The Handsomest Man in Cuba: An Escapade [Paperback]

Lynette Chiang (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 9, 2004

This edition is no longer in print. Please refer to the 2007 edition released by Globe-Pequot USA, ISBN 978-0762743902

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Trading her car and house for a folding bike and a series of rented rooms and campsites, Australian suburbanite Chiang embarked on a three-month solo trip across Cuba, from December 1999 to March 2000 (her memoir was published in Australia and New Zealand in 2003). She roamed without a master plan, bunking with Cuban families, spending time in the places where ordinary people lived, making friends, and seeing what life off the beaten tourist paths is like. While the book suffers from a certain repetitiveness--Chiang moves from one dirt-poor community to another, dossing down with one charming family after another--it offers us a revealing look at a Cuba we rarely see, a country whose citizens are still crippled by the government's anti-American political stance, living in poverty, finding small joys in the kind of life most of us can't even begin to imagine. And while Chiang's tone is generally light and breezy, it's the serious messages about politics and poverty behind the entertaining characters and comic misadventures that give the book its staying power. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

In the glut of Cuba travel books, this one really stands out. -- Caroline Baum, Good Reading Magazine, July 14, 2003

One of the best 'on-the-road' travel books of this generation.... you can feel the wind in your face. -- Martin Stevenson, Launceston Examiner, June 28, 2003

The only time you will put it down is when you finish it. -- Peter Sutherland, Australian Cyclist Magazine, September 2003

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Small Wheel Press (June 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0975581600
• ISBN-13: 978-0975581605
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,019,540 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Author, speaker, filmmaker, inventor, yoga teacher, advertising copywriter. But for the interesting stuff, you're cordially invited to have a loiter around my site called galfromdownunder

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally someone without an agenda.., August 5, 2005

By 

Celia H. Leber "Bike Friday Rider" (Bend, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Handsomest Man in Cuba: An Escapade (Paperback)

I really enjoyed The Handsomest Man In Cuba because it is something that seems like a rarity these days -- a book about a politicized subject that is not a one-sided rant. Lynette portrays Cuba as complex, often perplexing, sometimes disturbing -- the way the world really is. Travelling by bicycle, and being an outgoing Aussie, she was able to get close to the people of Cuba and get at least a glimpse of their everyday life and daily struggles and joys. Her description of life at this level - at street level - gives a valuable insight into the successes and failings of the Castro regime, one that US politicians might do well to consider.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bittersweet memories, June 28, 2006

By 

Casual Reader "Southern CA reader" (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Handsomest Man in Cuba: An Escapade (Paperback)

This book brought a torrent of bittersweet memories. Like Lynette I'm of Chinese descent, but born in Cuba. It's very rarely that one bumps into a very original travel account like hers. Least of all, not that many have had the opportunity to see the side of Cuba never shown to ordinary tourists. What I really appreciate is her non-biased approach as she shows the daily hardships ordinary people encounter to survive, without rambling on what's already known about living conditions there under Castro. She brings to life the resilience of the people there rather candidly. This is important - the character of the people, not the ugly politics. Lynette, when is your next bike trip back to Cuba? Please let me know I have several suggestions.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Miss This Insightful Down-To-Earth Look At the Real Cuba!, August 11, 2005

By 

R. Arkin (Eugene, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Handsomest Man in Cuba: An Escapade (Paperback)

The Handsomest Man In Cuba by Linette Chiang is a wonderful book not to be missed, whether you are a hard core bicyclist, casual traveler, or just interested in the world around you.

Lynette provides an intimate and insightful look into the lives of ordinary Cubans as she chronicles her adventures bicycling across the country, making new friends as she goes. Preferring to live simply among the people and avoid the typical insulated "tourist" experience, she manages to show all sides of Cuba. She misses nothing, describing the tiniest details of the people and places she encounters, and her own adventures along the way. Her perceptive outlook, frank honesty, humor and compassion gives a provocative perspective of this remarkable country, it's people and their culture, and in the process provides some profound reflections on the comparison to our own "Western culture". She reminds us how easy it is for us to forget (or never realize) to appreciate what we have in our lives...that perhaps the cost of what we've gained may not always be worth what we've lost.

After reading her book I experienced a tremendous restless urge to just take off on a bike somewhere across the world for a year or so. That may have to wait a bit (being a parent of young children). But it's certainly the next best thing to be able to experience vicariously Lynette's courageous and free adventure by reading this book. It's a remarkable tale written by a remarkable woman, and I have a new appreciation and understanding of Cuba and its people as a result. Highly recommended!

--Ray Arkin
Eugene, Oregon