Customer Reviews

Finding Manana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus

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I chose to read Finding Manana: A memoir of a Cuban Exodus. My father fled communist Cuba and its history has always fascinated me. I enjoyed every page of this book and it was hard for me to put it down because I loved the author's natural style and interesting topics. Although I have a special interest in Cuban history, I believe that anyone who enjoys reading historical non-fiction, would find this novel to be interesting. Finding Manana is a touching story about a young girl trying to find her identity where it is most difficult; in a communist country.

In this bold memoir, Mirta Ojito describes her family's life as gusanos, or worms, in Cuba. This was a term used by the Cuban government to categorize political dissenters. Ojito describes the embarrassing and harsh abuse people who did not support Castro received and illustrates why so many Cubans wanted to leave their country. In great detail, Ojito recalls the day of Castro's speech which all of Havana was expected to attend. Since her family did not believe in Castro's ways and did not support him, they skipped the rally and hid in their apartment for the night. The next morning, when they walked outside they found eggs that had been thrown at their apartment and neighbors yelling hateful words. Through Ojito's personal stories like that, it is easier to understand why so many Cubans left the country they loved so much.

Ojito not only shares her personal story of how she escaped communist Cuba, but she also tells stories of others trying to get out and those attempting to aid them. One story she writes about is that of Hector Sanyustiz, a bus driver so determined to leave Cuba he drove his bus into the gates of the Peruvian Embassy in Havana in hopes of receiving immunity. Soon after Sanyustiz's stunt, over 10,000 people sought asylum in that same Embassy. Ojito writes through many different points of view from the starving people who refuse to move, scared that the Cuban police will trick them out of the Embassy and place them in jail, to the Cuban political figures that work with Castro and try to figure out what to do with all those desperate to leave the country. Another person Ojito discusses is Captain Mike Howell, one of the generous Americans helping to bring back Cuban refugees on his ship. Through this character, Ojito shows how those who have never had to live without freedom often take it for granted. This novel is very humbling for those who believe life in America is difficult or unfair.

Ojito's style is very natural and although she is a reporter, she has the talent of being able to get facts across without being tedious. In Ojito's stories, she educates the reader as well as keeps him entertained and interested. She is able to blend her reporter style with her emotional style in this story making a perfect balance between knowledge and experience. This novel explains many things about communist Cuba and its society many would not know unless they lived through it.

In the amazing novel Finding Manana, Mirta Ojito tells the tale of a Cuban exodus. Mirta and her family face enormous amounts of ridicule and torment as their counterrevolutionary family attempts to leave Cuba for a better life in the United States. This book follows the authors' detailed account of her previous life as the Ojito's desire to leave Cuba, and may finally get their chance during the Mariel boat lift.

Born in Cuba, Mirta has always remembered a forced life. Looked badly upon for her belief in God, and her families strong distaste of the forced loyalty they must show to the government Mirta wishes for something better. Castro rules over Cuba and gives little freedom to those who inhabit the island hence the Ojito's dreams of changing the location the United States. Mirta is always fighting for freedom and always has hope throughout her early life which carries over in the pages as you read.

At sixteen Mirta's door receives a knock, when the door is opened two officers are their with instructions. Here it is, the chance the Ojito's have waited their whole life for! The neighborhood watches the Ojito family pile into the Officers car, the chance has come, but can the Ojito's make to Miami, not without some serious obstacles and complications along the way, providing you with the page turning novel everyone wants.

The Author, Ojito, takes her own story and mixes it in with others who made such a drastic difference in Cuban history. Such as the courageous story of Hector Sanyustiz and counter parts Raul and Radames smashing into Pinto's Peruvian embassy to escape Cuba. It tells of the negotiations between Castro and the heroes who wanted happiness for the Cuban people. It explains the story of an unlikely hero, Mike Howell, who captains the Manana and delivers the Cubans to Miami. Finding Manana goes back in time to talk about such famed events as the Mariel boat lift of 1980. And overall creates the intense sensation that you are their reliving these events with Mirta herself.

I liked this book because of its constant job of making me want to know more. It recalls history in personal accounts, taking interesting to a new level. You find yourself emotionally attached to all the characters and are pulling for each to succeed. The changing of one story to another provides excitement and a plethora of outcomes to enjoy and learn about. Finding Manana is a joyful book, as well as a learning experience to all who turn its pages.

I learned much from Finding Manana, it was not only a great story but also somewhat of a fun history book. It provides an almost complete summary of recent Cuban history, Filling each chapter with knowledge. You learn of the monumental struggles each character must go through and gain a new respect for the Cuban people. Learning while enjoying oneself is not always possible but Finding Manana does that, thus I would strongly recommend this book.

Mirta Ojito takes her own story and mixes it in with others, such as Hector Sanyustiz, the man that crashed a bus thru the Peruvian embassy in 1980 under fire by Cuban guards. During one of his tantrums when Peru refused to turn over the escaped exiles, Castro removed his Cuban guards and within a day over 10,000 folks poured into the embassy. Castro eventually allowed the port of Mariel to be opened up to anybody who wanted to pick up their loved ones (plus a few criminals and mental cases that he threw in), at the end over 125,000 Cubans leaving before he decided to shut down Mariel. Mirta Ojito provides insight into what life was like growing up in a family indifferent to Castro in 1970s Cuba. The book is full of accounts of the oppression, sometimes subtle, of those that do not support Castro's dictatorial regime. Mirta narrates in detail her use as an agricultural child laborer while in her early teens. Evidence of the political apartheid system in Cuba comes to Mirta as a child when she accidentally gets hold of a copy of her school record; where several of her teachers hold against her going to church, her parents' irreverence to support Castro's political activities, and their regular communication with kin in the U.S. The surveillance by the neighborhood Committees for the Defense of the Revolution is evident when her father gets stopped with a bag of potatoes illegally obtained in the black market. Ojito eventually gets to the part when they receive the paperwork to leave Cuba and are processed thru chaotic conditions in Mariel. A moving story!

