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How Things Fall Apart
How Things Fall Apart reveals the decay of this political system through the lives of five ordinary Cuban citizens. Born in the 1970s and 80s, these men and women recount how their lives changed over a tumultuous stretch of thirty-five years: first when Fidel opened the country to tourism following the fall of the Soviet bloc; then when Raul Castro allowed market forces to operate, thinking it would stop the country's economic slide; and finally when President Trump's tightening of the US embargo combined with the Covid-19 pandemic to cause economic collapse. With warmth and humanity, they describe learning to survive in an environment where a tiny minority has grown rich by local standards, the great majority has been left behind, and inequality has destroyed the very things that used to give meaning to Cubans' lives.
Born out of the first oral history project authorized by the Cuban government in forty years, Professor Elizabeth Dore gathers these stories to illuminate the slow and agonizing decline of the Cuban Revolution over the past four decades. For over sixty years the government controlled the historical narrative. In this book, Cubans tell their own stories.
Born out of the first oral history project authorized by the Cuban government in forty years, Professor Elizabeth Dore gathers these stories to illuminate the slow and agonizing decline of the Cuban Revolution over the past four decades. For over sixty years the government controlled the historical narrative. In this book, Cubans tell their own stories.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published August 4, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 1, 2023
How many layers, disparities, and contradictions unfold from the enduring Cuban regime over the last 65 years!
The interviews compiled by the author coalesce into a vibrant, poignant, and somewhat pessimistic portrayal of the island's population. Having read it before my journey, it occurred to me that it might lack objectivity, given that all the interviewees hail from the lower-middle classes, harbor an obsession with the idea of migration, and partially share a common dissent towards the Communist Party's economic decisions.
In reality, the sample proves to be more than truthful when substantiated by field experience, thereby supporting the statement (present in the book) that the most pressing needs of the Cuban population are undeniably food (above all!), work, and migration. What is worse is that this holds true across all social classes. Furthermore, the post-COVID economy, untouched in the narrative, has not improved due to the scarcity of food and goods, the correspondence of low wages, the strong centrality of the state, and one must add the largest migratory wave in history following the protests and subsequent incarcerations of 2021. The book is intriguing because the stories are intimate, marked by a human touch, and laden with the contradictions that surface.
However, there is one notable flaw: the structure is chaotic. The various narrators intervene across different historical periods (80s, 90s, and 2000s), causing their interviews to be fragmented and categorized based on the reference period. This, unfortunately, induces a sense of confusion in the reader, who must repeatedly revisit or recall information about a specific interviewee by flipping back, perhaps, 60-70 pages.
The interviews compiled by the author coalesce into a vibrant, poignant, and somewhat pessimistic portrayal of the island's population. Having read it before my journey, it occurred to me that it might lack objectivity, given that all the interviewees hail from the lower-middle classes, harbor an obsession with the idea of migration, and partially share a common dissent towards the Communist Party's economic decisions.
In reality, the sample proves to be more than truthful when substantiated by field experience, thereby supporting the statement (present in the book) that the most pressing needs of the Cuban population are undeniably food (above all!), work, and migration. What is worse is that this holds true across all social classes. Furthermore, the post-COVID economy, untouched in the narrative, has not improved due to the scarcity of food and goods, the correspondence of low wages, the strong centrality of the state, and one must add the largest migratory wave in history following the protests and subsequent incarcerations of 2021. The book is intriguing because the stories are intimate, marked by a human touch, and laden with the contradictions that surface.
However, there is one notable flaw: the structure is chaotic. The various narrators intervene across different historical periods (80s, 90s, and 2000s), causing their interviews to be fragmented and categorized based on the reference period. This, unfortunately, induces a sense of confusion in the reader, who must repeatedly revisit or recall information about a specific interviewee by flipping back, perhaps, 60-70 pages.
March 15, 2026
In 1980 Cuba was one of the most egalitarian societies on Earth.
It was also a dictatorship that brutally cracked down on dissidents, which was anyone who voiced opposition to the party.
In 1990 the USSR toppled and the lifeline that had kept Cuba ticking since the 1960s was gone.
What has followed has been 30 years of Cuba coming to terms with limited supplies, limited opportunities and a truly evil set of embargoes, held in the vice like grip of the USA, whose government have freely admitted to wanting to destroy Cuba and it's government. Of course, as collateral damage, they also hold the population of Cuba centimetres above poverty.
Trapped between the incompetence, corruption and prevarication of their own government and the deliberately oppressive blockade of the USA, the citizens of Cuba do their best to live.
This book follows interviewees between the years 2004 and 2018, as the Cuban government, society and economy try to meet the challenges of a post-Fidel world.
This is a really powerful read and a fantastic way to understand what Cuba is NOW for those who choose to stay and make their life on the island.
It was also a dictatorship that brutally cracked down on dissidents, which was anyone who voiced opposition to the party.
In 1990 the USSR toppled and the lifeline that had kept Cuba ticking since the 1960s was gone.
What has followed has been 30 years of Cuba coming to terms with limited supplies, limited opportunities and a truly evil set of embargoes, held in the vice like grip of the USA, whose government have freely admitted to wanting to destroy Cuba and it's government. Of course, as collateral damage, they also hold the population of Cuba centimetres above poverty.
Trapped between the incompetence, corruption and prevarication of their own government and the deliberately oppressive blockade of the USA, the citizens of Cuba do their best to live.
This book follows interviewees between the years 2004 and 2018, as the Cuban government, society and economy try to meet the challenges of a post-Fidel world.
This is a really powerful read and a fantastic way to understand what Cuba is NOW for those who choose to stay and make their life on the island.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews