The Sugar Island by Lamazares, Ivonne, 9780395860403
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The Sugar Island

3.68 based on 7 reviews.

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Hardcover Book

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Product Description

Ivonne Lamazares is one of the most original and exciting new voices on the literary scene. Born and raised in Cuba, she writes of her homeland with unmatched authenticity, immediacy, and poetry. The story of a mother and daughter who flee to American shores, THE SUGAR ISLAND depicts a culture in conflict with itself, where the old world chafes against the new and where a parent's desperate grab for freedom has dire consquences for her child. Remarkably, the events and potent emotions the novel evokes take place not today or yesterday, but at the height of Castro's revolution four decades ago.
The story is told in the brave, tough voice of Tanya, a girl on the verge of womanhood, who is at odds with her mother and with the rapidly changing world around her. In the wake of the revolution, Tanya's mother -- passionate and unreliable -- is determined to leave Cuba at all costs. She is also determined to take her reluctant daughter with her. Tanya is unsure of her mother's motives, and equally unsure of her love. When at last they embark on the perilous sea voyage to freedom, they leave behind the ruins of old Havana and a ravaged landscape. What they face in America, though, is far from certain.
In this embattled mother-daughter relationship lie echoes of the conflicts wrenching apart their tiny country. With economical prose and a clear-eyed vision, Lamazares evokes lives full of hope but fraught with obstacles in the face of dramatic change. Her novel is both prescient and remarkably insightful.

Product Details

  • Media: Hardcover Book, 224 pages
  • Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) (Sep. 30th, 2000)
  • ISBN-10: 0395860407
  • ISBN-13: 9780395860403
  • Dimensions: 5.86 x 8.57 x 0.82 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 0.70 lbs

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Customer Reviews

  • Book Rating 5 out of 5
    Read Reviews on Goodreads

    by Amy from Winter Park, FL | Aug 10, 2007

    I have never read a book about Cuba so free of political soapboxing. Set in Cuba and the United States in the 60s & 70s, Sugar Island is the story of an adolescent girl's conflicted relationship with her mother, a sometime-rebel and absent parent. The backdrop of a country in upheaval is a fitting setting for the story, but it never overwhelms the poignant and intimate (though maybe not uncommon) story of a mother and daughter.



  • Book Rating 2 out of 5
    Read Reviews on Goodreads

    by Marie from San Francisco, CA | Aug 6, 2007

    This is a book about a girl struggling in poverty in revolutionary Cuba. It was interesting to get a different perspective on cultural struggles but the author didn't make me particularly care about any of her characters.



  • Book Rating 4 out of 5
    Read Reviews on Goodreads

    by Bronwen from Winter Park, FL | Oct 20, 2008

    This was written by one of my professors at UCF. She now teaches in Miami, but she was wonderful.



  • Book Rating 4 out of 5
    Read Reviews on Goodreads

    by Deborah from Jupiter, FL | Sep 18, 2009

    heard the author read the first four chapters of this the other night..can't wait to keep going!



  • Book Rating 4 out of 5
    Read Reviews on Goodreads

    by Ryan from Port Saint Lucie, FL | Feb 13, 2008

    So far, so good. I'm really enjoying this book.



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