The political winds of Cuba began to stir and then soon began to howl with the onset of revolution and resolution, the resolution of a multitude of people wanting to leave Cuba. Mirta, a young, intelligent girl of sixteen, never really belonged. She and her family were referred to as gusanos-"worms." They had always wanted to leave Cuba, a land where they never really fit in because of their "counterrevolutionary attitudes." Mirta believed in God, she believed in freedom and she believed that one day that Uncle Oswaldo would some day bring them to America to live out their dreams.

Young girls often have dreams, dreams that never become real and drift away in time, but one fated day, on May 7 in 1980 the dream of going to America somehow became frighteningly real. In a stunning memoir that young girl, now a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, Mirta Ojito, describes the flight of her family and others in FINDING MAÑANA: A Memoir Of A Cuban Exodus. Memories, so many memories. Her mother began to tremble, to sob with fear and anticipation. Her father was rapt with the excitement of this opportunity. Mirta was a mixed bag of emotions. Uncle Oswaldo was on his way to get them.

The madness, the desperation . . . there were thousands of boats toiling their way to Cuba to "rescue" those struggling to leave their homeland, a homeland that no longer wanted them. Unbeknownst to the Ojitos the MAÑANA was setting sail from New Orleans to save them, but would they be saved? And the others, what about them?

It all began when Héctor Sanyustiz, in his search for freedom and refuge, crashed a bus loaded with many innocent passengers through the gates of the Peruvian embassy. The bullets flew, the bus lay on its side. His companion was shot in the head, his own leg pained him, but they were on the safe side. Would they make it?

Mercedes Alvarez, unwillingly following the lead of her husband Filiberto in search of asylum at the Peruvian embassy, clutched her three small children by her side. Food was scarce, sanitation unheard of. There were thousands of people literally crammed side by side, end to end. She was pregnant and weak. Her oldest child was becoming very ill. Would they make it?

And then there were the criminals and misfits, "thin men with sallow complexions, missing or rotten teeth, averted eyes, shaved heads."

The boats were coming . . .

I haven't been so mesmerized by a book as I have this one in quite some time. The book was so well written I could actually feel the tension and fear of the Cuban people in their exodus. It has been some time since the 128,000 Cuban refugees landed on the southern shores of southern Florida during the Carter administration, but perhaps this is the perfect time to revisit it in this stupendous book!

I read this book a few years ago and stumbled upon it as one of my recommendations on Amazon.com. Apart from the obvious personal interest that made me pick it up at a train station's bookstore, I really enjoyed this read. It was entertaining, moving and successfully illustrated the protagonist's odyssey and personal journey. A journey that millions of other people can easily relate to and certainly share with the author, regardless of their individual story. I recommend this book to anyone who is curious about any type of human exodus. You will not be disappointed.

Finding Manana was one of the best books I've ever read! Written by a New York Times journalist, Finding Manana is very well written. Sixteen when she and her family left Cuba for Miami during the 1980 Mariel boatlift, Mirta Ojito provides fascinating insight into what life was like growing up in a counter-revolutionary family in 1970s Cuba. The writer has an superb eye for detail. For anyone interested in Cuban history and the 1980 Mariel boatlift, this book is a must!

I liked this book. I learned things about Cuba I didn't know. It wasn't exactly a gripping read to me, but I thought in many ways it was well done. I think to most people, the concept of memoir has come to mean that a true story is told through one person's experience, and because that person obviously can't recall the exact dialogue spoken in conversations that there will be a little literary license taken. Because of that literary license, most memoirs read like novels with the added benefit of it being a true story.

This book read differently than that though. The author chose to not quote anything that she couldn't 100% verify as being spoken exactly, so there are many more descriptions of what conversations were about opposed to conversations with alternating quoted lines of dialogue between people. I think it creates a slightly removed point of view for the reader.

Additionally, chapters alternated between her own personal story and those of several other individuals that she interviewed. This was great in that it gave me a wider perspective outside of the author's own experience. However, at the same time, it made it feel like less of a story and more like a series of articles. The journalistic style is not surprising since the writer of the book is, in fact, a journalist. So to some degree, it felt like to me like reading a series of related, well-done, extra-long articles in Time Magazine, or National Geographic, or something like that.

My favorite parts were probably the chapters involving the writer's own personal experience, especially around the time that her family prepared to leave and then did leave Cuba. That part pulled me in the most, and I felt like I could best visualize the Cuban environment during that time and understand what the writer was feeling. I do wish the chapters that focused on other people would have got a bit deeper into their thoughts and feelings. Those sections focused mostly on reporting the events and situations they recalled.

A very good read, especially if you are interested in Cuba, though not one of my favorite memoirs.

Although she admits she mixes her experiences with others, its not always easy to tell where the blending is and therefore I wonder how much of this story is really hers and how much is story telling.

I have read much better accounts and often a honest, one person account.