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The Distant Marvels
The acclaimed Cuban American author of Love and Ghost Letters delivers “a wonderful story about the stories we tell each other” set in 1960s Cuba ( San Francisco Chronicle ).
Cuba, 1963. Hurricane Flora, one of the deadliest in recorded history, is bearing down on the island. Seven women have been forcibly evacuated from their homes and herded into the former governor’s mansion. There they are watched over by another woman―Ofelia, a young soldier of Castro’s new Cuba. As the storm rages and the floodwaters rise, a cigar factory lector named Maria Sirena tells the incredible story of her childhood during Cuba’s Third War of Independence; of her father Augustin, a ferocious rebel; of her mother, Lulu, an astonishing woman who fought, loved, dreamed, and suffered as fiercely as her husband. But stories have a way of taking on a life of their own, and soon Maria will reveal more about herself than she or anyone ever expected.
Chantel Acevedo’s The Distant Marvels is an epic adventure tale, a family saga, a love story, a stunning historical account of armed struggle against oppressors, and a long tender plea for forgiveness. It is, finally, a life-affirming novel about the kind of love that lasts a lifetime and the very art of storytelling itself.
Cuba, 1963. Hurricane Flora, one of the deadliest in recorded history, is bearing down on the island. Seven women have been forcibly evacuated from their homes and herded into the former governor’s mansion. There they are watched over by another woman―Ofelia, a young soldier of Castro’s new Cuba. As the storm rages and the floodwaters rise, a cigar factory lector named Maria Sirena tells the incredible story of her childhood during Cuba’s Third War of Independence; of her father Augustin, a ferocious rebel; of her mother, Lulu, an astonishing woman who fought, loved, dreamed, and suffered as fiercely as her husband. But stories have a way of taking on a life of their own, and soon Maria will reveal more about herself than she or anyone ever expected.
Chantel Acevedo’s The Distant Marvels is an epic adventure tale, a family saga, a love story, a stunning historical account of armed struggle against oppressors, and a long tender plea for forgiveness. It is, finally, a life-affirming novel about the kind of love that lasts a lifetime and the very art of storytelling itself.
304 pages, Paperback
First published June 11, 2015
86 people are currently reading
2927 people want to read
About the author
Chantel Acevedo
16 books242 followersCalled "a master storyteller" by Kirkus Reviews, Chantel Acevedo is the author of Love and Ghost Letters, A Falling Star, The Distant Marvels, which was a finalist for the 2016 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and most recently, The Living Infinite, hailed by Booklist as a "vivid and enthralling tale of love and redemption." Her essays have appeared in Vogue and Real Simple, among others. THE MUSE SQUAD: THE CASSANDRA CURSE, is a new middle grade series forthcoming from Balzer + Bray. She is a Professor of English at the University of Miami, where she directs in the MFA program.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 218 reviews
January 16, 2017
3.5★
It’s 1963 in Santiago. Hurricane Flora rages and eight women are trapped in an abandoned mansion watched over by a soldier in Castro’s army. To entertain and pass a dangerous night, as well as satisfy a deep personal need, an old woman on the precipice of death begins to tell them stories that begin with her earliest childhood during Cuba’s war for independence.
My group challenge was to read a book or author from the Caribbean. Since Fidel Castro just passed and my own childhood was colored by the Bay of Pigs with its threat of nuclear war, this seemed a good choice. I knew nothing of pre 1960s Cuba. The power of folklore and remembrance told by those who came before is at its heart. It revealed a side of Cuba’s culture and history I knew nothing about.
Although enjoyable as well as enlightening, I found the movements between past and present with short chapters too distracting, like constant interruption during reading or film watching which tempered my enthusiasm a bit, though it must be said the author writes beautifully.
It’s 1963 in Santiago. Hurricane Flora rages and eight women are trapped in an abandoned mansion watched over by a soldier in Castro’s army. To entertain and pass a dangerous night, as well as satisfy a deep personal need, an old woman on the precipice of death begins to tell them stories that begin with her earliest childhood during Cuba’s war for independence.
My group challenge was to read a book or author from the Caribbean. Since Fidel Castro just passed and my own childhood was colored by the Bay of Pigs with its threat of nuclear war, this seemed a good choice. I knew nothing of pre 1960s Cuba. The power of folklore and remembrance told by those who came before is at its heart. It revealed a side of Cuba’s culture and history I knew nothing about.
Although enjoyable as well as enlightening, I found the movements between past and present with short chapters too distracting, like constant interruption during reading or film watching which tempered my enthusiasm a bit, though it must be said the author writes beautifully.
July 14, 2017
"Mama, como te queiro," my daughter whispers, proving what I already know- -that there can be no safe place, no body that does not grow ill at last, no escape from death or absolute safety from storms. But that love, in its full measure, is a kind of swirling tempest, too, and in its eye, there is stillness and comfort and peace".
