possessing books like these. In Oliver Stone's movie, Castro proudly states that "in Cuba, even our prostitutes have College Degrees." Ever wonder why someone with a college degree would have to turn to prostitution?
The true prostitutes in Cuba are those who relinquish their souls to this hateful ideology called 'communism.' It has failed everywhere, and Alina Fernandez provides an incredible insight into the results of this antiquated political system. The book is titled, "Castro's Daughter: An Exile's Memoir of Cuba," not "An Exile's Memoir of a Poor Father."
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
