Customer Reviews

Cuba: The Land of Miracles: A Journey Through Modern Cuba

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I disagree with an earlier reviewer -- this is indeed a travel journal. The author describes his experience living temporarily in Cuba, and the tango lessons and the cult ceremony are all part of that. However, my primary objection is that he writes in either an extremely British style, or in a haughty style (it might be a mixture of both). I read a lot in many genres, but many times I found myself saying "What is he talking about?!"

Interesting subject; mediocre book.

Ok, so I may have approached this book from the wrong angle. I sort of expected a travel journal kind of book, covering the interesting corners of Cuba, but that's not what it is. Instead it's just a limited number of topics related a little bit to Cuba, but more to the author himself. (The author taking tango lessons, the author paying good money to participate in a religious cult ceremony, the author describing his lack of success in and nervousness of arranging an interview with Fidel Castro, the author seeking out places he's read about or seen in a movie, the author almost becoming romantically involved with his official guide, and so on.)

At times the author approaches funniness, but he soon leaves that trail. A lot of his references have to do with obscure British personalities, maybe it would make more sense to an Englishman than to a Norwegian like me.

Stephen Smith is no traveller, he is a reporter or a journalist who spent a long time in Cuba, but who seldom could be tempted to leave Havana. I wanted to read about Cuba, not about lazy people at the Cuban press centre or a bland piece about there being prostitutes in Cuba despite the official claim that there are none.

For a travelogue, look elsewhere! For an introduction to life in Havana, maybe it's good enough, but I found it lacking in many respects.

This is a good book about life in Cuba in the mid-nineties, and not much has changed 6 years on, so most of the content is not out of date. He conveys a good sense of what Cuban daily life is. Smith is a careful observer, though not as careful a researcher of facts and figures; his analysis is a bit superficial and unsystematic.

The main problem I have with the book is that the author is too egocentric. The word "I" must appear a million time, and the prose often reads more like a book about the author himself than about Cuba. Would have been better if he had taken a bit of a step back here and there.