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Enduring Cuba
Intrigued by the many disparate views of Cuba, Zoë Brân visits the country of contradictions and, interweaving history and current events, personal and wider viewpoints, she paints a vivid and compelling picture of contemporary Cuba. She finds a land that has little in common with the tourist image of tropical paradise, encountering a different country whose people reveal an individuality and tenacity at once astonishing and humbling. Zoë Brân has always been fascinated by the gap between the ideals of the world’s socialist countries and the arduous hand-to-mouth struggles of the people who live in them. Castro’s Cuba is one of the last such places on earth. Seeking to understand the realities of Cuba today, Zoë travels the length of this beautiful island. Beneath the surface of music and dancing, cockfights and animal sacrifice, she finds a land of complex a fertile land where many hunger; an educated country with scant knowledge of the outside world, a nation exhausted by socialism but proud of its independence and history of revolutionary struggle. From Havana to the pastoral hinterland, Zoë talks with writers and artists, with expatriates, with committed revolutionaries and those desperate to escape abroad. Enduring Cuba presents a kaleidoscope of Cuba and its people, whose tenacity and endurance is at once astonishing and humbling.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 13, 2017
PRO: Even-handed view of her time on the island.
CON: Dated by now, and I had a tough time getting back into it when picking it up.
Verdict: Okay, but not worth going out of one's way to find a copy.
CON: Dated by now, and I had a tough time getting back into it when picking it up.
Verdict: Okay, but not worth going out of one's way to find a copy.
September 19, 2024
Weirdly exotifying, sometimes well written. I understand where shes coming from every once in a while but just odd
January 16, 2012
I am so glad I didn't read this book before I visited Cuba! I bought this before I visited Cuba but thankfully didn't read it until much later. I feel the author had a very negative view before she ever visited Cuba and she brought this with her throughout her travels. She got lots of negative responses from locals towards the Government and the way things are because she seemed to ask the questions loaded that way.
Of course Cuba is far far from perfect, of course there are restrictions placed on its people that deny them many of the right we westerners take for granted. But I think she looked at the regime with a narrow view. Some of what she said definitely rang through, there is a lot of ambiguity in Cuba and it is difficult to know who or what to believe.
This book made me angry a few times, as I really disagreed with some of what was said - but maybe a good book should provoke debate ...!
Of course Cuba is far far from perfect, of course there are restrictions placed on its people that deny them many of the right we westerners take for granted. But I think she looked at the regime with a narrow view. Some of what she said definitely rang through, there is a lot of ambiguity in Cuba and it is difficult to know who or what to believe.
This book made me angry a few times, as I really disagreed with some of what was said - but maybe a good book should provoke debate ...!
May 12, 2013
Debate has ranged over this and the author's occasionally supercilious attitude towards other tourists grates on occasion, but this pretty much tallied with my own view of Cuba after a visit there back in 2008. In short, it's a balanced view, acknowledging the tremendous strides that have been made but suggesting that Cuba hasn't, after all this, really worked.
The embargo hasn't helped and given that the only fair comparisons are with nations such as Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Castro's boys have perhaps performed pretty well, but the number of jobless is astonishing and the economy dysfunctional however much Lefties like myself wish it were not.
High points include tales of mafia goings-on in the early Fifties, an evocative description of Santiago de Cuba (a far more African city than Havana), the extraordinary music and the frankly diabolical food. It's all rather decently written too.
The embargo hasn't helped and given that the only fair comparisons are with nations such as Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Castro's boys have perhaps performed pretty well, but the number of jobless is astonishing and the economy dysfunctional however much Lefties like myself wish it were not.
High points include tales of mafia goings-on in the early Fifties, an evocative description of Santiago de Cuba (a far more African city than Havana), the extraordinary music and the frankly diabolical food. It's all rather decently written too.
November 11, 2025
4.5 stars rounded up to 5. It can move a little too fast at times, but the author is so good at capturing people and being able to tell the story without being the story too often. It is an interesting point of time it captures too, both before 9/11 and the death of Castro. I am excited to read further into Cuba about life after both.
March 27, 2016
Cuba in the winter of 2000-2001, when tourism was growing fast, when Fidel was still president and delivering speeches of heroic length, when the materially poor – most people – were resigned to No Change, is the subject of Dr Zoë Brân’s Enduring Cuba.
