Dying To Get Here: A Story of Coming to America [Paperback]

Matt Lawrence (Author), Rusty Fischer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2004

Paco Robaina sits on the crumbling steps to his four-room hovel in a small Havana barrio, smoking a cigar and watching his two young sons play. He scans the street full of other scruffy neighborhood children and reflects back to his childhood; a grand life in a plantation style home, enjoying the rich, social life of Havana in the early 50's. At first, his family stayed when Fidel took power, while hordes of other Cuban professionals fled to Miami aboard the aptly-named "Freedom Flights" of the mid-1960s. When his relatives finally left, Paco stayed behind . . . believing. Now that he has a family of his own, the "what ifs" haunt him ...He'd worked hard maintaining his family's lives under the failing Cuban economy, but in Cuba, hard work is often not enough. Now unemployed, he spends his days watching his children; while his wife wanders the streets in vain attempts to meet the family's daily needs.Desperate and despondent over his past decisions, Paco dreams of a better life for himself and for his family, in the land freedom.His only fear is that freedom will be as elusive as the smoke from his cigar.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Author Matt Lawrence is the former Director of Special Projects for Freedom Flight International. A Florida native, Matt is a PDIC licensed SCUBA Instructor, Realtor and volunteer with the Marine Mammal Conservancy in the Florida Keys. He lives in South Florida between the Atlantic Ocean and Florida?s Everglades.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (July 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059532410X
• ISBN-13: 978-0595324101
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #952,222 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars absolute truth from beginning to end!,, September 30, 2005

By 

capt white (key west, florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dying To Get Here: A Story of Coming to America (Hardcover)

Reviewer: Curtis W. E. White "captain curtis william erling white" (key west, florida) - See all my reviews

matt lawrence has captured and has been able to write with clarity, the day to day strugles of these men, women and children who risk life and limb trying to reach the shores of the unites states. many of them do not make it. with matt's dedication to humanity has been able to rescue and save the lives of many cuban rafters.

i went to cuba in 1997 for five days. i came back to key west with first hand knowledge of what these people are subjected to with castro's dictatorship.

matt's description and detail of the events he and his comrades experience, put the reader in the first person and keep the reader glued to his book. i too had a difficult time putting the book down.

matt, congratulations on a splendid read and moreover.. educating readers "to the way it really is in cuba and the sea that connects cuba to the united states."

captain curtis william erling white
key west, florida

4.0 out of 5 stars We wuz there, August 23, 2005

By 

J. Trigg Adams (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dying To Get Here: A Story of Coming to America (Hardcover)

Having the honor of being a model for one of the characters in this fiction work, and knowing many of the people who risk their lives to save others, I approached it with some bias. And some misgivings about my non-objectivity.

But I found that it stands entirely on its own, and does not need to bend a knee to any other work of fiction. The characters are well drawn, the situations entirely realistic, and the story will keep you turning the pages. The added knowledge that it is accurately based on an ongoing drama brings it up another notch, and the descriptions of the air action are true to life. You will be moved and uplifted by the courage and dedication of your fellow citizens and the people they aid.

In the best American tradition, this is a story with genuine heroes, most of whom are unsung in real life, set against an historical era that will be long remembered, especially by those whose lives were saved, and those whose families were reunited across a cruel political gap.

Congratulations, Matt, for telling it like it is.

5.0 out of 5 stars The most amazing story I've ever read, August 5, 2005

By 

Avid Reader "EJB" (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dying To Get Here: A Story of Coming to America (Paperback)

As an avid reader of all types of fiction, Matt Lawrence has become my favorite author ever. No other story has gripped me by the heart as this one has. To follow the family thru their journey, and to realize that so many have actually crossed the ocean just like in the book, brought me to tears. As a mother, I can only imagine the agony of deciding that taking the risk for freedom is better than anything Cuba and Fidel can offer. I have learned a greater respect for the cuban people, and their struggles for a better life. I look forward anxiously for Mr. Lawrence's next book.