I did not intend to read another book about revolution on a small island when I picked this up, since I just finished a novel about war in Sri Lanka, but after I experienced the writing in this one, it was too late. This one takes place in Cuba, with the birth of Maria Sirena in 1881, whose parents were revolutionaries trying to gain independence from Spain. It ends in 1963, just as Castro has come into power. We get Maria's tragic story as she tells it to other elderly women evacuated during Hurricane Flora.
As sometimes happens when I read well researched, well written historical novels, I learned so much about the history of Cuba from this one. Spain fought long and hard for this island, but Cubans fought longer and harder for their freedom. Germany was not the first country to have concentration camps. The Spanish simply walled in the villages in Cuba and left the people to die with no food or water, then threw their bodies behind the fences to be eaten by vultures. Who needs gas and ovens when you can just let nature take its course?
Maria Sirena told her story so people wouldn't forget. Fiction, yes, but it worked in my case. I won't easily forget this novel, or the people in it.
I did not intend to read another book about revolution on a small island when I picked this up, since I just finished a novel about war in Sri Lanka, but after I experienced the writing in this one, it was too late. This one takes place in Cuba, with the birth of Maria Sirena in 1881, whose parents were revolutionaries trying to gain independence from Spain. It ends in 1963, just as Castro has come into power. We get Maria's tragic story as she tells it to other elderly women evacuated during Hurricane Flora.
As sometimes happens when I read well researched, well written historical novels, I learned so much about the history of Cuba from this one. Spain fought long and hard for this island, but Cubans fought longer and harder for their freedom. Germany was not the first country to have concentration camps. The Spanish simply walled in the villages in Cuba and left the people to die with no food or water, then threw their bodies behind the fences to be eaten by vultures. Who needs gas and ovens when you can just let nature take its course?
Maria Sirena told her story so people wouldn't forget. Fiction, yes, but it worked in my case. I won't easily forget this novel, or the people in it.
July 10, 2015
Perhaps she is right, that there is no reason to suffering, no fair dealing when it comes to meting out bliss and pain. There are just choices, and the echoes of those choices.
The memory of her in that moment, ragged and hostile, remained a vague one for a long time. It became clear only a few months later, when I'd seen enough to make meaning of those blurry shapes. I cannot pinpoint the exact moment when the remembrance suddenly sharpened in my head, but it was similar to the feeling of putting on eyeglasses for the first time.
I realized two things that night. The first was that LuLu admired my father in direct relation to his status as a rebel. She'd left Julio Reyes in Havana without much of a thought once Agustin returned, bloody and smelling of smoke. Now, at Dos Rios, another man threatened to trump my father's allegiance to the cause, and hence, take his place in my mother's estimation.
A lush and beautifully written book, I loved hearing the stories of Maria Sirena's life and what she and her family went through. It draws you in and it's easy to get lost in the story.
At times, the book dipped back and forth, for short times it wouldn't keep me interested but then would bounce back.
It's a low key novel in some ways and it does pull at your heartstrings. I would recommend it, be patient and just flow with the story, it may surprise you :).
Happy reading!
The memory of her in that moment, ragged and hostile, remained a vague one for a long time. It became clear only a few months later, when I'd seen enough to make meaning of those blurry shapes. I cannot pinpoint the exact moment when the remembrance suddenly sharpened in my head, but it was similar to the feeling of putting on eyeglasses for the first time.
I realized two things that night. The first was that LuLu admired my father in direct relation to his status as a rebel. She'd left Julio Reyes in Havana without much of a thought once Agustin returned, bloody and smelling of smoke. Now, at Dos Rios, another man threatened to trump my father's allegiance to the cause, and hence, take his place in my mother's estimation.
A lush and beautifully written book, I loved hearing the stories of Maria Sirena's life and what she and her family went through. It draws you in and it's easy to get lost in the story.
At times, the book dipped back and forth, for short times it wouldn't keep me interested but then would bounce back.
It's a low key novel in some ways and it does pull at your heartstrings. I would recommend it, be patient and just flow with the story, it may surprise you :).
Happy reading!
July 9, 2015
There are many things to like about this book. It's kind of like the slow burn in some spicy food. It doesn't immediately hit you, but grows as you eat and then lingers for awhile after you're done. One image that has stuck with me is that of the main character's job as a lector reading out loud to workers in tobacco factories. The book also made realize how ignorant I am of Cuban history, something I hope to rectify so if anyone has any good reading recommendations for this, let me know.
September 30, 2021
The story opens in in Cuba in 1963, as Hurricane Flora is about to hit the island. A group of women have been evacuated to a more substantial building. Protagonist Maria Serena, now in her eighties, tells her life story to the women to keep them occupied while the storm rages.
“I have more in common with these women, I realize, than I do with anyone else in the world. We are bound together by fear and memory, fastened by the common mysteries of motherhood, made familiar to one another in the shadow of a monstrous storm.”
