Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy by Carlos Eire

Have mercy on me, Lord, I am Cuban. In 1962, Carlos Eire was one of 14,000 children airlifted out of Cuba -- exiled from his family, his country, and his own childhood by the revolution. The memories of Carloss life in Havana, cut short when he was just eleven years old, are at the heart of this stunning, evocative, and unforgettable memoir.Waiting for Snow in Havanais both an exorcism and an ode to a paradise lost. For the Cuba of Carloss youth -- with its lizards and turquoise seas and sun-drenched siestas -- becomes an island of condemnation once a cigar-smoking guerrilla named Fidel Castro ousts President Batista on January 1, 1959. Suddenly the music in the streets sounds like gunfire. Christmas is made illegal, political dissent leads to imprisonment, and too many of Carloss friends are leaving Cuba for a place as far away and unthinkable as the United States. Carlos will end up there, too, and fulfill his mothers dreams by becoming a modern American man -- even if his soul remains in the country he left behind.Narrated with the urgency of a confession,Waiting for Snow in Havanais a eulogy for a native land and a loving testament to the collective spirit of Cubans everywhere.

Author: Carlos Eire

Language: English

Binding: Paperback

Pages: 400

Publisher: Free Press

Publication Date: 2004-12-24