TRAVELS IN CUBA

When Charlie’s parents tell him and his brother, Max, that they will be heading to Cuba for vacation, they think of beautiful beaches and resorts. What they find off the beaten path is a very different Cuba.

When Charlie’s mother is invited to Cuba to work with local schoolchildren, the whole family goes with her to explore, learning that Cuba is a bit more complicated than they anticipated. As their tour guide begins to take them around Havana, it becomes apparent that some places are for turistas only, which doesn’t seem fair to young Charlie. “That was the point of all the rules, I decided. They were there to keep Cubans and us from talking to each other.” As they leave the city and find their way to Viñales and Trinidad, they discover the kind people, delicious food, and infectious music of Cuba. But they also encounter the poverty, hunger, fear, and rules that come with living in a communist country. As with her previous books in the Travels With My Family series, Gay tries to paint a portrait of Cuba from the perspective of children. She does a lovely job of highlighting Cuban culture while also addressing directly the very real issues that come with over 60 years of communist rule. However, the story itself is somewhat slow and lacks clear direction, jumping from place to place near the end.

A meandering but agreeable introduction to modern Cuba.