What do you think?
Rate this book
The Domino Diaries: My Decade Boxing with Olympic Champions and Chasing Hemingway's Ghost in the Last Days of Castro's Cuba
A powerful and lively work of immersive journalism, Brin-Jonathan Butler's story of his time chasing the American dream through Cuba
Whether he's hustling his way into Mike Tyson's mansion for an interview, betting his life savings on a boxing match (against the favorite), becoming romantically entangled with one of Fidel Castro's granddaughters, or simply manufacturing press credentials to go where he wants—Brin-Jonathan Butler has always been the "act first, ask permission later" kind of journalist.
This book is the culmination of Butler's decade spent in the trenches of Havana, trying to understand a culture perplexing to Westerners: one whose elite athletes regularly forgo multimillion-dollar opportunities to stay in Cuba and box for their country, while living in penury. Butler's fascination with this distinctly Cuban idealism sets him off on a remarkable journey, training with, befriending, and interviewing the champion boxers that Cuba seems to produce more than any other country.
In the process, though, Butler gets to know the landscape of the exhilaratingly warm Cuban culture—and starts to question where he feels most at home. In the tradition of Michael Lewis and John Jeremiah Sullivan, Butler is a keen and humane storyteller, and the perfect guide for this riotous tour through the streets of Havana.
Whether he's hustling his way into Mike Tyson's mansion for an interview, betting his life savings on a boxing match (against the favorite), becoming romantically entangled with one of Fidel Castro's granddaughters, or simply manufacturing press credentials to go where he wants—Brin-Jonathan Butler has always been the "act first, ask permission later" kind of journalist.
This book is the culmination of Butler's decade spent in the trenches of Havana, trying to understand a culture perplexing to Westerners: one whose elite athletes regularly forgo multimillion-dollar opportunities to stay in Cuba and box for their country, while living in penury. Butler's fascination with this distinctly Cuban idealism sets him off on a remarkable journey, training with, befriending, and interviewing the champion boxers that Cuba seems to produce more than any other country.
In the process, though, Butler gets to know the landscape of the exhilaratingly warm Cuban culture—and starts to question where he feels most at home. In the tradition of Michael Lewis and John Jeremiah Sullivan, Butler is a keen and humane storyteller, and the perfect guide for this riotous tour through the streets of Havana.
304 pages, Paperback
First published June 9, 2015
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
October 27, 2017
The appeal of boxing lies in its simplicity. It is bare, stripped down, and always points to the truth. Butler’s writing on boxing often reflects this, and he is undoubtedly one of the best boxing writers working today; though anyone expecting this book to be a simple, straight forward, boxing memoir may be a little disappointed. This is a book about something deeper than sports, and nothing about it is simple or straightforward.
The start of the book is admittedly a little muddled. Butler’s family recollections and portraits of his early forays into boxing are erratic and skittish – he’s like Ali in the first round against Liston, leaping around here and there, landing little of significance. It’s when he first visits Cuba that he really plants his feet and lets his hands go, and that’s when this memoir comes into its own.
Butler first discovers the island as a young man in his early twenties, an amateur boxer intoxicated by literature and the romance of Hemingway. He ends up training with Héctor Vinent, two time Olympic gold medalists, and encounters various characters along the way (including a memorable meeting with Gregorio Fuentes, the inspiration for Hemingway’s ‘Old Man and the Sea’). Eventually he is pulled into the orbit of the legendary Guillermo Rigondeaux, perhaps the greatest fighter ever to come out of Cuba, and one of its most infamous defectors. Butler follows Rigondeaux’s professional career in the US, and examines the seismic repercussions of his defection, both on the political landscape of Cuba, and for those he left behind.
He visits Cuba again and again, interviewing family and friends of Rigodeaux, and becoming more enmeshed and fascinated with his story as the years roll by. He’s kind of like ‘the man in black’ in HBO’s Westworld, wandering through a world frozen in time looking for answers and meaning, surrounded by hosts trapped in loops, who know they are unable to leave, and seem to grow more self- aware and frustrated by the minute.
The end of the river for Butler is meeting the great Teófilo Stevenson.
For boxing fans like myself this is the hold- your –breath, 'Willard meets Colonel Kurtz', moment... The three-time heavyweight Olympic gold medallist is the Muhammad Ali of Cuba and arguable its 2nd favourite citizen after Fidel.
