Seventeen-year-old Sonia, a medical student with dreams of becoming a modernist painter, is caught up in Fidel Castro’s revolution from the moment it captures Havana on New Year’s Eve 1958. While her eccentric mother hatches an increasingly desperate series of plans to flee Cuba, Sonia joins the militia and volunteers as a medic at the Bay of Pigs — where she encounters her mortally wounded high school sweetheart as an enemy fighter, then is arrested and tortured for treating another CIA-trained brigadier. Scarred, yet clinging to her revolutionary ideals, she seeks fulfillment in an artists’ collective, only to be further disillusioned by increasing repression under Castro. Finally, she flees to America where she has been a painter and influential arts activist.
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Book Description
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This dramatic account of the experiences of a young woman named Sonya during the Cuban revolution is based on the experiences of Lockpez. The narrative traces Sonya as she transforms from an idealist revolutionary studying to be a surgeon to a dissident artist who realizes she must flee her beloved but troubled country. Along the way, she witnesses carnage, is imprisoned and tortured, and is separated from her family. In the midst of the chaos, she also finds love. Haspiel, who has known Lockpez for over 20 years, provides striking illustrations that chart Sonya's shifting emotions and alliances; particularly strong are the surrealist depictions of her dreams and her ordeal in prison. Painter José Villarubia adds tones and shades of red that further intensify the story. At times Lockpez relies too heavily on clunky exposition explaining the history of Cuba and Castro, although some readers may find the context helpful. It is impossible to deny the power of Lockpez's dramatic coming-of-age story, which make the human cost of the revolution all too clear. (Sept.) (c)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From School Library Journal
Gr 10 Up–This memoir is an excellent example of the graphic novel's ability to make pain visible. Opening panels dated December 31, 1958, introduce Sonya, fashionably dressed in vibrant red, looking forward to a new year with Fidel Castro's overthrow of the Batista regime and a new hope for Cuba. "I feel a new beginning has come for my country. Finally the justice and equality we have yearned for is about to happen." Sonya gets caught up with the fervor of this movement and renounces her plans to study art. Instead she joins the military and commences medical studies in her zeal to bring positive change to her beloved country. However, life in Cuba becomes progressively worse. This is signaled visually by the change to a black-and-white palette. She is imprisoned and tortured by her own country. Her mother, stepfather, and infant sister are finally able to leave, but Sonya stubbornly refuses to go, clinging to her dreams and ideals. The final panel reveals her tear-stained face, etched with the years of pain and horror as she finally leaves Cuba. "I don't know right from wrong anymore. What happened to the principles we believed in five years ago? I'm always afraid, all the time. All the time." The pain is both visually and verbally palpable. Due to graphic depictions of violence and nudity this searing account is most appropriate for mature readers.Barbara M. Moon, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Wednesday afternoon I went into Manhattan to see Dean Haspiel at a book signing for CUBA: MY REVOLUTION and get my copy. I always tell Dean I want to come out for his events and buy his books but something always comes up to keep me home. Not this time. I've been looking forward to this book for a long time -- at least a year, I think, starting when I dropped in to say hello to Dean at the Deep6 studio and saw him working on the first two pages. They looked great, and I could see he was working hard on it, piling up reference material and always bent over his drawing board. More than once as I stopped in to see him he'd end a conversation with, "I'd love to keep chatting but I really have to work," which is one brush-off I'll never feel bad about.
I just finished reading CUBA: MY REVOLUTION. It is truly a great work. At first I was unsure about it: The writing seemed a little stilted, a little didactic, with a "translated from the Spanish" cadence to it. But a funny thing happened a few pages into the story. I became enveloped. I was drawn in. I found myself completely involved in the story. I was no longer reading words and looking at drawings. I was part of the story, swept up, deeply invested in each moment. The book achieves that wonderful thing that happens in only the best comics, when the story and images blend together into a perfect seamless whole that carries the reader along. The total effect is helped, too, by the perfect colors of José Villarrubia.
CUBA: MY REVOLUTION probably deserves to be placed with Art Spiegelman's MAUS (The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale (No 1)) as one of the great historical, biographical comics of all time.
I just finished reading CUBA: MY REVOLUTION. It is truly a great work. At first I was unsure about it: The writing seemed a little stilted, a little didactic, with a "translated from the Spanish" cadence to it. But a funny thing happened a few pages into the story. I became enveloped. I was drawn in. I found myself completely involved in the story. I was no longer reading words and looking at drawings. I was part of the story, swept up, deeply invested in each moment. The book achieves that wonderful thing that happens in only the best comics, when the story and images blend together into a perfect seamless whole that carries the reader along. The total effect is helped, too, by the perfect colors of José Villarrubia.
CUBA: MY REVOLUTION probably deserves to be placed with Art Spiegelman's MAUS (The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale (No 1)) as one of the great historical, biographical comics of all time.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brave and hard hitting memory told in pictures that capture the essense of the story.
September 18, 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Cuba:My Revolution connected a lot of dots for me (in a human way) about a part of history that I've never quite understood. This one woman's journey to discover herself and the true identity of her home country tells the part of history that was not taught in any classroom I attended. The passion and emotion expressed through the author's storytelling and the artist's images are compelling. There is enough factual information combined with the story of the family and Sonya that it is easy to let yourself become completely involved. Sonya becomes a person who the reader begins to care about and pray for....and I found myself begging her to listen to those around her and get out of Cuba...only to feel devastated at was she loses as she leaves it behind.
I'm not sure what is braver: to have lived this or to tell the story of having lived it, but Inverna Lockpez has told a story that can not be forgotten. The story of Sonya made me feel grateful for having been born in a privileged place and thankful for living in a time period that gives women a voice. It also made me realize that questioning the voices of authority is not only wise but necessary. The images created by Dean Haspiel will be the short path in my mind's eye to the moments in the story that haunt me and they will help me remember what is so important not to forget.
This format, the graphic novel, is fairly new to me, but I am definitely starting to understand how combining storytelling and picturetelling can be powerful. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the medium; I recommend completely. You do not have to be a fan of graphic novel's to appreciate this book, but it may make you one.
I'm not sure what is braver: to have lived this or to tell the story of having lived it, but Inverna Lockpez has told a story that can not be forgotten. The story of Sonya made me feel grateful for having been born in a privileged place and thankful for living in a time period that gives women a voice. It also made me realize that questioning the voices of authority is not only wise but necessary. The images created by Dean Haspiel will be the short path in my mind's eye to the moments in the story that haunt me and they will help me remember what is so important not to forget.
This format, the graphic novel, is fairly new to me, but I am definitely starting to understand how combining storytelling and picturetelling can be powerful. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the medium; I recommend completely. You do not have to be a fan of graphic novel's to appreciate this book, but it may make you one.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
When I received Cuba: My Revolution, I have to tell you I started reading it immediately and couldn't put it down til l was done, I did take a break to make dinner, but went right back. It was rivoting. I was so capitivated by the story I needed to see what happened next. Deans pictures really drew me into the story. I am just devestated that it is a true story. One of many. But I feel like I know so much more now and understand even more what an incredible woman Inverna Lockpez is. My 11 year old son is asking me if he can read it. I am trying to figure out if he is mature enough. He loves history but it may be disturbing because he knows it really happened. So I have been recommending your book to everyone I know. Thanks so much for including us in your journey.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cuba illuminated
This graphic novel provides a first-person account of a conflict that's still awaiting history's final verdict. Read more
Published 3 months ago by SilverMind
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful and Unforgettable
Cuba, My Revolution opens on New Year's Eve, 1958. Sonya is 17 years old and a supporter of Fidel Castro. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Laura Lanik
5.0 out of 5 stars
WOW! Powerful in its simplicity.
When I first got the book I was upset that it was "a comic book". Once I read it, I realized what a powerful message it delivered in a sequence of simple illustrations. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Jose F Suarez
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great
I really loved this product, it gave me a lecture I couldn't have learned anywhere else. Fast shipping, perfect condition, and well priced. No problems with anything what so ever.
Published 19 months ago by Ed Dennis
5.0 out of 5 stars
Moving...idealism turned to disillusionment...
This is an excellent memoir...it elevates the graphic novel form to a genuinely literary level. I came from Cuba at age six, with my parents, through the so-called Freedom Flights. Read more
Published 19 months ago by MJ
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my favorite memoirs
I think it has to do with the Jim Jones cult committing mass suicide when I was a kid but I've always been fascinated with the ways people can trick themselves into believing some... Read more
Published on February 26, 2011 by Tim Lieder
5.0 out of 5 stars
My dad came over on the Pedro Pan flights in '61
I'm always interested in my dads heritage/past from cuba, so when I heard of this graphic novel it seemed interesting. Read more
Published on January 2, 2011 by James Morales
5.0 out of 5 stars
Breathtaking!
I have known Inverna Lockpez for ten years and much of the story she tells in "Cuba My Revolution," but I didn't know the details as I know them now. Read more
Published on October 20, 2010 by Alice Zeminsky
5.0 out of 5 stars
I couldn't put this book down!
I couldn't put this book down! The story was so compelling to read and to see unfold on the pages. I had to know what happened next. Read more
Published on October 8, 2010 by Leigh Shapleigh
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cuba: My Revolution
This inspired collaboration renders a courageous story with passionate intensity. The pages are filled with striking images that deepen the text--ranging from a close-up of the... Read more
Published on October 1, 2010 by Hertha Schulze
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