I thought this book was going to be about a woman reading to cigar workers, but it turns out to be quite different. Yes, Maria Serena used to work as a storyteller in a cigar factory, but this part of her life is never told in any detail. The storyline alternates between long sections about Maria Serena’s past and short sections about the women sheltering from the storm. The majority of the book is set in the early 1900s, when Cuba was fighting Spain for independence. I particularly enjoyed the parts set during the Cuban Liberation movement, where we find passages such as:
“La Cuchilla was barricaded all around with a tall fence of spiked posts. Guards stood at the single entrance to the town. I’d heard of these camps, where Cubans were forcibly concentrated in order to keep villagers from assisting the Liberation Army. People in the camps were called the reconcentrados. It was Agustín who had first described these places, cut off from food and fresh water, where Cubans were dying by the thousands of disease and starvation.”
This book comes across as realistic historical fiction. There is a romance, but it is not the primary driver of the plot. It is the type that can give the reader a sense of what it was like to live in Cuba during the era. It is a good pick for Hispanic Heritage month.
“I have more in common with these women, I realize, than I do with anyone else in the world. We are bound together by fear and memory, fastened by the common mysteries of motherhood, made familiar to one another in the shadow of a monstrous storm.”
I thought this book was going to be about a woman reading to cigar workers, but it turns out to be quite different. Yes, Maria Serena used to work as a storyteller in a cigar factory, but this part of her life is never told in any detail. The storyline alternates between long sections about Maria Serena’s past and short sections about the women sheltering from the storm. The majority of the book is set in the early 1900s, when Cuba was fighting Spain for independence. I particularly enjoyed the parts set during the Cuban Liberation movement, where we find passages such as:
“La Cuchilla was barricaded all around with a tall fence of spiked posts. Guards stood at the single entrance to the town. I’d heard of these camps, where Cubans were forcibly concentrated in order to keep villagers from assisting the Liberation Army. People in the camps were called the reconcentrados. It was Agustín who had first described these places, cut off from food and fresh water, where Cubans were dying by the thousands of disease and starvation.”
This book comes across as realistic historical fiction. There is a romance, but it is not the primary driver of the plot. It is the type that can give the reader a sense of what it was like to live in Cuba during the era. It is a good pick for Hispanic Heritage month.
March 7, 2020
I thought Europa Editions might be a little more literary than some other imprints. (I guess it was that beguiling word Europa.) This novel, firmly on the terrain of Oprah's Book Club picks, suggests not.
We have a sort of frame story. The first person narrator, the octogenarian Maria Sirena, begins to narrate in the present tense in 1963 Cuba. A severe hurricane is looming and she and a group of other women are evacuated into an abandoned mansion on higher ground. To calm the group, and because she is a great storyteller (she once had a job telling stories to workers in a cigar factory), she tells the women the story of her life in chapters in the past tense. These alternate with the present-tense, present-day chapters. She begins with her birth in 1881 on board a ship from Boston Harbor to Cuba. Her parents are Cuban revolutionaries. Her mother is a seductress who has several affairs; her father is a violent man. Maria falls in love with a black freed slave and bears a child at age 15. She and her mother and boyfriend are captured by the Spanish and detained in a concentration camp. We know at the outset that this baby, Mayito, has been absent from her life. The reveal is how and why.
I don't read many novels like this but I masochistically plowed through. What annoyed me as much as the present-tense was the fetishization of the act of storytelling. I don't completely understand why it annoys me, or why contemporary authors go this route; perhaps readers lap it up. Maybe it peeves me because it feels like a forced romanticizing. Inside the mansion after Maria has been spouting biography for awhile, another woman says, "We all have stories to tell. Who will remember mine?" Maria responds, "'Tell us your story. I'm eager to hear it.' If my own stories are an itch beneath my skin, then the need to hear other stories is like a thirst." Maria is dying from an abdominal tumor for which she refuses to seek medical treatment. Her fear is that "her stories" will die with her. (She could have solved this problem by telling her adult daughter Beatriz about Mayito and her lover Mario, but she never has.) Maria's storytelling inspires storytelling from the other women. As they speak, "the weight of a story yet untold" fills her up inside and she begins more stories. At one point in the concentration camp her mother says, "Our story is over, don't you understand?" The hurricane's end and the waters receding bring on another bout of storytelling from each of the women. Maria's thoughts wax pseudoeloquent: "My ears are beached cockleshells full of stories instead of sand. I am bursting with them." But there's a problem: the other women's stories are displacing Maria's own. They are exiting out the back of her head. "I listen for my own story, and find it curiously missing. I can no longer remember the exact color of Lulu's hair, or the smell of Mario's breath in the morning, or what hunger, real hunger, feels like....Other stories are flickering in my imagination, pushing, wind-like, insistent. I want to sleep in my own bed and dream the stories alive."
