Living Inside the Revolution offers a unique and fascinating insight into the day-to-day life of an Irish woman who spent six years living and working in Havana. This is a memoir, a portrait of the author’s life in the final years of Fidel Castro’s rule as president of Cuba.
Karen McCartney was employed by the Communist Party newspaper Granma International as a translator in 1999. After a year she left and went on to work as a freelance journalist in Cuba, a tour facilitator and teacher, until she finally returned home to Ireland in 2005. Living Inside the Revolution recounts her experiences over those years with humour and despair. She opens a window on to a society and a people immersed in the complex dynamics of revolution, socialism and poverty. This book is a must for anyone who wishes to develop a deeper acquaintance with Cuba, one that goes beyond the beaches and the façades of Old Havana.
In November 1999 I packed my bags and left behind the dull Irish climate for a year of Caribbean sunshine. I’d been offered a job in Havana as a translator for the Cuban government newspaper Granma International. I couldn’t have guessed then that my one year would become six and that those six years would offer me a unique opportunity to experience life in a society immersed in the complex dynamics of revolution, socialism and poverty.
Living Inside the Revolution is a portrait of that society, of the everyday lives of people struggling for survival.
“We Cubans are very conscious that we live on an island in the Caribbean which is surrounded by bankrupt and authoritarian regimes. In this context, what can we expect from change? This is not Europe and there won’t be a Scandinavian-style solution for us. It will be out of the frying pan and into the fire of savage free-market capitalism. That’s not an exciting prospect at all.”
Deisy has just gone into a trance. A half-filled glass of water is sitting on the table in front of her and she’s staring at it intently. […] After a few moments’ silence she jerks her head up and locks her gaze on to mine […] There’s an energy sharpening her features that wasn’t there when she sat down a couple of minutes earlier. Then she begins:
“The spirit tells me …”
Slowly and deliberately I prize my right foot out from its docking place and raise it. Glancing down slyly at the culprit’s feet I slam down hard. The effect is immediate. With a sharp intake of breath and a curse he withdraws into the ranks behind him. No one takes his place.
The reader is definitely left with the sense that all you convey is true to life; and we want to know more.
http://authonomy.com/books/48067/living-inside-the-revolution-an-irish-woman-in-cuba/#comment_928649
Karen McCartney was employed by the Communist Party newspaper Granma International as a translator in 1999. After a year she left and went on to work as a freelance journalist in Cuba, a tour facilitator and teacher, until she finally returned home to Ireland in 2005. Living Inside the Revolution recounts her experiences over those years with humour and despair. She opens a window on to a society and a people immersed in the complex dynamics of revolution, socialism and poverty. This book is a must for anyone who wishes to develop a deeper acquaintance with Cuba, one that goes beyond the beaches and the façades of Old Havana.
In November 1999 I packed my bags and left behind the dull Irish climate for a year of Caribbean sunshine. I’d been offered a job in Havana as a translator for the Cuban government newspaper Granma International. I couldn’t have guessed then that my one year would become six and that those six years would offer me a unique opportunity to experience life in a society immersed in the complex dynamics of revolution, socialism and poverty.
Living Inside the Revolution is a portrait of that society, of the everyday lives of people struggling for survival.
“We Cubans are very conscious that we live on an island in the Caribbean which is surrounded by bankrupt and authoritarian regimes. In this context, what can we expect from change? This is not Europe and there won’t be a Scandinavian-style solution for us. It will be out of the frying pan and into the fire of savage free-market capitalism. That’s not an exciting prospect at all.”
Deisy has just gone into a trance. A half-filled glass of water is sitting on the table in front of her and she’s staring at it intently. […] After a few moments’ silence she jerks her head up and locks her gaze on to mine […] There’s an energy sharpening her features that wasn’t there when she sat down a couple of minutes earlier. Then she begins:
“The spirit tells me …”
Slowly and deliberately I prize my right foot out from its docking place and raise it. Glancing down slyly at the culprit’s feet I slam down hard. The effect is immediate. With a sharp intake of breath and a curse he withdraws into the ranks behind him. No one takes his place.
The reader is definitely left with the sense that all you convey is true to life; and we want to know more.
http://authonomy.com/books/48067/living-inside-the-revolution-an-irish-woman-in-cuba/#comment_928649