Unfortunately the Stevenson Butler finds is far removed from the great idol of yesteryear, now a hopeless alcoholic in tracksuit bottoms, spouting crumbling platitudes, as dusty and broken down as the American car rusting in his driveway.
The man famous for turning down millions of dollars to fight in America is unable to even afford tyres for his car and the video footage of him asking for money before submitting to an interview is sobering and heart-breaking.
As endings go though it asks far more questions than it answers.
It could be viewed as a scathing attack on the Cuban system, though Joe Louis, one of America’s most revered champions, was treated far more ruthlessly by a capitalist society than Stevenson ever was. In Cuba an athlete does not have the freedom to fall as far as some American champions have, but maybe that is a tragedy in itself?
Butler writes with the heart of a pugilist and the soul of a poet, and this is a book imbued with a rare passion and insight. Ultimately though Cuba and its people remain an elusive quarry, resisting any attempt at simple explanation. It doesn’t matter what lens Butler chooses to view Cuba through – it stubbornly refuses to come into sharp focus and remains a place of mystique and beguiling ambiguity.
https://donofriocountry.wordpress.com/
The start of the book is admittedly a little muddled. Butler’s family recollections and portraits of his early forays into boxing are erratic and skittish – he’s like Ali in the first round against Liston, leaping around here and there, landing little of significance. It’s when he first visits Cuba that he really plants his feet and lets his hands go, and that’s when this memoir comes into its own.
Butler first discovers the island as a young man in his early twenties, an amateur boxer intoxicated by literature and the romance of Hemingway. He ends up training with Héctor Vinent, two time Olympic gold medalists, and encounters various characters along the way (including a memorable meeting with Gregorio Fuentes, the inspiration for Hemingway’s ‘Old Man and the Sea’). Eventually he is pulled into the orbit of the legendary Guillermo Rigondeaux, perhaps the greatest fighter ever to come out of Cuba, and one of its most infamous defectors. Butler follows Rigondeaux’s professional career in the US, and examines the seismic repercussions of his defection, both on the political landscape of Cuba, and for those he left behind.
He visits Cuba again and again, interviewing family and friends of Rigodeaux, and becoming more enmeshed and fascinated with his story as the years roll by. He’s kind of like ‘the man in black’ in HBO’s Westworld, wandering through a world frozen in time looking for answers and meaning, surrounded by hosts trapped in loops, who know they are unable to leave, and seem to grow more self- aware and frustrated by the minute.
The end of the river for Butler is meeting the great Teófilo Stevenson.
For boxing fans like myself this is the hold- your –breath, 'Willard meets Colonel Kurtz', moment... The three-time heavyweight Olympic gold medallist is the Muhammad Ali of Cuba and arguable its 2nd favourite citizen after Fidel.
Unfortunately the Stevenson Butler finds is far removed from the great idol of yesteryear, now a hopeless alcoholic in tracksuit bottoms, spouting crumbling platitudes, as dusty and broken down as the American car rusting in his driveway.
The man famous for turning down millions of dollars to fight in America is unable to even afford tyres for his car and the video footage of him asking for money before submitting to an interview is sobering and heart-breaking.
As endings go though it asks far more questions than it answers.
It could be viewed as a scathing attack on the Cuban system, though Joe Louis, one of America’s most revered champions, was treated far more ruthlessly by a capitalist society than Stevenson ever was. In Cuba an athlete does not have the freedom to fall as far as some American champions have, but maybe that is a tragedy in itself?
Butler writes with the heart of a pugilist and the soul of a poet, and this is a book imbued with a rare passion and insight. Ultimately though Cuba and its people remain an elusive quarry, resisting any attempt at simple explanation. It doesn’t matter what lens Butler chooses to view Cuba through – it stubbornly refuses to come into sharp focus and remains a place of mystique and beguiling ambiguity.
https://donofriocountry.wordpress.com/
July 29, 2015
I love this book for many reasons. Brin-Jonathan Butler writes a beautiful account of Cuba's final years in the US boycott. As US-Cuban relations improve by the day, the time capsule that has been Havana since 1959 will soon be a thing of the past. Butler brings the reader into this world unknown to most in the US. It's also an intelligent memoir with chapters that begin with quotes from various works of literature. He writes about Hemingway's Cuba, which--as Butler informs the reader--was surprisingly bereft of politics, unlike Hemingway's previous stints abroad. And there's also the boxing part, which is more a personal account of people who have choices to leave it all behind for obscene amounts of money. Some boxers he met outside Cuba have defected, while others he met on the island decided to stay. The end of the book reads like a thriller. I also appreciated his personal story before and during his trips to Cuba. Too often memoirists don't delve into their own stories, but that's not the case in "The Domino Diaries." This book is special because it appeals to men, women, sports fans, and people who can't be bothered with sports.
June 19, 2015
I see today that The Paris Review has just excerpted a chapter from Domino Diaries, and I can see why. Brin-Jonathan Butler is an astonishing writing talent, and whether he's using his gift to expose naked vulnerabilities about himself or looking at the delusions America and Cuba have about each other from 30,000 feet up, the sensibility he brings to his prose makes me stop breathing sometimes. This book is a real gift, full of drama and power, and deep compassion. Bravo.
June 15, 2015
A wonderful read that incorporates boxing, Hemingway, and Cuba. Great for the beach or the bar and addictive enough to finish in one or two sittings.
July 29, 2015
Gonzo, heartfelt, elegiac, remarkable access and insight. Blown away.
January 3, 2019
Loved this - not just for the subject (a boy who fears he’s a coward turns to boxing and books to prove otherwise) and the immersion in a Havana that most of us never get to know (and now never will) but also because Butler is often brilliant when it comes to digging in to his subjects: masculinity, Cuba, impossible choices, the ways in which we escape ourselves and imprison ourselves, and Hemingway.
This book is sending me off to read his others (all non-fiction, I believe). And I recommend listening to an interview with Butler on “The Moment,” which is a fantastic podcast.
This book is sending me off to read his others (all non-fiction, I believe). And I recommend listening to an interview with Butler on “The Moment,” which is a fantastic podcast.
August 15, 2016
I'm normally skeptical of memoirs written by those in their 30s, but Butler's is a worthwhile read.
More than anything, this book is a love letter to the Cuban people. Butler’s admiration for their resilience, their spirit, their generosity, and their women is quickly made clear. Ample quotes from Butler's Cuban friends, acquaintances, and lovers demonstrating conflicting opinions on the Castro regime, Cuba’s difficult relationship with America, and the successes and failures of the Revolution.
While obviously smitten by the island and its inhabitants Butler takes a nuanced approach the government. While commending the huge strides Cuba has made in health and literacy, Butler emphasizes that the true legacy of the Cuban Revolution may well be the hundreds, if not thousands, of broken families resulting from decisions to seek better fortune off the island.
An interview of former world heavyweight championship Mike Tyson opens the book. Tyson notes that the great Cuban boxers fight for glory whereas their American counterparts fight for money. Noting the fortunes that he won and lost over the course of his career, Tyson suggests that fighting under the Castro regime may not be all that different from fighting for Don King.
Contrasting notions of freedom and indebtedness are a consistent theme of the book. The ups and downs of great heavyweights champions like Ali, Tyson, and Evander Holyfield are juxtaposed with the careers of three time Olympic gold medalists Teófilo Stevenson and Félix Savón both of whom turned down multi-million dollar paydays to fight Ali and Tyson, respectively, and are now as desperate for cash as the majority of their fellow Cubans. The importance of the black market is quickly made apparent. One of Butler’s acquaintances notes that no one makes a better capitalist than a communist. Butler manages to secure the last interview of the great Stevenson’s life. His recounting of the interview, conducted for money, a crime in Cuba, and his telling of Stevenson’s demise is particularly poignant.
Butler also contrasts Stevenson and Savón’s decision to adhere to the principles of the Revolution and forego million dollar paydays with the choice made by younger Cuban champions such as Guillermo Rigondeaux and Joel Castamayour to accept banishment and separation from their family The notion is that the ideals of the Revolution are no longer applicable to the younger generation is well explored and Butler’s descriptions of the horrors involved in leaving the island (the sharks, the rocks, the kidnappers) are chilling.
More than anything, this book is a love letter to the Cuban people. Butler’s admiration for their resilience, their spirit, their generosity, and their women is quickly made clear. Ample quotes from Butler's Cuban friends, acquaintances, and lovers demonstrating conflicting opinions on the Castro regime, Cuba’s difficult relationship with America, and the successes and failures of the Revolution.
While obviously smitten by the island and its inhabitants Butler takes a nuanced approach the government. While commending the huge strides Cuba has made in health and literacy, Butler emphasizes that the true legacy of the Cuban Revolution may well be the hundreds, if not thousands, of broken families resulting from decisions to seek better fortune off the island.