Dr Zoë, an accomplished writer, travels up and down the island. She watches religious ceremonies of Santeria - African Yoruba belief systems infused with elements of Catholicism to make it tolerable to 'peninsulares' of Spanish descent - including animal sacrifices. She does a great deal more, such as attending a cock fight, fishing at sea, and joining in a pilgrimage for San Lázaro in which devotees of this saint for the poor and miserable crawl along the track to El Rincón, about 5km south of José Marti international airport. She records the discomforts of living with almost no money, the cabin fever of Cubans who feel imprisoned in their sea-girt country, and also the beauty of the island’s landscapes and wildlife.
‘Enduring Cuba’, which contains historical background to help the reader make sense of the present through which the author travelled, conveys a country in danger of suffocating under the more repressive aspects of Castro-Communism.
Now, 15 years later, it’s clear that change which then seemed impossible is happening – but with unpredictable and potentially damaging results.
Dr Zoë, an accomplished writer, travels up and down the island. She watches religious ceremonies of Santeria - African Yoruba belief systems infused with elements of Catholicism to make it tolerable to 'peninsulares' of Spanish descent - including animal sacrifices. She does a great deal more, such as attending a cock fight, fishing at sea, and joining in a pilgrimage for San Lázaro in which devotees of this saint for the poor and miserable crawl along the track to El Rincón, about 5km south of José Marti international airport. She records the discomforts of living with almost no money, the cabin fever of Cubans who feel imprisoned in their sea-girt country, and also the beauty of the island’s landscapes and wildlife.
‘Enduring Cuba’, which contains historical background to help the reader make sense of the present through which the author travelled, conveys a country in danger of suffocating under the more repressive aspects of Castro-Communism.
Now, 15 years later, it’s clear that change which then seemed impossible is happening – but with unpredictable and potentially damaging results.
November 14, 2015
Schrijfster Zoë Brân ging een paar weken naar Cuba, ontmoette een aantal inwoners en schreef daarover. Dat is in een notendop het boek. De achtergrondinformatie over de geschiedenis en cultuur van het eiland gaat niet verder dan wat je in de Lonely Planet of op Wikipedia kunt lezen. Het boek blijft dus tamelijk oppervlakkig en haalt het daarom in de verste verten niet bij een gelaagd werk als At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig van John Gimlette.
De kritiek en klachten die Zoë Brân noteert uit de mond van inwoners zijn herkenbaar. ik sprak zelf ook met Cubanen tijdens mijn verblijf en er zijn maar weinig mensen die in het 57e jaar van de revolutie niet snakken naar westerse vrijheid, welvaart en consumptie. Het is dan wel handig als je Spaans spreekt. Brân leerde de taal naar eigen zeggen in de eerste twee weken van haar verblijf in Havana van Antonia, een 68-jarige dame die toch niets om handen heeft. Eerlijk gezegd lijkt het me een beetje ongeloofwaardig dat je deze taal in zo'n korte tijd leert om daarna in staat te zijn diepzinnige gesprekken te voeren.
De Nederlandse titel, De straten van Havana, is eigenlijk misleidend, want de schrijfster maakt een rondreis en het gaat eigenlijk maar weinig over de hoofdstad. Een slecht boek is het niet, maar meer dan twee sterren kan ik er niet aan geven.
De kritiek en klachten die Zoë Brân noteert uit de mond van inwoners zijn herkenbaar. ik sprak zelf ook met Cubanen tijdens mijn verblijf en er zijn maar weinig mensen die in het 57e jaar van de revolutie niet snakken naar westerse vrijheid, welvaart en consumptie. Het is dan wel handig als je Spaans spreekt. Brân leerde de taal naar eigen zeggen in de eerste twee weken van haar verblijf in Havana van Antonia, een 68-jarige dame die toch niets om handen heeft. Eerlijk gezegd lijkt het me een beetje ongeloofwaardig dat je deze taal in zo'n korte tijd leert om daarna in staat te zijn diepzinnige gesprekken te voeren.
De Nederlandse titel, De straten van Havana, is eigenlijk misleidend, want de schrijfster maakt een rondreis en het gaat eigenlijk maar weinig over de hoofdstad. Een slecht boek is het niet, maar meer dan twee sterren kan ik er niet aan geven.
February 26, 2009
I really appreciated how impartially her experiences were filtered through the recounting of her time in Cuba and of the people she met in her journey. A lot of foreigners come up to me to voice their personal opinions about Cuba and its people, even those who've never even been there. And almost every single time, i want to tell them: go see it for yourself. But if you can't, then at least read Zoe Bran's book. Even if you are thinking of going, you might as well read it anyways. It will prepare you well for what's ahead. Because it definitely is one of those places that you are going to want to have made minimum preparations for before you visit.
