Customer Reviews

Dying To Get Here: A Story of Coming to America

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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

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.

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.

"Dying To Get Here-A Story of Coming to America" is a heart
wrenching tale of one family's struggle to survive Castro's Cuba
and they're agonizing decision to leave they're homeland for the
land of freedom here in America. Like so many of his countrymen,
Paco Robaina and his family on a daily basis face persecution,
starvation and squalid living conditions. The family's ultimate escape
in the early morning hours along a deserted and hopefully unpatrolled
stretch of Cuban beach by the government Secret Police is a pulse
pounding account. Through Mr. Lawrence's personal experience and
his own eyes he gives the reader a top-flight narrative of the plight of
Paco Robaina and his family's flee from the tyranny of his homeland.
They're fight to cross the open waters of the treacherous Florida
Straits in a home-made raft is an amazing passage of sheer will
power and survival. Well written, a tale of courage and triumph.

--Jeffery Allen Boyd, author; Wolf's Head Bay-The Journey Home

Matt takes you on an emotional rollercoaster with this one! He lets you feel the desperation of the family's plight, the hope for their survival, sadness for their loss, and anger at a dictatorship that ruins people's lives. This book is so well written that you feel like you know the family and cheer them on during their struggles. Matt's first-hand experiences bring this book to life and help those of us who take our freedom for granted, remember just how fortunate we are. This is a "MUST READ" for anyone!

Matt,

This book was wonderfully written. I felt so much for the characters and their plight. It made me cry and it made me laugh, it made me angry, but it also gave me hope. Thanks for looking out for the little guy. I never really thought about how hard life could be until I took a walk in that persons shoes. Thanks Matt.

Debra L. Amon
Photographer
Forum Publishing Inc.
Deerfield Beach, Florida

very good, quick read, once you start you want to see how the family makes it through their daily struggles, as well as the quest for a new life. mr. lawerence has touched on an issue that more people need to know happens each and everyday.

Matt Lawrence grips you regardless of your background and transforms you into the world of a disparaged Cuban family living in Castro's so called "revolutionized society". I became so enthralled with the experience of the Robaina's, that I felt as if it were my surrogate family. The characterization was so captivating, I felt like I knew these people well. I realize now that I do, living in South Florida myself, they are around me everyday...someone just finally put their past, present and future struggles to words. Thank you Matt Lawrence for helping me to understand the freedoms I freely have that so many have to struggle life and limb for. If you miss this book, you will miss an opportunity to grow as a human being.

A POWERFUL STORY TOLD AS ONLY A PARTICIPANT COULD RELATE. A MOST HEART WRENCHING TALE OF WHAT LIFE IN CASTRO"S CUBA IS AND HOW IT LED TO A FAMILY LEAVING TO SEEK A BETTER LIFE IN THE UNITED STATE. MATT LAWRENCE HAS A NATURAL FLARE TO TELL THIS STORY BECAUSE OF HIS FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE OF FLYING WITH "BROTHERS TO THE RESCUE". HE INTIMATELY WEAVES THE THREADS OF THIS POWERFUL STORY WITH THE INTRIGUE AND HARD FACTS OF THIS FAMILIES FLIGHT FROM A DICTATORSHIP AND THE PERILS AND PERSONAL TRAGEDY THEY FACED WITH THE ULTIMATE PURSUIT OF FREEDOM.
THIS IS A MUST FOR EVERYONE TO READ AS THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE LIVING UNDER OPPRESSION ALL OVER THE WORLD.

Reading this book I felt like I was there...In the middle of the struggle for freedom. Matt Lawrence's description of the events were riveting causing a stream a tears. Everyone needs to read this book