An interview of former world heavyweight championship Mike Tyson opens the book. Tyson notes that the great Cuban boxers fight for glory whereas their American counterparts fight for money. Noting the fortunes that he won and lost over the course of his career, Tyson suggests that fighting under the Castro regime may not be all that different from fighting for Don King.
Contrasting notions of freedom and indebtedness are a consistent theme of the book. The ups and downs of great heavyweights champions like Ali, Tyson, and Evander Holyfield are juxtaposed with the careers of three time Olympic gold medalists Teófilo Stevenson and Félix Savón both of whom turned down multi-million dollar paydays to fight Ali and Tyson, respectively, and are now as desperate for cash as the majority of their fellow Cubans. The importance of the black market is quickly made apparent. One of Butler’s acquaintances notes that no one makes a better capitalist than a communist. Butler manages to secure the last interview of the great Stevenson’s life. His recounting of the interview, conducted for money, a crime in Cuba, and his telling of Stevenson’s demise is particularly poignant.
Butler also contrasts Stevenson and Savón’s decision to adhere to the principles of the Revolution and forego million dollar paydays with the choice made by younger Cuban champions such as Guillermo Rigondeaux and Joel Castamayour to accept banishment and separation from their family The notion is that the ideals of the Revolution are no longer applicable to the younger generation is well explored and Butler’s descriptions of the horrors involved in leaving the island (the sharks, the rocks, the kidnappers) are chilling.
March 26, 2015
I won this book on G oodreads as a first-read book.
To me this book was ok. It was hard to follow what was going on. One minute you are in the present then without warning the author jumps to the past.
I lost interest while reading this book.
To me this book was ok. It was hard to follow what was going on. One minute you are in the present then without warning the author jumps to the past.
I lost interest while reading this book.
September 17, 2015
Not awful, but didn't finish it. Formula of too many quotes, both as epigrams at the beginning of the chapters and then referenced in the text, plus the mentioning of a factoid that about 15 pages later ends up in the mouth of someone that seems a little too cleanly quoted.
January 25, 2016
fabulous story with wonderful writing. Journalist put me in the middle of his fantastic experience.
December 21, 2018
Such an excellent book. Makes me want to go to Cuba and watch some boxing. Well-written and completely engaging.
August 24, 2017
Butler seemed to be going for hyper-masculine in the style of Hunter S. Thompson and (obviously) Earnest Hemingway, but came across as juvenile. I couldn't take one more event being described as someone's "wet dream" and put it down a little after half way.
Also failed to contextualize. I know the history of the Cuban revolution to an extent, Fidel's rise to power. Butler failed to provide any context or background and it would have been helpful to understand his understanding or perspective of the situation. The little context he did provide wasn't helpful. As an example: he refers to Hemingway's boat the Pilar, but doesn't explain that it's a boat, the significance, etc. until the second time he mentions it. If it's assumed that the reader has an understanding of Pilar, don't explain it, if it is not assumed then explain this initially.
Also failed to contextualize. I know the history of the Cuban revolution to an extent, Fidel's rise to power. Butler failed to provide any context or background and it would have been helpful to understand his understanding or perspective of the situation. The little context he did provide wasn't helpful. As an example: he refers to Hemingway's boat the Pilar, but doesn't explain that it's a boat, the significance, etc. until the second time he mentions it. If it's assumed that the reader has an understanding of Pilar, don't explain it, if it is not assumed then explain this initially.
April 24, 2015
I enjoyed reading "The Domino Diaries". It was an eye opening peak into the Cuban culture and the sacrifices made in both directions to some of their better known boxers. It is a heartfelt memoir by someone who truly loves the country. Thanks to Goodreads First Reads for the opportunity.
February 7, 2016
A good coming of age following of a young man who is learning about himself as well as the love that people have for their country. From the streets of Cuba comes a quick, memoir that leaves you hoping for the best of all the characters.
October 3, 2015
Marvelous, compassionate exploration of Cuba at such a critical moment in both Cuba and the US's history. Invaluable to any traveler visiting the island.
May 9, 2022
The title is a little deceptive in that there is very little by way of “chasing Hemingway’s ghost.” There is, however a great deal about Havana, the Cuban people, and the way boxing helps explain a country and a people in a state of constant inner conflict.