I really loved her sense of humor, and her keen sense of subtleties in her interactions with people, in her observations of the culture and of life in Cuba - for travelers, for expats, and for Cubans - but especially for the Cubans. She tells it like i experienced it myself, and it helps to know that there is a wonderfully written book out there that can relate it to any reader who wants to know (or should know) more about Cuba, in all its wonders and realities. Come back to me and tell me what you think about communism/socialism again, after reading this book. I would like to know!
I really loved her sense of humor, and her keen sense of subtleties in her interactions with people, in her observations of the culture and of life in Cuba - for travelers, for expats, and for Cubans - but especially for the Cubans. She tells it like i experienced it myself, and it helps to know that there is a wonderfully written book out there that can relate it to any reader who wants to know (or should know) more about Cuba, in all its wonders and realities. Come back to me and tell me what you think about communism/socialism again, after reading this book. I would like to know!
August 27, 2012
This was a fantastic piece of travel writing. The writing was strong, vivid, and felt honest. There is no question that this is an outsider looking in on a closed society. It is written from her perspective, bringing her background and experience to what she sees. Are the people guarded and un-trusting? Are they honest in what they say about Castro and their condition? Probably not, and she has her doubts along the way.
I believe a book written from the perspective of a Cuban who grew up in that environment would reveal even more. But from the perspective of a woman from a society that is oftentimes sympathetic to socialist thought makes this even more interesting to me who grew up in such an anti-socialist/anti-communist atmosphere. Even through her lens of partial sympathy, one sees that the Cuban revolution was a failure.
I believe a book written from the perspective of a Cuban who grew up in that environment would reveal even more. But from the perspective of a woman from a society that is oftentimes sympathetic to socialist thought makes this even more interesting to me who grew up in such an anti-socialist/anti-communist atmosphere. Even through her lens of partial sympathy, one sees that the Cuban revolution was a failure.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 23, 2013
Really enjoyed reading this, though, as I might have expected, it doesn't really answer some of the burining questions I have about Cuba (the main ones being 'does the regime really work?' and 'are people really happy there?') I went to cuba last year and to my shame this book really showed me that in spite of having done a lot of non-touristy things I still really only scratched the surface of that place. At points the descriptions were really good and transported me back to Cuba. Somewhat bloodthirsty though - lots of stuff about cock fighting and voodooish ceremonies with a lot of blood.
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July 29, 2011This is not great literature, but I would definitely encourage anyone who is going to Cuba to read it--the author takes a balanced view of Cuba's challenges and successes in the 21st century as viewed through her people--fiercely proud, defending the revolution, but aware that things are going to change in Cuba, and sooner rather than later, and that is going to be hard and very scary. And uncertain. The options are not on the table here, just what the realities are.
June 2, 2007
People keep telling me how excellent Lonely Planet's "Journey" series is, so I finally got around to reading one. I'm glad I did, because this is a revealing, incisive, deeply personal portrait of Cuban realities that has the courage to be ambivalent about the different attitudes its author encounters. Looking forward to Bran's travels in the former Yugoslavia.
May 11, 2014
It's taken me over a year to finish this one. I prefer reading fiction, so I found the travelogue style a bit tough to get through. The content, however, was really interesting, and even though she paints a picture of disaffection, poverty and frustration, I would still like to go to Cuba and judge for myself.
December 20, 2015
An insightful read before heading to Cuba. I enjoyed Zoë's accounts of the daily life of Cubans, cities by cities, from her outsider perspective. Presenting herself as a writer when talking to people obviously influence the nature of the conversations, but it is at least honest, informed and adventurous at times.
January 19, 2016
This was an interesting portrayal of life in Cuba at the beginning of the millennium. I read it because I am contemplating a trip to Cuba and I wanted to get a first hand account of what it might be like. I think the author did a great job showing the many faces and people of this country while sharing its history.
March 1, 2011
I felt that the author's evaluation of her experiences was somewhat superficial. Maybe this book is better for a person who has read very little about Cuba or is unfamiliar with its history. My sense is that Bran's contribution is not unique or particularly insightful.
August 19, 2009
Interesting current travelogue on Cuba.
May 18, 2011
It was a good, interesting read. However it has changed my desire to visit Cuba which has now been pushed towards the bottom of my List.
July 9, 2013
Well-written but not dazzling. Brân does convey something of her mixed feelings and others' about the country. Cuba, I feel, remains an enigma even after my trip there.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews