The Cutter (Pioneers of Modern Us Hispanic Literature) [Paperback]

Virgil Suarez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1999 | Series: Pioneers of Modern Us Hispanic Literature

Having at last finished his "voluntary" years in the Cuban military, Julian Campos is now ordered to volunteer more of his life in the sugar cane fields. Five years before, the authorities had refused to let young Julian leave the island when his parents emigrated to America. His one remaining hope is that if he cooperates fully, he too will at last be granted permission to go. But as abuse of Julian as a so-called "gusano" increases, his desperation grows, and he begins to consider cutting his own reckless path to freedom.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Julian Campos, having served Castro's Cuba as a soldier and sugarcane cutter, is presently a university student awaiting permission to emigrate. Five years earlier his parents were stopped at the airport and told that they could not take their son with them to America. They proceeded to get on the plane, leaving Julian in the care of his grandmother. Now the young man has finally been notified that he, too, may leave, but only if he first agrees to an additional six months of "voluntary" work for the state's Ten-Million-Ton Sugarcane Program. Julian does his time--hard labor in the fields while living in barracks behind barbed wire fences. The news of his grandmother's death is withheld from him for weeks, and he is locked up when he protests. Finally, he is informed that he is being sent back to the army. Fed up, Julian joins a clandestine group planning to take a boat to Florida under cover of night. In direct and uncluttered prose, Suarez's ( Latin Jazz ) powerful novel about one individual's response to the abuses and arbitrariness of totalitarianism shows us how ordinary people can be driven to take extraordinary risks.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A fast-paced narrative characterized by brief, action-packed chapters." -- Multicultural Review, June 1999

"A stark account of life in Castro's Cuba." -- Kirkus Reviews

"The novel's pace is breathless . . . Virgil Suarez is a great writer with a great deal to say . . . Spectacular." -- Joyce Sweeney, The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Arte Publico Pr (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558852492
• ISBN-13: 978-1558852495
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,606,492 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, yes, yes--a winner! ! !, April 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cutter (Pioneers of Modern Us Hispanic Literature) (Paperback)

Boy, Suarez is a fine writer. I've read four of his books now and each one is a keeper. What a pleasure it is to read the work of a true language craftsman! Bravo!

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book for Gusanos, December 29, 2000

By 

Theodore A. Rushton (PHOENIX, Arizona United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cutter (Pioneers of Modern Us Hispanic Literature) (Paperback)

This is a perfect book for the "Gusanos" of Miami and elsewhere who want to restore the Batista horrors in Cuba; but, it is genuinely disappointing for anyone who wants to learn about modern Cuba.

The author, born in Cuba in 1962, left when he was eight years old. Such is his expertise. I was in Cuba when Fidel Castro took power, and never heard a kind word about the thugs and murderers the Batista regime inflicted upon Cubans in order to maintain their pampered privilege. The book offers no sympathy or understanding of what life was like under Batista; but, it's filled with the so-called horrors of life in Cuba since then.

Granted, there are Russians who genuinely miss the law, order and good government of Joseph Stalin. So, it's hardly surprising there are Cubans who miss the good ol' days of Batista, when it really meant something to have money, power, position and privilege. This book is little more than a pampered pout about the passing of the old regime; anyone who wants to get a feeling about what it is like to live under tyranny needs only read `One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch."

Most patriotic Cubans who have any sense of the history of their people are grateful for the many accomplishments of the Castro regime. Having achieved a great deal, they want to be free to accomplish much more on their own. Their disillusionment with Castro is not that he made life better for 80 percent of the people; it's that he's terrified of giving people the freedom to make life better for themselves.

The Cuban success in the US is remarkable, and shows what free Cubans can accomplish. But, they did not need to condemn 80 percent of their fellows to poverty and misery to succeed. In Cuba, the tyranny of Batista kept most of the population in poverty and terror; now, the tyranny of Castro keeps the majority of the population from soaring to the heights of their own individual success. Batista produced terror, Castro produces mediocrity. Take your pick as to which is worse.

Suarez shows no signs of understanding the difference. That makes this a great book for Gusanos, but useless for anyone interested in modern Cuba or the difference between tyranny and the freedom to be an individual.