Leaving Glorytown
One Boy's Struggle Under Castro
Farrar Straus & Giroux · Print & ebook · March 31, 2009
In this absorbing memoir, by turns humorous and heartbreaking, Eduardo Calcines recounts his boyhood and chronicles the conditions that led him to wish above all else to leave behind his beloved extended family and his home for a chance at a better future.
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- Who it’s for
- A boyhood memoir balancing humor and heartbreak with the longing to leave Castro’s Cuba.
- Themes
- Boyhood under Castro, Emigration from Cuba, Political repression
- Genres
- Cultural Heritage Lives, Immigration for Teens, Political Lives
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Start with this bookAbout this book
In this absorbing memoir, by turns humorous and heartbreaking, Eduardo Calcines recounts his boyhood and chronicles the conditions that led him to wish above all else to leave behind his beloved extended family and his home for a chance at a better future. Eduardo F. Calcines was a child of Fidel Castro's Cuba; he was just three years old when Castro came to power in January 1959. After that, everything changed for his family and his country.
Continue reading
When he was ten, his family applied for an exit visa to emigrate to America and he was ridiculed by his schoolmates and even his teachers for being a traitor to his country. But even worse, his father was sent to an agricultural reform camp to do hard labor as punishment for daring to want to leave Cuba. During the years to come, as he grew up in Glorytown, a neighborhood in the city of Cienfuegos, Eduardo hoped with all his might that their exit visa would be granted before he turned fifteen, the age at which he would be drafted into the army.
A Childhood Under Pressure
A boyhood memoir balancing humor and heartbreak with the longing to leave Castro’s Cuba.
Come here for
- A child’s view of upheaval in Cuba
- Family ties strained by the wish to emigrate
Expect
- Humor alongside heartbreak
- A personal story shaped by political pressure
Where it sits
| Immigration for Teens | 77% |
|---|---|
| Cultural Heritage Lives | 69% |
| Political Lives | 55% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Caribbean & Latin America
- Political Lives
- Caribbean & Latin America for Teens
- Authors
- Eduardo F. Calcines
- Publisher
- Farrar Straus & Giroux
- Published
- March 31, 2009
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Boyhood under Castro · Emigration from Cuba · Political repression
- Reading lane
- Caribbean & Latin America