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Cuba Diaries: An American Housewife in Havana

por Isadora Tattlin

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Biography & Autobiography. Nonfiction. HTML: Isadora Tattlin is the American wife of a European energy consultant posted to Havana in the 1990s. Wisely, the witty Mrs. Tattlin began a diary the day her husband informed her of their new assignment. One of the first entries is her shopping list of things to take, including six gallons of shampoo. For although the Tattlins were provided with a wonderful, big house in Havana, complete with a staff of seven, there wasn't much else money could buy in a country whose shelves are nearly bare. The record of her daily life in Cuba raising her two small children, entertaining her husband's clients (among them Fidel Castro and his ministers and minions), and contending with chronic shortages of, well . . . everything (on the street, tourists are hounded not for money but for soap), is literally stunning. Adventurous and intuitive, Tattlin squeezed every drop of juice�??both tasty and repellent�??from her experience. She traveled wherever she could (it's not easy�??there are few road signs or appealing places to stay or eat). She befriended artists, attended concerts and plays. She gave dozens of parties, attended dozens more. Cuba Diaries�??vividly explicit, empathetic, often hilarious�??takes the reader deep inside this island country only ninety miles from the U.S., where the average doctor's salary is eleven dollars a month. The reader comes away appalled by the deprivation and drawn by the romance of a weirdly nostalgic Cuba frozen in… (más)

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First person diary account of accompanying spouse, living for four years in Castro's Cuba, during the 1990s. The vignettes draw back the curtain slightly on Cuba in that time period - the very fact of living there gives the author a privileged view and understanding of Cuban society. It is of course mainly a subjective view, but criticism and admiration go hand in hand - the encounters and friendships formed with local residents are well delineated. Describing these folk, at the end of the book, the author writes that "I am going to miss them until the end of my days" (

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DramMan | Aug 9, 2022 |

When a government goes so far as to regulate the market economy completely out of existence, this creates strange distortions in how people obtain the necessities of life as well as how they interact with each other. Tattlin keenly observed these distortions while living in Cuba and clandestinely capitalizes on their humor value, ironies, and paradoxes. The U.S. trade embargo, begun as a means of punishing the Castro regime, comes off as a policy that has impoverished ordinary Cubans, shifted Cuba further toward hard-line economic extremism, prevented even modest logical free-market reforms, and removed any possibility of expanding U.S. influence in Cuba. Along the way readers will learn something of Cuba's history and geography. Tattlin, a pseudonym, describes herself as an American housewife, but somewhere she learned to write well too. (

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bkinetic | Jan 23, 2017 |

I wanted to learn more about Cuba and enjoyed this book, but I was told by some of my friends who know that its not very accurate. But I still liked the book. (

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sydsavvy | Apr 8, 2016 |

Set in 90's Cuba the author does a good job of portraying how life was at this time. A good read (

)

Tony2704 | Apr 12, 2015 |

The author, is an American woman who lived in Cuba with her husband, a European businessman, and their two young children in Cuba during the 1990's.

This was an interesting, if dated look inside Cuba not normally seen by American eyes. I think the author did a good job of representing the many facets of Cuba's history, culture, regime, and this small island nation's dysfunctional relationship with its gigantic, superpower neighbor. (Dysfunctional on both sides.)

She comes off as a bit of an ugly American at times, though, IMO. There are times she seems to whine about the "help", and panics at the thought of caring for her own children without a nanny. Puh-leeze, right?

I did like this book, though, and felt that it was, for the most part, a fair and honest look at Cuba.

bookwoman247 | Mar 25, 2014 |

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Biography & Autobiography. Nonfiction. HTML:

Isadora Tattlin is the American wife of a European energy consultant posted to Havana in the 1990s. Wisely, the witty Mrs. Tattlin began a diary the day her husband informed her of their new assignment. One of the first entries is her shopping list of things to take, including six gallons of shampoo. For although the Tattlins were provided with a wonderful, big house in Havana, complete with a staff of seven, there wasn't much else money could buy in a country whose shelves are nearly bare. The record of her daily life in Cuba raising her two small children, entertaining her husband's clients (among them Fidel Castro and his ministers and minions), and contending with chronic shortages of, well . . . everything (on the street, tourists are hounded not for money but for soap), is literally stunning.

Adventurous and intuitive, Tattlin squeezed every drop of juice�??both tasty and repellent�??from her experience. She traveled wherever she could (it's not easy�??there are few road signs or appealing places to stay or eat). She befriended artists, attended concerts and plays. She gave dozens of parties, attended dozens more. Cuba Diaries�??vividly explicit, empathetic, often hilarious�??takes the reader deep inside this island country only ninety miles from the U.S., where the average doctor's salary is eleven dollars a month. The reader comes away appalled by the deprivation and drawn by the romance of a weirdly nostalgic Cuba frozen in

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