Publisher's Weekly Review
In this hybrid of literary memoir and investigative reporting, journalist Ariosto narrates his yearly trips to Cuba, starting in 2009, to explore the country's rapidly changing economic and cultural landscape under Raul Castro's rule. The book includes an abbreviated version of roughly 60 years of hostility between Cuba and the U.S. (including the trade embargo, the millions of U.S. tax dollars spent promoting democracy in Cuba, and the 1999 return of six-year-old Elian Gonzalez to his Cuban father). Ariosto also illustrates day-to-day life, vividly describing Cubans' baseball obsession, the "steamy salvation" of cafecito, and the local color ("Crackling old radios and the brassy tunes of street musicians seeped through courtyards and down cobblestone alleyways"). He explains the black market, the convoluted dual currency system, and the slow advancement of internet access. In the later chapters, he turns to the careful negotiations of the dActente coordinated by President Obama and Raul Castro, and speculates about Cuba's future under Castro's replacement, Miguel DA-az-Canel. Ariosto is on a mission to discover authenticity, a relatively subjective idea, but he does not idealize Cuba, and he is refreshingly aware of his privilege as a white American man. With his firsthand experience, Ariosto brings modern Cuba to life, with all its complexities and eccentric charms. Agent: Peter Riva, International Transactions. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A journalist witnesses social and political changes in post-Castro Cuba.Sent to Cuba in 2009 as a CNN cameraman and correspondent, Ariosto arrived in Havana nave about Cuban culture, politics, and history. What he learned during his two-year stint for CNN, and from many subsequent trips, opened his eyes to the reality and prospects of the island nation. Like BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford, whose recent memoir painted a dark portrait of Cuban life, Ariosto offers a penetrating report of a nation struggling with serious challenges. "In Cuba, everything is corrupt," one young man told the author, explaining his reasons for wanting to emigrate to America. "They sell an image of a certain life to the world. But it's a lie. There's cocaine. There's prostitution. There's corruption." With monthly wages at about $25, Ariosto estimates that about 95 percent of the country participates in a "shadow economy," where "theft is a relative concept" and procuring supplies or repairs depends on knowing "a guy who knew a guy." The author himself stocked up on necessities such as batteries and toilet paper during a brief trip home. Social problems abound: Despite Fidel Castro's aim for economic equality, racial discrimination has led to growing impoverishment among Cuba's black population. News is censored and information strictly controlled: Even as late as 2016, only 37 percent of Cubans could get online, and an hour of Wi-Fi service costs about a third of a month's salary, spawning "a patchwork of smuggled-in satellite dishes, a ramshackle network of homegrown, file-sharing entrepreneurs," and a thriving underground market. That spiderwebbed network, though, was hardly clandestine. In Havana, "eyes were everywhere": closed-circuit cameras, onlookers and informants in the streets, and government employees at CNN who were expected to submit reports about the journalists. Although Barack Obama's efforts to forge ties to Cuba inspired a "kumbaya moment," Donald Trump's policies are dashing hopes, and housing, food, and medicine shortages create a crisis of confidence among a restive population.A candid firsthand account of an island undergoing a shaky transition. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
For a self-described "young American photojournalist who then boasted only pidgin Spanish," Ariosto's arrival in Havana in 2009 on assignment for CNN was "the chance of a lifetime." Determined to be "somehow different from those pink-faced tourists," he's quickly reduced to an epithet, yuma street slang for "gringo." A year and a half later, he's "ready to leave-forever, he thought," disenchanted with food shortages (shopping is an all-day ordeal), housing (a sink used in the morning disappears by afternoon), and being watched ("trust was at a premium"). He quickly "comes to loathe" the catchall nonsensical phrase used to explain "the unexplainable": "This is Cuba." Beyond professional opportunities interviewing dissident blogger Yoáni Sanchez, following Cuban doctors through Haiti's 2010 earthquake aftermath, covering political-prisoner releases negotiating daily life overshadows his "fantasies." Departing, however, doesn't sever island ties; unprecedented historical events, including presidential shifts in both Cuba and the U.S., engender return trips. Despite repetition and disjointedness (some chapters seem like separate essays), Ariosto's insights are plentiful, and amid erratically evolving Cuba-U.S. relations, such personal perspectives, even from a yuma, provide the best portals to mutual understanding.--Terry Hong Copyright 2018 Booklist
Library Journal Review
For approximately two years, from 2009 to 2011, the author, a photojournalist, was in Cuba, and his experiences during that stay are the basis for this work. Being a personal recollection, this book relates many personal details as Ariosto discusses Cuba from before the revolution to the present. His reminiscences of life in Cuba will sound similar to those who spent time in the former Soviet Union or any of its client states. He also discusses Haiti in the context of the 2010 earthquake. Ariosto does well in reading his own work. His pleasant voice (he is now a correspondent for NPR) makes listening to this work feel like a conversation. VERDICT Public libraries and those where patrons are interested in Latin America should consider. ["Cuba watchers should read this informative new work": LJ Winter 2018 starred review of the St. Martin's hc.]--Michael Fein, Central Virginia Community Coll. Lib., Lynchburg
