Next Year in Havana: Reese's Book Club
The July pick for Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine Book Club. 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. 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.
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Readers say *Next Year in Havana* offers a moving dual timeline that richly explores Cuban history through well-drawn characters. Many praise its vivi...
This week I finished reading Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton.
The book follows the lives of two women decades apart - Elisa and Marisol. Elise has grown up in the 1950s version of Cuba when Batista fell and Fidel rises to power. In the midst of her privileged upbringing she meets Pablo, a revolutionary fighting against everything her father has supported. Elisa is torn between her family and the man she loves, and when her family flees Cuba in order to escape the prosecution of Fidel's rise to power, she has to leave all that she loves behind. Making a new life for herself in Miami - she marries, she moves on, she has children - and those children have children and enter onto the scene Marisol. Marisol is living her grandmother's life decades away after Fidel has died. And her grandmother has passed. Her grandmother's wish is for Marisol to return to Cuba and spread her ashes in the land that she loved. But travel to Cuba is precarious and when Marisol finds herself on native soil, she learns the truth about her grandmother's life in Cuba and the battles there are still to fight there.
Next Year in Havana runs parallel stories between a grandmother and granddaughter that heighten the understanding of genuine love. The novel is part romance, part love story, part political lecture, and part redemption. The life Marisol chases in an attempted to learn more about her grandmother Elisa past takes the reader (and Marisol) on a journey through the history of Cuba and its fate for the future.
I learned a lot in the book about not only the extraordinary lives of the characters, but also about Cuba and its deep roots and shallow government. The juxtaposition of the United States against the turmoil backdrop of Cuba creates a powerful lesson in what it means to have freedom not only on paper, but in real life. As Marisol learns and articulates in the novel, "The United States isn't perfect; there's injustice everywhere I turn. But there's also a mechanism that protects its citizens - the right to question when something is wrong, to speak out, to protest, to be heard. It doesn't always work, sometimes the system fails those it was designed to protect, but at least that opportunity - the hope of it - exists" (Cleeton 305).
The book follows the lives of two women decades apart - Elisa and Marisol. Elise has grown up in the 1950s version of Cuba when Batista fell and Fidel rises to power. In the midst of her privileged upbringing she meets Pablo, a revolutionary fighting against everything her father has supported. Elisa is torn between her family and the man she loves, and when her family flees Cuba in order to escape the prosecution of Fidel's rise to power, she has to leave all that she loves behind. Making a new life for herself in Miami - she marries, she moves on, she has children - and those children have children and enter onto the scene Marisol. Marisol is living her grandmother's life decades away after Fidel has died. And her grandmother has passed. Her grandmother's wish is for Marisol to return to Cuba and spread her ashes in the land that she loved. But travel to Cuba is precarious and when Marisol finds herself on native soil, she learns the truth about her grandmother's life in Cuba and the battles there are still to fight there.
Next Year in Havana runs parallel stories between a grandmother and granddaughter that heighten the understanding of genuine love. The novel is part romance, part love story, part political lecture, and part redemption. The life Marisol chases in an attempted to learn more about her grandmother Elisa past takes the reader (and Marisol) on a journey through the history of Cuba and its fate for the future.
I learned a lot in the book about not only the extraordinary lives of the characters, but also about Cuba and its deep roots and shallow government. The juxtaposition of the United States against the turmoil backdrop of Cuba creates a powerful lesson in what it means to have freedom not only on paper, but in real life. As Marisol learns and articulates in the novel, "The United States isn't perfect; there's injustice everywhere I turn. But there's also a mechanism that protects its citizens - the right to question when something is wrong, to speak out, to protest, to be heard. It doesn't always work, sometimes the system fails those it was designed to protect, but at least that opportunity - the hope of it - exists" (Cleeton 305).
I love learning about a part of history through the eyes of fictional characters. Historical novels give us the human dimensions of emotion, romance, fear, and hope. Next Year in Havana doesn’t disappoint and the current day storyline is as fascinating as the late 1950’s storyline. I am hoping that her next novel, When We Left Cuba, will give even more insight into the rise and rule of Fidel Castro.
Such an easy yet thought-provoking read. The parallel emotions and points of view of the heroines drew me deeply into their trials and the difficulty of the decisions they made.
I loved this book! I’m a historical fiction fan. I loved learning about Cuba, a place we don’t know much about. Great read
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