Customer Reviews

Cuba

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I lifted up this book in the library and thought to give this author a try, rarely do I read "Chick Lit" books but this one was pretty good. I couldn't helped but to feel sorry for Maggie also. Maggie just needed help but unfortunately it took her YEARS to realize this.
Maggie moved to the seashore to get a fresh start after breaking up with her boyfriend, but she didn't imagine her new life would be so lonely. So when she accidentally discovers she can overhear everything going on in the next flat, she can't herself from listening in to her neighbors David and Libby. Now David and Libby just recently had a baby boy name Charlie. Libby is finding full time motherhood tedious and discovered that this is not her nitch being a house wife. Just when she thinks she's persuaded David that she should go back to her job as a high powered lawyer, he announces he's taking a sabbatical to spend six months in Cuba learning Spanish and thinking that it would shed some light into the family. The travel bug is of course contagious so when Maggie overhears there trip she also decided to pack her bags and join them in a coincidental way.
Emily Barr description of Cuba was great and made you feel as though you was there. I wouldn't mine reading her other novels due to the fact that this book had caught my attention. I do too recommend this book.

That's right, two well-developed characters, Maggie and Libby.
And as in _Backpack_, there are no developed, believable male characters. But I'm finally catching on--that's intentional on Barr's part. I'm beginning to understand why they call it CHICK lit.

But like Dostoyevsky, Barr has the ability to make me interested in her characters, to hope that their plans work even when what they are doing is downright despicable. Yeah, like I felt for Raskolnikov, so do I feel for Maggie.

As with _Backpack_, Barr goes the whole nine yards in her denouement--someone needs to tell her that it's not necessary to cross every t in the conclusion.

Anyway, I've got a copy of _Baggage_ to read next, so I guess I'm an Emily Barr fan.

Yuppies David and Libby argue whether they should go on sabbatical and travel along with their newborn for a year or so. Bored playing house mother though she loves her child, Libby wants to say yes to David's pleadings, but wonders if that is a good idea for their baby. As they debate the issue of travels with Charlie, their new neighbor lonely Maggie hears everything through the paper thin walls. She becomes excited especially when the couple next door decides to go to CUBA.

Maggie decides to join her new best friend Libby and her lover David in Havana though neither of the couple is aware of their new roles in their thirty year old neighbor's life. In Havana, Maggie sets in motion a plan to accomplish her agenda starting with babysitting little Charlie.

Emily Barr takes her usual theme (see BACKPACK and BAGGAGE) of a young couple on the road in environs that neither one is prepared for as recriminations fling back and forth threatening relationships. Though somewhat by the numbers, the story line avoids going too deep into a melodramatic stalking plot by emphasizing the characters starting with Maggie's mental state and the flaws of the yuppie couple that jeopardizes their marriage. Fans of on the road and readers of psychological suspense (except travel agents) will appreciate Ms. Barr's skills of placing everyday people in extraordinary scenarios that test their mettle.

Harriet Klausner

Maggie moved to Brighton to get away from Edinburgh, where she was dumped by her boyfriend. Maggie's family thinks she is working for American Express but she actually has a job as a stripper. She is lonely and sad, so when she buys a baby monitor for her sister and tries it out, she discovers she can hear her neighbors, David and Libby, through their baby monitor and Maggie can't stop listening.
When she discovers that they are planning to move to Cuba for six months, Maggie follows them there and "runs into" David at a language class and soon she has enmeshed herself into their lives.
But Maggie is just avoiding past demons and it will take an old friend to help her through this obsession with David and Libby, before anyone gets hurt.

my review: This is a fantastic book, one I have read before. I hate that it is billed as chick-lit. It IS NOT! Maggie has some serious issues and is not just a girl looking for love or to get over a bad break-up.

I try to look back on it and to force myself to enjoy, retrospectively, the feeling of being touched and desired. I can't do it. I hated it. I loathed every single moment....I am cheap. I feel exactly like I used to feel at Vixenz. I have once again, exposed by body to a stranger. This time it wasn't even for money. I don't know why I did it.

Maggie's frenemy Yasmin follows her to Cuba after a ten year separation when Yasmin stole Maggie's high school boyfriend. Both are great characters as well as Libby and David and the trails and tribulations of their marriage. The plot is very interesting and takes the reader to unexpected places. The setting in Cuba is wonderful and believable. This is a very well-written book and one I highly recommend!

my rating 4.75/5

I thought Emily Barr did a wonderful job of getting into the mind of a woman. The insecurities, the emotional games, the love we have for our children no matter how hard it is. I'm going to make my husband read it so maybe he will understand me and my crazy mind a little better. Is also great for realizing how the little things can be huge blessings!

Cuba, like most of her novels, starts of slow. As a matter of fact half way through the book I was wondering why I was reading it. The characters seemed to be transparent and left little to the imagination. The mom, crazy girl and slut all seemed to fill their niches rather well. But, towards the end of the book you start to see all of the driving factors. The history that lay beneath each is reviled slowly and you begin to understand every motion. I would recommend this book and ask that readers give it a chance past the first half.

After reading the great reviews that Cuba was given, I thought I might give it a shot...i'm a true 'chick lit' lover. I was thoroughly disappointed! The story, drags on and on in a lackluster way. I found myself skimming through the pages just to get through them. I thought for sure there was something I was missing and that the story had to get better; I wasn't missing anything and it never got any better. It was unrealistic, boring and I couldn't wait for it to end...This was my first Emily Barr book, I'm afraid to judge on the first one, but I'd have to say I don't plan on reading anymore of her stuff anytime soon...

Maggie is a lonely girl. She recently parted with her boyfriend of 6 years, her parents live in France, and her sister lives a couple hours away and is about to have a baby. Maggie has many secrets. She tells people that she works for Amex (American Express) but she actually has a job that she is ashamed of. There are things in her past that need to be kept private. She doesn't get close to anyone.

While buying baby monitors for her sisters soon-to-come baby, she notices that they pick up on the frequency of her neighbors' monitors. From then on, it's like a fun soap opera she never knew existed. Libby and David also live in the building with their baby Charlie, and David wants to take a sabbatical off work and move to Cuba to learn Spanish.

Libby, who had a life as a lawyer before she met David is not happy, but does it anyway. Maggie realizes that she can't let go of the psuedo-friends who don't know her...yet. She also picks up and moves to Cuba, while gently trying to invade their lives.

At first, I started to think, this is a lonely, sad, girl. I did feel sorry for her, though she seemed slightly pathetic. She obviously has problems, and they eventually come to a head in Cuba. Will they befriend her? Even if they find out the horrible truths from her past?

Emily Barr writes as someone who has been on a lot of adventures to exotic locales and keeps you interested throughout. I definitely recommend reading Cuba.