Havana Real: One Woman Fights to Tell the Truth about Cuba Today Paperback – April 26, 2011

Yoani Sanchez first came to my attention when I discovered her blog, "Generacion Y". After reading some of the blog, I knew I had to read the book by this very courageous and unstoppable woman who dares to live as free as she can after returning to Cuba with her family from their move to Switzerland.Life in Cuba is nothing like I thought, with everything rationed by the government, including food. Sanchez says that Cubans have been obsessed with food mainly because they don't get enough of it, and many foods and other goods are bought on the Cuban black market. Newspapers and TV news are full of what the government wants people to hear, but not what is really going on. When President Obama spoke about relaxing travel restrictions for Cubans it was barely mentioned in the news in Cuba.Sanchez writes in such a relaxed way but with dissident words. It is the everyday matters of life that are often the subject of her blog entries, such as when the elevators in her apartment building broke down from age and wear, and those living on her floor, the fourteenth, had to walk up all those flights for months. When they finally put in new Russian elevators, they didn't replace the tracks, so the new elevators wouldn't work properly. Most continue to walk the fourteen flights. There is story after story of similar situations when the waiting lists for repairs is unending or it never gets done.She has taught others to blog and how to use the Internet and other technology to get the word out about the island she lives on, the conditions there and what her hopes are for Cuba in the future. She has been shoved into a car and beaten, and her husband, former journalist Reinaldo Escobar, was roughed up in a crowd just a day after Joani's incident. She and her family are not allowed to travel and cannot leave the country. She thinks her son, Teo, will someday make his way to Florida, and it is her best hope for him.People suppressed under a government's control cannot stay down forever. When Raul Castro took over, there was hope that he might relax conditions somewhat, but that never came to pass. The people of Cuba need to be free to earn fair wages, to be able to buy bath soap that doesn't cost a day's wages, have access to decent food that isn't outrageously priced, and have running water and electricity that is available all the time. They deserve to travel, to visit family or vacation off the island, and to see grandchildren. If someone's opinion differs from the government's, then expressing that opinion shouldn't get the person blacklisted and labeled as "pre-criminal."Yoani Sanchez deserves every award she has won, and that she has never been allowed to travel to accept in person. Her writing is exciting, convincing and always from her heart, and is so appealing that anyone interested in Cuba or who wants to learn more about the country should enjoy this 5-star book.

Yoani Sanchez has produced a wonderful book, which is made up of a series of blogs written between 2007-2010. She is clearly an astute observer of and participant in the social and economic difficulties of living life in present-day Cuba. It is forceful commentary on the extreme frustrations of daily life, and no doubt she speaks not only for herself but for all those experiencing the constraints she lives under.The book is a nonfictional portrayal of the novels "Cuba and the Night" and "Dreaming in Cuban" which reflect in fictionalized form many of the struggles many Cubans have to live through. As one who wrote "Cuba: Confronting the U.S. Embargo" some years ago, which was an attack on the embargo and the economic and political travails it was causing in Cuba, I can recommend this book as the contemporary and alternate view--that with the cold war over and US interests directed elsewhere the onerous repression Cubans live under--economically, socially, and politically--no longer makes sense and is really a gratitious oppression no longer necessary. And I agree with that perception.Sanchez reflects on the complications of life where much is forbidden, prevented, repressed, or outlawed. She speaks to the human costs of trying to survive economically and socially in this environment, and what it means to her generation--Generation Y (which is the title of her blog). In many ways the book is frightening but it also speaks to one person's courage to bring to light what Cuban censors would like to cover in darkness.The book is fluid, engrossing, written well, and paints a vivid picture of daily life in Havana.

I read this book as a compilation of blogs about daily life and struggles in Castro's Cuba. Nothing more and nothing less. I suspect it is a pretty accurate reflection of what routinely goes on in this pathetically backward and mismanaged country, run by the paranoid Castro brothers. How accurate is it? What I know suggests it is pretty accurate depiction of life, particularly after the fall of the USSR and the curtailment of their aid. Fortunately for the Castro brothers, Chavez stepped in to take over the job of propping up their failed experiment. Is it any wonder that Castro gushes with love at the mere mention of Chavez, his comrade in arms against the "evil" USA. Both of their paranoia over the USA reinforce their reason for continued existence and comradeship. Of course the importation of 40,000 doctors and advisors to Venezuela with their instant citizenship status and voting rights has not been without difficulties for the Venezuelans, but that is another story. Fort the Cubans, it is another chance to escape to potentially a better life. The brain drain just continues for Cuba.I would welcome the views and comments of the Cuban exiles who have read this book and/or her blogs (if they can do so without jeopardizing their family interests in Cuba. How accurate are the examples of daily life?

Good insight in many parts, but I think the author would be surprised by the fact many things she sees as the harsh realities of Cuba are often harsh realities in the USA, the U.K. and many other countries she holds up as beacons.For example, whilst I acknowledge Cuba, again along with plenty of "Western" countries, have a bad record of treatment of homosexuality in 70-90s, the author criticises what she describes as the government's slow response to acknowledge and legalise certain rights. Yet they for one beat the UK to many, and other European countries.

This is the best most honest and current non-fiction about Cuba. Yoani is so very brave, to be telling the world the horrors of real life in Cuba, things she and her husband are arrested and harassed for repeatedly. The quality of her writing is top notch. And if you want to know exactly what is going on in Cuba today, this is it. On a recent visit there, before reading this book, we discovered many of the things Yoani speaks about, but there is so much to be discovered.

Very compelling and honest. Gives the lie to any misty-eyed socialist view that the Cuban revolution is to be admired. The writer's clearly-detailed daily experiences make it evident that life there is dreadful, not just through the Castro government's incompetence but also through their deliberate acts. If you value freedom, please read it to know what can happen if you take your eye off the ball.

Estive em Cuba em 2009 e, tivesse eu tido a oportunidade de ler as palavras de Yoani antes, minha visita à ilha teria outros olhares. Só agora, após ler suas palavras, escritas às pressas para fazer render seus poucos pesos conversíveis, pude entender a eterna gratidão que recebemos num bilhete deixado por uma Camareira à qual deixávamos diariamente itens de higiene pessoal como forma de reconhecimento pelo seu cuidado com nosso quarto de hotel. Aquilo que para nós custava quase nada e que temos inteiramente à nossa disposição na quantidade que quisermos, para ela era um tesouro que só a ditadura e repressão cubana puderam criar. Yoani é uma entre os muitos heróis e heroínas que ainda resistem bravamente à opressão castrista (à qual, de propósito, grifo com "c" minúsculo). Seu estilo literário, quase "Hemingwaydiano", é um convite a uma leitura ansiosa e reveladora.

Excellent insight into the real lives of Cubans. Yoani is a very brave woman who has sacrificed everything for the hope of a better life for her people.