Customer Reviews

Es Cuba: Life and Love on an Illegal Island

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you want to find the truth of the every day life in Cuba, go deeper than what the regular news, a tourist catalog or a 3 day trip there can show you, then, you really need to read this book. It is written in a very fresh, easy-to read way that you will enjoy all through. It'll give you laughs, sadness and you'll be impressed all at the same time.
As a difference with the majority of the books you will find about the island, this is not strictly touristy nor politic but it will show you both of those aspects as they directly affect the central history, which is the love between an American traveler (the writer) and a Cuban resident.
I am Cuban and the descriptions and events on the book were so tangible, so real, that I felt leaving back there again!! I recommend it, enjoy your "reading travel!"

I found this book to be a fantastic interpertation of life on a curious island. Well written and definitely informative, I now find myself seeking out more information on Cuba. It forced me to ask myself 'why do I know so little about life there?'. In addition, I would highly recommend it to any young traveler or international student. Read this book!

Lea Aschkenas opened a window into the daily life of the Cuban people and portrayed them with dignity. Before reading this book - Cuba only meant Castro to me. Now I think of the people who passionately love their country. Lea's story about her time spent in Cuba - finding love and living in this illegal island -was compelling. I highly recommend this beautifully written book. A sequel should follow!

This is a great book! Having just started to learn to speak Spanish, I loved all the "sayings." Anyone interested in what it is REALLY like to live in Cuba as a Cuban should read this book. Also, all of the pro-socialist readers will get a real eye opener.

"Es Cuba" is a richly informative book about Cuba and Cubans. The author creates an intoxicating mood from the very first page and tells a story which, while it is autobiographical, is also travelogue and fascinating depiction of life in Cuba today. Her sometimes bumpy love affair with a Cuban man (who became her husband) serves to further the narrative in its examination of personal and cultural differences between Cubans and Americans.

Aschkenas lived with a Cuban family in Havana, including three generations of Cuban women, who gradually wove for her and for us an anecdotal, historical tapestry starting before the revolution. The twenty-something granddaughter is involved in the country's present-day materialistic tourist economy; the grandmother and mother, on the other hand, lived through the poverty and repression of the corrupt, pre-revolution Batista regime.

Other friends and acquaintances fill similar roles, giving us perspectives of musicians, educators, taxi drivers, European travelers, etc. - everyone from fervent Fidelistas to those trying to escape from the island.

Aschkenaz moves lightly and objectively through the Cuban community and her observations seem born of a sensitivity and experience beyond her years. If she carries any ideological baggage (aside from a gentle humanism) to this communist nation it is not evident to this reader.

If you have any interest in Cuba, its people, or its culture, don't miss this book!

We know all about the politics... so how about the people? Lea Aschkenas tells us in her moving account of falling in love in Cuba.

A set of circumstances and a desire to learn Spanish put her where few Americans go. She starts off in the cacoon of a tourist hotel and moves (down) to a room the landlord sacrifices greatly to bring it to what we might award 1 or 2 stars, and in the end goes (way down) nearly native.

Along the way she meets Cubans and tells us how they cope. The revolution has brought them free health care (but not free medicine), education (but not jobs to go with it) and afforable symphony music. A schoolteacher tells how cleans her carpet with a t-shirt because brooms (she does not even consider a vacuum cleaner) cost US$.. so it takes her 3 hours.

Lea meets Alfredo, and he is unabashedly in love with her. She worries that the cultural divide is too great, but slips into love with him. Alfredo introduces Lea to the many alternate ways to provide life's small pleasures and she introduces them to us.

A very satisfying book about ordinary people, living their lives in Cuba.

After reading this book,I have found myself intrigued and yearning for more. Leaving me in a state of ebullience ,I feel the need to learn more about Cuba,and its culture. I would recommend this book to anyone of any age. It is very well written,and the author writes with ingeniosity and experience.

This book really opened my eyes to the people of Cuba as well as the country itself.
Es Cuba is the perfect mix of a little humor, a little romance (but from a realistic point of view), and interesting facts/history of Cuba.
I liked the way the author was able to see the good and the not so good in Cuba and I very much enjoyed reading about her experience...it definitely inspired me to make a trip to the country!

Es Cuba: Life and Love on an Illegal Island recounts the story of writer Lea Aschkenas' time on the island. In the prologue she states that her visit to Cuba happened by chance -- the country that she wanted to visit, Ecuador, had two volcano eruptions, causing a change of plans. Aschkenas' first visit to Cuba occurred at a tumultuous time -- Cuba and the U.S. were fighting over Elián Gonzalez. She arrived in Cuba in February 2000 several months after Elián had been found floating on an inner tube off the coast of Florida.

Aschkenas spent that year in Cuba studying Spanish, living with a Cuban family, and dating a Cuban man. Es Cuba... wonderfully captures the confusion, the happiness, and the frustration that Aschkenas felt while living in Cuba. The reader, whether she has visited Cuba or not, begins to understand and empathize with many of the emotions that Aschkenas feels. And also the many questions that she has which cannot be easily answered. One chapter in particular, "The Legal Illegal," tries to explain in what ways Cuba is a contradictory island.

In addition to Aschkenas capturing her sense of amazement and wonder and frustration at being in Cuba, she shares many details about her relationship with the man she met and fell in love with. Though she and Alfredo are not the same race, the conflict that they have comes more from the fact that they are culturally different. Whereas Aschkenas thinks that something Alfredo does is due to being a "machista," Alfredo counters that it is Aschkenas' American sensibility that causes her to view his actions in "machista" light.

The relationship between Alfredo and Aschkenas serves as a metaphor for trying to come to an understanding of the turbulent relationship between Cuba and the U.S. There are many ups and downs. The difference, however, is that Aschkenas and Alfredo managed to make it work. To go back to an oft-repeated Cuban phrase, "No es facil." Yes, it isn't easy. But no one ever said that hard work was easy.

This book is beautifully written, and provides an insightful and interesting reflection about life in Cuba. I was hooked from the opening, and thoroughly enjoyed reading about the author's experiences. I have recommended this book to all of my friends and family members, with everyone who has read it thanking me for the suggestion.