Europa Editions are handsome books, and a lot of care was taken to get all the Spanish diacritics in the proper names right, which was why it was irritating to see doppelgänger typed doppelganger. Someone also couldn't decide whether Maria's mother was Iluminada, or Illuminada.
June 7, 2017
A book that starts in the 1960's and gives the history of Cuba through the eyes of Maria Sirena (now at the end of her life) as she shelters with other women during a hurricane.
Maria Sirena is known for her storytelling skills and so she distracts the women by telling her history which is the history of Cuba and the revolution to achieve freedom from Spain.
I like the way the story weaves the past and the present and the other women's stories add just enough to the storyline.
Maria Sirena is known for her storytelling skills and so she distracts the women by telling her history which is the history of Cuba and the revolution to achieve freedom from Spain.
I like the way the story weaves the past and the present and the other women's stories add just enough to the storyline.
April 18, 2018
I’m not one for reviews, but this book truly was the “Cuban epic” it claimed to be. Not only did I leave this novel feeling challenged emotionally, I also left each reading session thinking critically about the low points of history - specifically Cuban - and what lessons lie therein. Acevedo’s incredible gift of story-weaving served to accentuate how rooted this narrative is in the historical events it strove to depict.
In and among the inventive storytelling was one of the author’s most interesting themes: humanity’s inability to learn from history. Do we actually learn or, rather, follow a “trajectory of past events”? To be honest, I’m still wrestling an honest answer to that question.
In my opinion, if a work of fiction causes that much reflection on the real (while captivating the imagination), it is a piece of literature worth reading.
In and among the inventive storytelling was one of the author’s most interesting themes: humanity’s inability to learn from history. Do we actually learn or, rather, follow a “trajectory of past events”? To be honest, I’m still wrestling an honest answer to that question.
In my opinion, if a work of fiction causes that much reflection on the real (while captivating the imagination), it is a piece of literature worth reading.
August 21, 2015
Beautiful storytelling, a portal into an old (Spanish-American War) Cuba-- an unfamiliar world to me, but the loves, losses, relationships of women are a language I know. Cleverly written epic-within-a-story, both tragedies and yet still holding strength and hope. This would be a fun one to read in a book group, picking apart characters and plot points.
July 28, 2015
This book reminded me a bit of Bel Canto, which I haven't read in a long time. The historical life of Cuba was interesting and the family story was fascinating and beautiful. There is so much pain, love, hate, war, healing, all wrapped up in one storyteller's tale. Please read it!
December 16, 2016
If you are looking for more diverse reads or are interested in reading more from an Hispanic author, this story begins in 1963 in Castro's Cuba. A storyteller tries to keep the ladies calm as they ride out the a hurricane in the former Governor's Palace. She tells her own story and that of her father and mother in Cuba's third war for independence. Most of the book circles around this time period.
Some of the themes that are introduced include the importance of storytelling, race, the War for Independence, rebellion and freedom. It's interesting that in fighting for freedom they actually got Communism. It seemed in the book they were fighting against something (Spain) and didn't really know what they were fighting for (freedom)--but what is freedom?
Some adult content.
Some of the themes that are introduced include the importance of storytelling, race, the War for Independence, rebellion and freedom. It's interesting that in fighting for freedom they actually got Communism. It seemed in the book they were fighting against something (Spain) and didn't really know what they were fighting for (freedom)--but what is freedom?
Some adult content.
February 26, 2018
3.5. The writing was very lyrical and the story was interesting. It will definitely make a great discussion. It reminded me a lot of Carlos Ruis Zafon's Shadow of the Wind. I only gave it 3.5 stars because, for my own reading enjoyment, I found the text to be overly descriptive. I know many will love this, and I would definitely recommend, it's just a personal preference and timing
February 23, 2019
A great read for book clubs who like historical fiction -- set during a major hurricane -- Hurricane Flora in Cuba in 1963 -- this is the story of Maria Sirena, child of the first Cuban revolutionaries from Spain, and flashes back to tell the layered story of her parents and her childhood in vivid, often soaring, language. Some shocking details of the past, historically accurate, hooked me and made me think deeply about the history of Cuba--no spoilers, but worth reading for history that involves America and that we never talk about. Why not 5 stars? The present is cut short -- the time of Castro only lightly touched upon, the story of her daughter, Beatriz rushed at the end. This book feels like there needs to be a follow up from 1963 to present day.
--
Caroline
p.s. if you like stories that flash forward and back from the 1960s to present day consider my debut collection of short stories... CARRY HER HOME...
Carry Her Home: Stories
--
Caroline
p.s. if you like stories that flash forward and back from the 1960s to present day consider my debut collection of short stories... CARRY HER HOME...
Carry Her Home: Stories
February 14, 2024
"One day, you'll look upon this moment and all you have suffered in this war as a series of distant marvels, and it will only hurt a little to remember them. You will think, 'I was lucky and blessed to get out of that place alive,' and the sting of goodbye will be gone."
this book broke my heart over and over again, and even when it felt too soul-wrenching, the author's beautiful writing kept me coming back.
this book broke my heart over and over again, and even when it felt too soul-wrenching, the author's beautiful writing kept me coming back.
November 5, 2017
Wow! This book touches on a distant memory of my grandmother telling us stories! Stories of her youth, stories of a bygone era... I was lucky enough to to win this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. I was also lucky to have it on a transatlantic flight where all my energies were dedicated to the story with very little interruption. What joy! The stories are amazing, the language poetic, and yet the portrayal of the Cuban revolution for independence from Spain was highly informative instilling in me the desire to learn more about this period. I am intensely thankful to the publishers and wish the author, who shares my hometown, a prosperous career with many books for us to keep enjoying her fantastic writing.
May 6, 2015
I have long been fascinated by Cuba, first because of Hemingway and later because of the old American cars still on the road and the wonderful music, and I fell in love with this book. Told from a Cuban perspective, we get a glimpse of Cuba from the wars for independence, including the Spanish-American war, and culminating in the advent of Castro Cuba. Told from the first person account of a Cuban woman who lived throughout this era, the story is so compelling that I could barely put it down. Please read this book.
April 27, 2018
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ She was a daughter, a mother, a revolutionary, a storyteller. Maria is evacuated from her home during Hurricane Flora’s ravage upon Cuba in 1963. While sheltered in the governor’s mansion, the women share stories to alleviate their fear. Maria tells her life story in heart-breaking detail, not only in an act of contrition but also in hopes that she will not be forgotten. Deeply moving, folk story like prose. Simply fantastic.
November 21, 2015
This is a great work of historical fiction. Rich characters, well developed stories within the context of two Cuban revolutions. Informative and engaging. I highly recommend.
July 13, 2021
Normally I tolerate, but don't love, stories that go from changing points of view or from past to present, but The Distant Marvels integrates two story lines so beautifully that it is totally engrossing-no moments of impatience trying to resettle into the narrative.
I thought Acevedo did an incredible job creating mood in both her times and setting. The first is a fortress on the coastlines of Cuba mid-1960s, where several old or ill women (including our story teller Maria Sirena) wait out a tropical storm. Maria Sirena's job used to be reading stories to tobacco rollers as they created cigars, and she confesses to the women she's sheltering with that she used to sometimes pretend to read but actually tell her own stories from her life. They implore her to do the same to help distract them from their fears. Through her, we see what Cuba in the early 1900's while revolutionaries fought their Spanish opressors was like for a young girl and woman. It was precarious, to say the least.
It's a great hook and a worthy subject matter, but it is the talk between the other women waiting with Maria that makes The Distant Marvels really special. The interjections from them are so well timed, their reactions to Maria, her story and each other pulled me firmly and instantly back with them in their fortress. But more, their exchanges with each other and how they treated each other are distinctly Cuban. As someone of Cuban descent, the women felt so authentic to me and it's not something I would have thought to look for. It is an openness with others that is a mix of blunt and kind,peppered with strongly worded opinions that kind of blow over. To choose just the right exchanges to give it that feel on top of all the other creativity manifesting in this book- I think it's incredible.
It feels like a strange time to be writing this on a day when the world is wondering what it means to see Cuban people freely demonstrating. When we think of opressed, I think we think of passive blandness, but being able to endure and being silent on something in order to get by don't have to go hand in hand with cold, closed peronalities. It is a triumph of the person to still live in a warm, interconnected way. Obviously not every single Cuban is like this, but this is the feeling of being with Cubans on the whole that I know and Acevedo just nailed it.
Last of all-the end is so beautiful it is worth the time spent reading to arrive there. I read it twice just to savor it.
I thought Acevedo did an incredible job creating mood in both her times and setting. The first is a fortress on the coastlines of Cuba mid-1960s, where several old or ill women (including our story teller Maria Sirena) wait out a tropical storm. Maria Sirena's job used to be reading stories to tobacco rollers as they created cigars, and she confesses to the women she's sheltering with that she used to sometimes pretend to read but actually tell her own stories from her life. They implore her to do the same to help distract them from their fears. Through her, we see what Cuba in the early 1900's while revolutionaries fought their Spanish opressors was like for a young girl and woman. It was precarious, to say the least.
It's a great hook and a worthy subject matter, but it is the talk between the other women waiting with Maria that makes The Distant Marvels really special. The interjections from them are so well timed, their reactions to Maria, her story and each other pulled me firmly and instantly back with them in their fortress. But more, their exchanges with each other and how they treated each other are distinctly Cuban. As someone of Cuban descent, the women felt so authentic to me and it's not something I would have thought to look for. It is an openness with others that is a mix of blunt and kind,peppered with strongly worded opinions that kind of blow over. To choose just the right exchanges to give it that feel on top of all the other creativity manifesting in this book- I think it's incredible.
