Thinking about Cuba
I woke up this morning, of course thinking of my book, which got me thinking about Cuba. In my research, I spoke with many of my family members about their lives in Cuba. However, most of them were living in the U.S. when Castro came into power. I wanted to show how so many lives changed in one day. True, my family’s business changed. They were no longer able to produce tobacco out of Cuba. However, that didn’t stop my Tio Angel who had the foresight to know that Castro was going to take people’s land and homes. But that’s another story…
I read a book a few years ago called, Waiting for Snow in Havana. It is a memoir from Yale historian Carlos Eire. Erie and his family witnessed first-hand the exile of Batista and the beginning of Castro’s reign. It was such a poignant account of that chaotic time. He talks about how he, as a little boy, could no longer play outside after dark. How the parks and public beaches slowly deteriorated into shells of a former life, and how he created a fictional world to cope with the loss of his family and their status. His recount is so vivid, sad and at times, angry. It gave me an additional perspective that I needed to create my fictional family.
