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Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy | 
 enlarge | Author: Carlos Eire
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $14.99 (100%)
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Rating:  71 reviews
Sales Rank: 292490
Media: Paperback
Pages: 400
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0743246411
Dewey Decimal Number: 972.9123063092
EAN: 9780743246415
ASIN: 0743246411
Publication Date: December 24, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read -> Recycle -> Reuse!
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Product Description
"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 Carlos's 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 Havana is both an exorcism and an ode to a paradise lost. For the Cuba of Carlos's 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 Carlos's 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 mother's 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 Havana is a eulogy for a native land and a loving testament to the collective spirit of Cubans everywhere.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 66 more reviews...
 Memorble and Endearing September 8, 2008
Valerie L. Fernandez (Las Cruces,NM)
I am married to a pedro pan kid/man Ovidio Fernandez now 58, and have read many books on the pedro pan saga. This one is the most memorable and touching of them all. I lost my copy in the katrina flood and have violated my promise,not to replace lost books, by purchasing this one beloved book.
 Escaping Cuba September 8, 2008
Todd Stockslager (Raleigh, NC)
Very good, ethereal account of Eire's time in Cuba before being sent to the US on his own at age 12 to escape Communist Cuba. Sad, funny, disturbing.
Ultimately, I think its mostly joyful, though. If you look at the photo of Carlos as a small boy, and as a 50-something Yale U. professor of History and Religion, the same tight-lipped smile and smiling eyes come through. The boy became the man, despite the worst, and some of these experiences do count as worst.
 Not all its cracked up to be July 9, 2008
THE Queen (San Antonio, Texas)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I forced myself to finish this book. I say that because I have no idea what all these people are talking about. I LOVE to read- honestly, i probably read 10 books a month. Finding good books that you can't put down is my hobby. Not to say this book isn't good, because it is, but the good parts are so intermixed with the author's worthless drivel thoughts about NOTHING that you can't focus on the good stuff. I found myself skimming through entire chapters and i NEVER do that!
It IS a moving memoir about the Cuban Revolution and I like that part, but aside from that, I did not enjoy it. After reading the book, I know a TINY bit more about the Cuban revolution and ALOT more about this guy's hatred of lizards and his fear of his grandmother's house.
Some people may like it, just like some people like Picasso. That is what I would equate it to- a newer style of writing where the author thinks that the average reader WANTS to know every single worthless thought that runs through his head- and some of that may be interesting. But after the book, you definitely wonder if someone would buy your own book if you wrote down everything you were thinking about and disguised it under an interesting time in history. Just like Picasso, you think "I could probably do this on my own if I wanted."
Skip it. Buy something you can't put down because this is definitely not one of those!
Vivid portrayal of pre-Revolutionary Cuba May 9, 2008
Phip (New York)
Eire is a master of practical prose and humourous metaphors. And this, his memoir of his once carefree days of childhood in Cuba before the Revolution, abounds in both. It was very enjoyable to read as the author vividly dipicted everyday life in Havana, from his quirky family life to his reckless escapades with his buddies. He really does make you feel, hear, see, smell, and taste what he did growing up. It's easy to be swiftly swept away by the author's personal and disarming style as he recounts the time he and his friends blew up one of those hateful lizards with a firecracker. Or the time his Catholic teacher warned him of immorality. Or how his elementary crush was horrifyingly brought out in public.
Despite these comical stories, Eire does carry a great deal of gravity, especially when referring to Castro in bitterness. His inside view of the horrors and bloodiness that accompanied the Revolution makes it painfully real to the reader. He creates an indignance against the ruthless dictator and sympathy towards the suffering Cubans. Thank you, Mr. Eire, for bringing these injustices with all their force to reality for us.
My only issue with this book is the careless and flippant way the author(a professor of religious studies at Yale) seems to treat God. He repeatedly uses Jesus' name and all the images in his childhood home as a subject of jest. And he tries (inadequately in my opinion) to explain faith with reason, something that simply cannot be done.
So go ahead and read or even buy this book, it will be well worth it and you'll enjoy it. Only keep your head on when you come to the religious parts.
An Excellent Read January 5, 2008
billybudd22 (Old Tappan, New Jersey USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a beautiful book. I read it about 3 years ago when it first came out and it still haunts me. While it was written by one of the children evacuated from Cuba, that's really not the story. It's a story of Cuba and the people that lived there prior to and during the revolution. Funny, yet sad, heart-warming yet shocking, foreign yet hitting all too close to home. It's story-telling without peer. A great read.
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