It feels like a strange time to be writing this on a day when the world is wondering what it means to see Cuban people freely demonstrating. When we think of opressed, I think we think of passive blandness, but being able to endure and being silent on something in order to get by don't have to go hand in hand with cold, closed peronalities. It is a triumph of the person to still live in a warm, interconnected way. Obviously not every single Cuban is like this, but this is the feeling of being with Cubans on the whole that I know and Acevedo just nailed it.
Last of all-the end is so beautiful it is worth the time spent reading to arrive there. I read it twice just to savor it.
March 28, 2018
I was recommended this book a few years ago. It deals with Independence of Cuba indirectly. This is the coming of age smashed with a family saga. The protagonist, Maria Sirena is a gifted folk teller who during a hurricane Flora in Cuba around 1959 confesses to eight women who flee for safety to Casa Velázquez. Beautifully written tale of women struggling to survive hardships of war and dealing with disappointments and grief. Acevedo plays with the imagery of mermaid evoking that dualism of strong yet sensual/sexual woman. Unfortunately there were moments such as during the liberation efforts of Maria’s parents that failed to add to the narrative. And the juxtaposition of past and more contemporary tale didn’t quite gel, likely due to the short length of some stories. Even though I’m not a fan of magical realism, it made sense here. Worth a second reading to see if it improves.
Overall: if interested in learning more about Cuba this is worth a read. But only if you enjoy folk tale spin to story. This is a slow burn of a book with intriguing female dynamics.
Overall: if interested in learning more about Cuba this is worth a read. But only if you enjoy folk tale spin to story. This is a slow burn of a book with intriguing female dynamics.
October 3, 2022
Nie uwierzę, jeżeli ktoś powie, że ta książka go nie wzruszyła. Była cudowna, a całokształt mnie złamał. Połączenie autentycznej historii Kuby i wzruszającej opowieści dogłębnie mną poruszyło. Zdążyłam przywiązać się do Marii Sireny, Lulu i do tych wszystkich staruszek tymczasowo mieszkających w Casa Velazquez, o Susan już nie wspominając (pokochałam ją). Jeżeli chodzi o Blancę Lorę (Blythe Quinn) to jej nie polubiłam, wydawała mi się fałszywa, sprawiała wrażenie jakby interesowała się Marią tylko, aby mieć o czym pisać i zgrywać odważną, że zapuściła się na Kubę i ratowała reconcentrados.
Ogólnie książka jest ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ogólnie książka jest ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
July 5, 2023
Bardzo przystępnie napisana, jak dla mnie zbyt prosta (może to być oczywiście wina tłumacza). Parę razy łza się polała. Ogromnym atutem jest możliwość, podczas niezobowiązującego czytania, zainteresowania się historią Kuby, omijają w podręcznikach. Pod tym względem autorka wywiązała się bez zarzutu, podkreślając kolonizatorskie piętno oraz konflikty rasowe.
May 10, 2021
The writing in this novel is amazing as far as language, but due to the nature of the story and a few scenes that don't really do much for the plot and story, etc, it is three stars. It's a number of things, and not easily pigeon-holed, but one could call it a literary, war, family, historical-fiction, coming of age book, although I may have missed something here.
The present time of the story is set during Hurricane Flora in 1963. Forced to evacuate, María Sirena ends up telling her story, first to one woman and then to a group, but not all in one go. There is so much tragedy here, that whether or not there are any glimmers of hope would be a spoiler.
I read this on the heels of reading The Mountains Sing, which is also a story of war where much of it is comprised of story telling, although that one is a two person POV and quite different in many ways. I gave that one four stars because I thought it better constructed and for a few other reasons. That said, both are worthy reads.
The present time of the story is set during Hurricane Flora in 1963. Forced to evacuate, María Sirena ends up telling her story, first to one woman and then to a group, but not all in one go. There is so much tragedy here, that whether or not there are any glimmers of hope would be a spoiler.
I read this on the heels of reading The Mountains Sing, which is also a story of war where much of it is comprised of story telling, although that one is a two person POV and quite different in many ways. I gave that one four stars because I thought it better constructed and for a few other reasons. That said, both are worthy reads.
November 30, 2022
La storia di Maria Sirena è coinvolgente, non si fa fatica a leggerla, ma è come se mancasse qualcosa, come cercasse di tessere le trame di una saga familiare senza riuscirci fino in fondo.
E poi, porca vacca, quanti refusi, che fastidio.
E poi, porca vacca, quanti refusi, che fastidio.
July 29, 2025
I think if I had a better background knowledge of Cuban history, I would have appreciated this novel a lot more. As it is, I felt like I was reading a story through a dark mirror, stumbling in the dark with few guiding landmarks. This book still makes for a compelling and tragic tale, but I felt like I missed as much as I gained from this one.
November 20, 2017
Très joli conte qui couvre la fin du XIX siècle aux années 60 à Cuba en mêlant vérités historiques et histoire d'amour.
May 11, 2023
Uno dei libri più belli mai letti!!!!
October 15, 2025
this book had me hooked.
i had picked up this book on a whim two years ago when i was in the strand bookstore. the cover intrigued me but it took me a few more months before i picked up the book to read it. going into this book blind, i did not know what to expect, but my go-to novels are usually romance, narrated through the lens of young women. based on the young woman on the cover, and the one word reviews on the back, i expected a story about the love between a young couple in war-ridden Cuba, but this book was not that. this book was so much more. the distant marvels was about love in all its different forms. It was about the love between a mother and her daughter, the love a soldier holds for her country, the love one holds for life and even death, and most importantly, the love maría sirena had for herself. as maría narrated about her life in Cuba, and Spain, and her little cottage by the sea, i found myself growing fonder and fonder of her. i felt myself sharing her laughter, her pain, her pleasures, and the yearning she had for her family, and her loved ones. i thought to myself, no one should go through what she went through, and what her mother went through and what the other women in the story went through. when war breaks, women suffer the repercussions most, and that holds true, especially now. women in sudan pay the price of war with their bodies, minds, and the people they love. they die, and watch their loved ones die. maría’s story is no different. she loved, was loved, fought, won at times and lost at others.
i loved this book, however, i do wish we got a glimpse into mayito and mario’s life, and where they ended up after. but i do understand why the author, Chantel Acevedo, did not share that aspect of the story. it amplified the harshness of life, and the pain that maría sirena carried with her after losing her loved ones due the war. overall i rate this book a 4.5 out of 5, and absolutely recommend that you give it a read.
i had picked up this book on a whim two years ago when i was in the strand bookstore. the cover intrigued me but it took me a few more months before i picked up the book to read it. going into this book blind, i did not know what to expect, but my go-to novels are usually romance, narrated through the lens of young women. based on the young woman on the cover, and the one word reviews on the back, i expected a story about the love between a young couple in war-ridden Cuba, but this book was not that. this book was so much more. the distant marvels was about love in all its different forms. It was about the love between a mother and her daughter, the love a soldier holds for her country, the love one holds for life and even death, and most importantly, the love maría sirena had for herself. as maría narrated about her life in Cuba, and Spain, and her little cottage by the sea, i found myself growing fonder and fonder of her. i felt myself sharing her laughter, her pain, her pleasures, and the yearning she had for her family, and her loved ones. i thought to myself, no one should go through what she went through, and what her mother went through and what the other women in the story went through. when war breaks, women suffer the repercussions most, and that holds true, especially now. women in sudan pay the price of war with their bodies, minds, and the people they love. they die, and watch their loved ones die. maría’s story is no different. she loved, was loved, fought, won at times and lost at others.
i loved this book, however, i do wish we got a glimpse into mayito and mario’s life, and where they ended up after. but i do understand why the author, Chantel Acevedo, did not share that aspect of the story. it amplified the harshness of life, and the pain that maría sirena carried with her after losing her loved ones due the war. overall i rate this book a 4.5 out of 5, and absolutely recommend that you give it a read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 12, 2015
A lovely story set in Cuba (rare for literature). Maria Sirena Alfonso is a storyteller living in Cuba as Castro is rising into power. Hurricane Flora bears down on the island and many women are forced to evacuate their homes to ride out the storm. Many of the women tell stories and share photos of their children. We learn about Maria's birth to her mother, Illuminada (Lulu) and father Augstin Alfonso who were both radicals with the Cuban Liberation Army fighting against the Spanish for control. Lulu and Agustin become separated when he is imprisoned for fourteen years. Lulu and her baby, Maria Sirena, live in the inn of Julio Reyes under the eye of her captor, Captain Aldo Alarcon. Eventually the rebels overthrow the prison and Agustin returns taking Lulu and Maria as he fights with the rebel forces.
Maria who is fourteen meets Mario Betancourt, an African slave descendent in Cuba. His father, Ricardo, is a leader of the rebels. They fall in love and racial tensions threaten their union. Lulu, Maria and Mario are captured and forced into the La Cuchilla reconcentrados concentration camp. As in any concentration camp, the conditions are horrific. Maria becomes pregnant with Mario's child. She escapes through the help of an American journalist from NYC, Blythe Quinn, whose assignment is to write about the camps. Maria is renamed Carla Carvajal and she has a son, Mayito. While in the hospital after giving birth she meets Gilberto Torres whose father owns a cigar factory, Torres Real Cigars. Ultimately Maria secures a position in the cigar factory as a lector, one who tells stories or reads, to the men rolling cigars.
There are two stories in parallel in the novel. One is of the women seeking shelter and safety from the hurricane telling their stories and Maria telling the story of her birth, childhood, family, fighting for the rebel cause, falling love and the birth of her children. Interesting historical facts are interwoven into the plot.
