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Es Cuba: Life and Love on an Illegal Island | 
 enlarge | Author: Lea Aschkenas
Publisher: Seal Press
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 372122
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 360
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.7
ISBN: 1580051790
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.291
EAN: 9781580051798
ASIN: 1580051790
Publication Date: November 29, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Es Cuba is a poignant and passionate travel memoir about falling in love with a country and one of its compatriots. Aschkenas never strays from her acute awareness that there is no way to separate her foreignness (intensified by U.S.-Cuba relations) from the complex mix of emotions, devotion and rejection, enrapture and apprehension that she develops toward the country.
Her tale is filled with beautifully woven descriptions of Cuba and the customs and habits of its people. Aschkenas is a discerning observer, taking in the innocence, isolation, contradictions, and resolute optimism of a people who have persevered against the collective disappointment bestowed upon them by a government that has been unable to deliver the utopia promised by socialism. Aschkenas, already a seasoned traveler by the time she arrives in Cuba for the first time in 1999, is overcome by her own passion for Cuba and her unraveling affection for Alfredo as she comes to appreciate his naivete, sincerity, and ability to live for the moment, something she comes to realize is the effect of growing up in a culture where nothing is ever certain.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 23 more reviews...
 Es Cuba is the real Cuba November 25, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Being a native of Cuba and having visited Cuba in 1999, this book brought back many memories. Some were fun and some just frustrating. The author captures the frustrations and often the comical way that "Cuba" makes it's own people and those who visit the island act. The unjustice of how the Cubans are treated, in their own homeland, the constant police watch you feel wherever you go.
This book points speaks clearly about the spirit of the Cubans. Even though they are frustrated, underpaid, underfed, etc. they still get up every morning and look for whatever good there is to find. This shows in their love of life, music and everything else that may give them a bit of joy for the day. Interesting is the fact that she points out that the Cubans have a need to "consume" all that is before them, i.e., rum, sweets, etc. as if this was the last chance they would ever taste or have it again.
A must read for anyone wanting to know the REAL Cuba and not the propaganda that Cuba feeds the media at every turn. Bravo. Oh, Yes...a very entertaining read, indeed!!!
An inside out view - useful and powerful!! October 23, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Highly recommended. A nicely written love-and-hate tale of contradictions in contemporary Cuban life. Want to know why Cubans are powerfully proud of their "Communist experiment" and their feisty independence from the U.S. -- but also yearn to get out and row double-speed to Miami? Here are some of the answers, and a good, twisty romance story to boot.
I also bought, and the recipient of both of these books loved, I Was Cuba I Was Cuba: Treasures from the Ramiro Fernandez Collection You want photos, Gringo? Now, theeeese are photos! Cuba's past is alive, here, and you may also find glimpses of a post-Castro future.
 A Sense of Place Captured October 7, 2007
I met Lea when she co-presented a workshop on "sense of place" at the Book Passage's Travel Writer's Conference. I had no particular interest in Cuba, but bought Es Cuba because I liked her and wanted to support her as an author. A month passed until I got to her book in my stack. Once I started, I couldn't put it down -- well, until a black bear showed up on my deck looking for food and brought me abruptly out of Cuba where my mind was happily traveling and home to Alaska. I've read a lot of travel narratives and traveled quite a bit. Lea captures sense of place as well as the best I've ever read.
Great read - whether you've been to Cuba or not.... May 19, 2007
This was a great read whether you've been to Cuba or not. If you have been to Cuba as a tourist, on a short visit, you'll find anomalies and things explained that you probably wondered about. If you haven't been to Cuba, it will give you insight into a courageous country with beautiful people who have survived and persevered despite the odds. I didn't want the book to end and indeed, was happy there were further exerts available on Lea Aschkenas's website. She described a painfully honest long-term visit to Cuba which revealed a proud but often conflicted culture which will make you fall in love with the land and the people.
It's like being there! May 12, 2007
Having just returned from a two week mission trip to Cuba, I felt as if I knew the island fairly well because we'd stayed in a small community. However, after reading this book I now know how much more there is to everyday life in a place that struggles for some of the everyday things that we take for granted. It's a great story of an intercultural relationship and the challenges that go with it as well as a "slice of life" of living in Cuba. This book will open your eyes to what life is like among highly educated people who still live under somewhat third-world conditions. I highly recommend it if you're interested in Cuba at all.
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