Next Year in Havana

By: Chanel Cleeton

Narrated by: Kyla Garcia, Frankie Maria Corzo

A Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine on Audible Pick

"A beautiful novel full of passion, secrets, courage and sacrifice." (Reese Witherspoon)

After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity - and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution

Havana, 1958. The daughter of a sugar baron, 19-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba's high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country's growing political unrest - until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary....

Miami, 2017. Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee with her family during the revolution. Elisa's last wish was for Marisol to scatter her ashes in the country of her birth. Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba's tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate.

When more family history comes to light and Marisol finds herself attracted to a man with secrets of his own, she'll need the lessons of her grandmother's past to help her understand the true meaning of courage.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Two Cuba's - Yesterday & Today

My wife is from Cuba and I live near Miami, so I know its history well. The then-and-now story is well developed but narrated with minimal emotion, hardly how a Cuban would tell it. Nonetheless, the history is accurate and the state of the island today is spot on. Though two narrators are used, it is hard to distinguish one from the other. My biggest complaint is that Cuban names of people and places are spoken with a Spanish pronunciation, although the narration is in perfect English. So Cuba becomes Koobah and location names are hard to understand. For me, it was a distraction, and it is not how I hear Cubans in Miami speak English. Other than that, the story will draw you in, teach you about a magic place and the people who love it, and paint a stark picture of how Cuba exchanged one despot for an even worse one.

Interesting but a bit tedious "Cuban" story

A 2nd generation Cuban American shoulders the burden of her grandmother's loss, at age 19, of her native country. Grandmother yearned all her life for her romanticized memory of her opulent life in pre-Castro Cuba and leaves the granddaughter with a somewhat schizophrenic view of her own nationality, wanting to return to a country that never WAS hers, and really never existed.
The story gives some good insights into the revolution-damaged nation's troubles but too much redundancy and trite phraseology in the telling.
The narrator is effective but uses a dreamy voice all throughout where I would have preferred a wider emotional range. Perhaps I should be ashamed to admit that some pronunciation also grated on my ears, (particularly the dropping of central consonants; e.g., "ser-un" instead of "ser-ten" for "certain".)

Fell a little flat

I was honestly surprised to see so many raving reviews. This novel fell a little flat for me. So. Much. Dialogue, internal and otherwisex but not a lot of action.
Definitely did not love it.

Not a great performance

The story is ok, but the readers are flat and make the story seem less interesting than it is.

Narration is not good

The story wasn’t bad and it was interesting to hear about the history of Cuba, but the narrators were so boring. They spoke in such a “blah” tone. No real emotion and didn’t help me get a real feel for the characters.

Interesting

I liked this book but did not love it.The reason I found value in it, is that I learned a bit about the history of Cuba. As a literary work it is a bit predictable, but a sweet love story.

The never ending story.

This book just seemed to go on and on forever.
I started it two times and finally told myself I was going to listen till the end. In the middle somewhere it became bearable but then quickly dropped off into nothingness.
The very monotone narrator did not help things either. A little reflection would go a long way.
Not a favorite of mine and would not recommend

Interesting Love Story/Propaganda Piece

This was an interesting novel, but I wouldn't recommend it. I like the way the writer is so descriptive. I also like the way she engages history within the larger family saga and love story. I was intrigued by what I felt was complex storytelling. In the end, however, the author pushed a dichotomous perspective on the repressiveness of Castro's Cuba vs. the supposed openness of American democracy. The writer deftly sidestepped discussions of the rapacious aspects of capitalism that historically cut against democracy to extend the US's brand of neocolonialism into Latin America in the name of business interests. The forces that produced the oppulent South Florida lifestyles the writer seems to romanticize also provoked the Cuban Revolution. Yet, the author makes it seem as if the Castro regime came out of nowhere and was the source of all suffering in Cuba. While I thought I would hear a story that was more even handed in its treatment of the various perspectives on the stated ideals in both Cuba and the US vs. the realities of how the quest for power and dominance produces contradictions in both spaces, what I heard was a propaganda piece that conflates American "democracy" with unfettered capitalism.

Captivating Summer Read

This was such an intriguing book with a different perspective of life in Cuba. Told from two points of view I really enjoyed how the story wove together each characters story line.

Strong historical context! Recommended!

This is a beautiful love story backed up by a strong historical context. I loved learning about real life in Cuba in this day and age, what it means for Cubans as opposed to what tourists think. Great story