Reviews
"The history of a conversion, from skeptic to believer....The Cuban identity sticks throughout, for Eire spikes his text with Spanish, but a spiritual quest overrides nationality....At this point, he transcends the crowded field of the Cuban American memoir subgenre and, quite effectively, transcends." - The Miami Herald, "A very intelligent and sensitive bird's-eye view of a Cuban exile's boyhood experiences in America . . . eloquent and moving."-Oscar Hijuelos, "Eire is a tremendously likable narrator, honest about the limitations of memory, always wearing his heart on his sleeve....those who remember the exuberant kid from Waiting for Snow in Havana ...will be moved by the man he becomes." - The New York Times Book Review, "...Irreverent, deeply affecting....rich with smile-inducing pop-culture references and childhood pleasures. Eire loves Marilyn Monroe; models his speech after Andy Griffith and the Beverly Hillbillies; and revels in swimming pools, matinees, the public library, Halloween and, at long last, the mythical snow he finally experiences in Illinois....above all, a story of resilience." - The Seattle Times, “A mix of insightful observation, humor, and heartfelt emotion. . . . Easily one of the more impressive memoirs on the thorny issue of immigration.� Publishers Weekly (starred review), "[Eire] writes with both levity and wisdom about the tension between Carlos the Cuban and Charles the American, describing his process of maturing as 'learning to die'--or, more prosaically, to let go of worldly attachments such as his childhood memories of life in Cuba. With each move, unrequited schoolyard crush or achievement in his adopted language, he sheds a former self. Eventually he embraces this continual reinvention as itself something distinctly American." -- The Wall Street Journal, "...Irreverent, deeply affecting....rich with smile-inducing pop-culture references and childhood pleasures. Eire loves Marilyn Monroe; models his speech after Andy Griffith and the Beverly Hillbillies; and revels in swimming pools, matinees, the public library, Halloween and, at long last, the mythical snow he finally experiences in Illinois....above all, a story of resilience." -- The Seattle Times, "[A] vivid, affecting memoir of survival and coming of age....An engrossing Cuban-American story that will leave readers wanting more." -- Kirkus Reviews, "Eire is a tremendously likable narrator, honest about the limitations of memory, always wearing his heart on his sleeve....those who remember the exuberant kid from Waiting for Snow in Havana ...will be moved by the man he becomes." -- The New York Times Book Review, "The history of a conversion, from skeptic to believer....The Cuban identity sticks throughout, for Eire spikes his text with Spanish, but a spiritual quest overrides nationality....At this point, he transcends the crowded field of the Cuban American memoir subgenre and, quite effectively, transcends." -- The Miami Herald, “A very intelligent and sensitive bird's-eye view of a Cuban exile’s boyhood experiences in America . . . eloquent and moving.� Oscar Hijuelos, "[Eire] writes with both levity and wisdom about the tension between Carlos the Cuban and Charles the American, describing his process of maturing as 'learning to die'-or, more prosaically, to let go of worldly attachments such as his childhood memories of life in Cuba. With each move, unrequited schoolyard crush or achievement in his adopted language, he sheds a former self. Eventually he embraces this continual reinvention as itself something distinctly American." - The Wall Street Journal, "A mix of insightful observation, humor, and heartfelt emotion. . . . Easily one of the more impressive memoirs on the thorny issue of immigration."-Publishers Weekly(starred review), "[A] vivid, affecting memoir of survival and coming of age....An engrossing Cuban-American story that will leave readers wanting more." - Kirkus Reviews