So nice to read about Cuban history and their struggles for independence and democracy.
"One day, you'll look upon this moment and all you have suffered in this war as a series of distant marvels, and it will only hurt a little to remember them. You will think, 'I was lucky and blessed to get out of that place alive,' and thr sting of goodbye will be gone."
"There was Gilberto. My Gil. I found my way to him, to Placetas. He was well, and the yellow fever had left no mark on him. He made me a lector in his father's cigar factory, and this is where I told the men snippets of my story, written by a woman named Carla Carvajal. When they asked me what the book was called, I would say it was The Distant Marvela, and they accepted it as true. I learned to forget about Mario, and to,love Gil. I miss them both."
Maria who is fourteen meets Mario Betancourt, an African slave descendent in Cuba. His father, Ricardo, is a leader of the rebels. They fall in love and racial tensions threaten their union. Lulu, Maria and Mario are captured and forced into the La Cuchilla reconcentrados concentration camp. As in any concentration camp, the conditions are horrific. Maria becomes pregnant with Mario's child. She escapes through the help of an American journalist from NYC, Blythe Quinn, whose assignment is to write about the camps. Maria is renamed Carla Carvajal and she has a son, Mayito. While in the hospital after giving birth she meets Gilberto Torres whose father owns a cigar factory, Torres Real Cigars. Ultimately Maria secures a position in the cigar factory as a lector, one who tells stories or reads, to the men rolling cigars.
There are two stories in parallel in the novel. One is of the women seeking shelter and safety from the hurricane telling their stories and Maria telling the story of her birth, childhood, family, fighting for the rebel cause, falling love and the birth of her children. Interesting historical facts are interwoven into the plot.
So nice to read about Cuban history and their struggles for independence and democracy.
"One day, you'll look upon this moment and all you have suffered in this war as a series of distant marvels, and it will only hurt a little to remember them. You will think, 'I was lucky and blessed to get out of that place alive,' and thr sting of goodbye will be gone."
"There was Gilberto. My Gil. I found my way to him, to Placetas. He was well, and the yellow fever had left no mark on him. He made me a lector in his father's cigar factory, and this is where I told the men snippets of my story, written by a woman named Carla Carvajal. When they asked me what the book was called, I would say it was The Distant Marvela, and they accepted it as true. I learned to forget about Mario, and to,love Gil. I miss them both."
January 3, 2017
Well-written, dramatic, resonant historical setting.
What's not to like?
Overly earnest tone.
Heavy-handed treatment of "storytelling as catharsis" theme.
Historical stories framed by current storytellers are potentially problematic for me. The teller tends to distract from the story instead of enhance it, primarily because it reads like such a contrived device. That was the case here. I had same problem with Rushdie's Midnight's Children, in which every chp starts with yakkety older narrator reminding us of his role in a story that didn't really need him, at least not all the time. After awhile I just wanted him to shut up and get back to the main story. But Rushdie is a far more ambitious writer than Acevedo, and so I put up with the annoying intrusions.
A member of our local book club described this novel as "insular," which strikes me as good summary. In comparing it to other novels with historical settings we'd read -- like Stegner's Angle of Repose and Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible -- another member commented that Distant Marvels "lacked the depth" of those books. And I agree. I guess it comes back to a matter of ambitious vision. But to complain that Acevedo should've been more ambitious -- to have done more with the material -- is like criticizing someone for not writing the book I wanted to read. She accomplished what she set out to do, and did it well. There are some strong scenes, the most memorable being the one where Maria S. is forced to negotiate the fate of her son on the spot. But on the whole, it did not engage me consistently. My reading felt more dutiful than eager.
What's not to like?
Overly earnest tone.
Heavy-handed treatment of "storytelling as catharsis" theme.
Historical stories framed by current storytellers are potentially problematic for me. The teller tends to distract from the story instead of enhance it, primarily because it reads like such a contrived device. That was the case here. I had same problem with Rushdie's Midnight's Children, in which every chp starts with yakkety older narrator reminding us of his role in a story that didn't really need him, at least not all the time. After awhile I just wanted him to shut up and get back to the main story. But Rushdie is a far more ambitious writer than Acevedo, and so I put up with the annoying intrusions.
A member of our local book club described this novel as "insular," which strikes me as good summary. In comparing it to other novels with historical settings we'd read -- like Stegner's Angle of Repose and Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible -- another member commented that Distant Marvels "lacked the depth" of those books. And I agree. I guess it comes back to a matter of ambitious vision. But to complain that Acevedo should've been more ambitious -- to have done more with the material -- is like criticizing someone for not writing the book I wanted to read. She accomplished what she set out to do, and did it well. There are some strong scenes, the most memorable being the one where Maria S. is forced to negotiate the fate of her son on the spot. But on the whole, it did not engage me consistently. My reading felt more dutiful than eager.
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