BJB does a good job of interweaving his own experiences with those of the Cuban figures with whom he interacts, but he does veer off in strange, unnecessary directions at times. The early story about meeting Mike Tyson, for example, has almost no bearing on anything else.
As a boxing fan, I think BJB thinks and writes about the sport in an important and valuable way. He doesn’t pull his punches and he’s not afraid to show the darker, lonelier aspects. That really shine through when he writes about Rigondeaux and Vinent. But I do wonder if his style isn’t more suited to essay than memoir.
BJB does a good job of interweaving his own experiences with those of the Cuban figures with whom he interacts, but he does veer off in strange, unnecessary directions at times. The early story about meeting Mike Tyson, for example, has almost no bearing on anything else.
As a boxing fan, I think BJB thinks and writes about the sport in an important and valuable way. He doesn’t pull his punches and he’s not afraid to show the darker, lonelier aspects. That really shine through when he writes about Rigondeaux and Vinent. But I do wonder if his style isn’t more suited to essay than memoir.
May 16, 2020
An intriguing piece of writing part journalism, part memoir. Butler seeks to describe and define the multi-faceted allures and disillusionments of Cuba and its people. Cuba has for decades been a highly interesting human story and, more recently, political experiment. The focus of this book revolves around the travails of world-class, would-be professional Cuban athletes who have made the decision or not to defect. This is a good book - brilliantly written in spots, in need of a trim in others - about boxing, fear, regret, and passion. The author, Cuban citizens and ex-pats, and stultifying political dichotomies are main elements.
March 27, 2026
I started this book while car camping next to a Panera waiting for my next job to begin. For three days I would go into Panera for breakfast and read a bit of this book each morning. It was a weirdly nice schedule, but then work started and the book remained unfinished for a bit. Now on hitch 2 I picked it up again and finished it, and I’m glad I did. Interesting read that dove deep into Cuban culture and boxing. I bought this book because of Brin-Jonathan Butler’s book about chess. He has such a good way of writing about sports I otherwise wouldn’t have checked out, and now I know more about boxing than I ever thought I would’ve.
August 10, 2017
I wanted to love this more! Started off great. Being a memoir, I should have known it would highlight the author's own conquests. But still an interesting - at times, beautiful - read and perspective.
May 11, 2021
Interesting perspective on Cuba through the combined lenses of Ernest Hemingway, boxing and baseball. Fun following Butler through his travels and encounters with interesting characters. Made me want to visit Cuba and stirred a longing for the Muhammed Ali-Teofilo Stevenson.
March 21, 2017
Interesting background to the boxing industry in Cuba. I liked how the author presented his impressions on Cuba when he first went, and how they changed as he kept returning. There is more about boxing than Hemingway, but still it was a captive read. If you're into boxing, this is a great book of history!
June 25, 2018
DOMINO DIARIES is a perfect companion for Butler’s CUBAN BOXER’S JOURNEY. By focusing less on boxing and more on the effect Cuban culture has upon him, Butler eloquently describes how horribly difficult the decision to leave Cuba must be. Great reading, and a wonderful tribute to a land Butler clearly loves but has now lost.
Read
May 9, 2016Rick Steves was the original reference for this title. As he once did for Iran, Rick Steves was on a scouting mission in Cuba to prepare the groundwork for more expensive future tourism by Americans. In February of this year, Rick Steves published an ongoing blog of his explorations of the changing social landscape in Cuba. Sports especially boxing and baseball are an important part of Cuban culture. Brin's book is a culmination of the his ten-year exploration trying to understand Cuba and Cuban boxers. Why do some champions give up millions to stay poor in Cuba, and others leave to pursue multimillion dollar riches? Who has made the best decision? Although the immersive detail of the author's encounters with people in the boxing community can be engaging, the chaotic stream of consciousness style often loses any narrative thread. I believe the author could have been helped by some judicious and skilled editing.
October 2, 2015
I won this book through Goodreads while I was taking a Latin American history class, so I thought it would be relevant, but it wasn't, and I couldn't get into it. The author's style just isn't for me.
March 6, 2016
Fantastic reporting, great stories, not a fan of the voice or the memoirish aspects of the book. Definitely worth the read, but if you don't adore Hunter S. Thompson, Jack Kerouac, and/or Earnest Hemingway, you may get frustrated at points.
November 5, 2015
A colorful picture of present-day Cuba through the eyes of a journalist/boxer that visited the country multiple times and talked with many of the boxing greats.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews