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book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
3.5***
The book opens in 1958. Francesca (Frankie) Pacelli is the pampered 17-year-old daughter of Tony Pacelli, a mobster who operates a large, luxurious casino resort in Havana under the protection of Meyer Lansky. Increased unrest escalates from posters and demonstrations to bombings, and Frankie’s parents decide to send her back home to Chicago. But unbeknownst to her parents, Frankie has been seeing a local boy and she runs away to be with him. Her impetuous bid for freedom will have long-term repercussions for generations to come.
Hellmann writes good thrillers. Her pacing is quick, she moves seamlessly from scene to scene, building suspense and keeping the reader turning pages. Hellmann also has proven that she does her research when using an historical setting. The pre-revolution Havana comes to life in all its tropical splendor and vibrancy; the post-revolution 1989 Havana is treated just as well, giving the reader a true sense of the poverty and decline that resulted from lack of investment in maintaining an infrastructure and capitalistic economy. Details of daily life – the foods, smells, colors, weather, sights – all add richness to the text and help to put the reader squarely in the midst of the story.
The difficulty I had with the novel was the way in which most of the characters were portrayed. The story covered three generations in three countries (on two continents) in only 300 pages. To fully flesh out this many characters would have taken a much longer book, so Hellmann chose to “tell rather than show.” To be honest this was mostly a problem in the last third of the book. I was completely engaged and interested in parts one and two, but the turns the plot took in the last 60-80 pages seemed unnecessarily complicated and rushed. Like the character tossed blindfolded into the back of the SUV (or was it the trunk?), I could tell by the way it careened around corners and wound its way through many streets that a big confrontation (certainly involving gunfire) was coming, but I couldn’t tell exactly what was happening. And like the character, I was glad it when it was over, but I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened or that it really was over. Might another generation of the Pacelli family appear in a future book?
It’s a good thriller, but with a little more work it might’ve been great.
The book opens in 1958. Francesca (Frankie) Pacelli is the pampered 17-year-old daughter of Tony Pacelli, a mobster who operates a large, luxurious casino resort in Havana under the protection of Meyer Lansky. Increased unrest escalates from posters and demonstrations to bombings, and Frankie’s parents decide to send her back home to Chicago. But unbeknownst to her parents, Frankie has been seeing a local boy and she runs away to be with him. Her impetuous bid for freedom will have long-term repercussions for generations to come.
Hellmann writes good thrillers. Her pacing is quick, she moves seamlessly from scene to scene, building suspense and keeping the reader turning pages. Hellmann also has proven that she does her research when using an historical setting. The pre-revolution Havana comes to life in all its tropical splendor and vibrancy; the post-revolution 1989 Havana is treated just as well, giving the reader a true sense of the poverty and decline that resulted from lack of investment in maintaining an infrastructure and capitalistic economy. Details of daily life – the foods, smells, colors, weather, sights – all add richness to the text and help to put the reader squarely in the midst of the story.
The difficulty I had with the novel was the way in which most of the characters were portrayed. The story covered three generations in three countries (on two continents) in only 300 pages. To fully flesh out this many characters would have taken a much longer book, so Hellmann chose to “tell rather than show.” To be honest this was mostly a problem in the last third of the book. I was completely engaged and interested in parts one and two, but the turns the plot took in the last 60-80 pages seemed unnecessarily complicated and rushed. Like the character tossed blindfolded into the back of the SUV (or was it the trunk?), I could tell by the way it careened around corners and wound its way through many streets that a big confrontation (certainly involving gunfire) was coming, but I couldn’t tell exactly what was happening. And like the character, I was glad it when it was over, but I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened or that it really was over. Might another generation of the Pacelli family appear in a future book?
It’s a good thriller, but with a little more work it might’ve been great.
turtlesreads's review against another edition
4.0
All the drama and loopdee loops in this book during the last 2/3rds of it...this was a fun read for me- tears may or may not have been present at certain parts of this book
tensy's review against another edition
3.0
I was first attracted to this book because of the locale being set in Havana right before the revolution. I was born there and left soon after Castro took over in 1962, so I was prepared to read critically about the accuracy of the depictions of Cuba in the story. Hellman does a fine job in the first part of the novel describing the sounds and features of pre-Castro Cuba. The characters of Frankie, and her casino owner father were nicely developed, as was the love story. However, the rest of the novel proceeds at a hectic speed spanning two more generations and love stories. This leaves the reader wanting for character development and makes the love stories proceed at a frantic, and frankly unbelievable, pace. It is a good thriller with a unique mystery to resolve which makes you keep paging forward with the novel, but once again the pacing was a bit too hurried.
I listened to the audio version and the narration by James Lewis and Dianne Piron-Gelman was well acted, with good pronunciations of the Spanish language sequences.
I received a copy of the audiobook from the author for a review.
I listened to the audio version and the narration by James Lewis and Dianne Piron-Gelman was well acted, with good pronunciations of the Spanish language sequences.
I received a copy of the audiobook from the author for a review.
erikadawnbraham's review against another edition
5.0
What a great book. The Pacelli family is exactly how I imagine Italian mobsters, nothing trumps family and they will go to all ends to ensure their family is safe. This novel has a plot that keeps you turning pages late into the night. I would highly recommend this book to anyone!
yangyvonne's review against another edition
3.0
While certainly an easy and entertaining read, I just felt like things were too contrived to get me to that next level. I bought this hook at an author’s event in 2013 and net the author, talking about my own trip to Cuba the prior year. This book brought back great memories of that trip and mixed in some home town locations too, so things were very familiar.
The problems I had were the overly dramatic and sweeping plot lines. Daughter of mafioso tries to run away with revolutionary and is ripped from him, having his child in America and marrying in an arranged wedding. That child then grows up to eventually meet his father in a twisted espionage type scenario that kills them both, but not before he impregnates a Cuban woman he just met and puts her on a boat to America. The resulting child ends up with the first woman (her grandmother) and involved in a plot about Coltran in Angola that goes back to a map her grandfather drew and gave to her father who in turn gave it to her mother who gave it to her grandmother. Dizzy? I was by this point. Then she’s kidnapped over the map, but not before starting a relationship with her grandmother’s original fiancé’s grandson and he gets shot!
Cue giant Scarface type ending with murders, and slow deaths, and the grandmother all alone in her empire.
The problems I had were the overly dramatic and sweeping plot lines. Daughter of mafioso tries to run away with revolutionary and is ripped from him, having his child in America and marrying in an arranged wedding. That child then grows up to eventually meet his father in a twisted espionage type scenario that kills them both, but not before he impregnates a Cuban woman he just met and puts her on a boat to America. The resulting child ends up with the first woman (her grandmother) and involved in a plot about Coltran in Angola that goes back to a map her grandfather drew and gave to her father who in turn gave it to her mother who gave it to her grandmother. Dizzy? I was by this point. Then she’s kidnapped over the map, but not before starting a relationship with her grandmother’s original fiancé’s grandson and he gets shot!
Cue giant Scarface type ending with murders, and slow deaths, and the grandmother all alone in her empire.
erikadawnh's review against another edition
5.0
What a great book. The Pacelli family is exactly how I imagine Italian mobsters, nothing trumps family and they will go to all ends to ensure their family is safe. This novel has a plot that keeps you turning pages late into the night. I would highly recommend this book to anyone!
samhouston's review
4.0
As the Fidel Castro era slowly draws to a close, it is a bit difficult to picture (much less actually remember) the U.S. influenced decadence of pre-Castro Cuba. The country, Havana in particular, was so shamelessly exploited by U.S. businesses and criminal interests during those years that it is little wonder that Castro booted all of them from the country as soon as he could.
Libby Fischer Hellman's new historical thriller Havana Lost, via the fictional Pacelli family, vividly recreates both pre-and-post-Castro Cuba for the reader. As the book opens, time is running out for the mobsters running Havana's plush casinos, and some of the bosses are beginning to hedge their bets by publicly supporting Batista, the country's dictator, while privately shipping arms to Castro's rebels. Well, good luck with that.
Francesca Pacelli's days in Havana are numbered. Sensing the imminent fall of the Cuban government, her mobster father is sending her back to Chicago in order to keep her safe from harm - and kidnappers. And now, at the worst possible moment, Frankie falls passionately in love with a young Cuban she barely knows, a man who just happens to be a pro-Castro rebel. Unfortunately for both, after her father forcibly removes her from the country, Frankie never sees her lover again.
But, as Frankie will learn decades later, Cuba is not done with the Pacelli family just yet. Lured back into the country by the possibility of immense wealth to be had for the taking, the family will pay for its sins - past and present. Havana Lost tells the story of three generations of a family trying to balance greed and family loyalty, but in the process, spectacularly failing at both. It is a tale of innocence lost and innocence abused, all in the name of easy money.
Thoroughly researched by its author, Havana Lost has all the makings of a first rate historical thriller. It is a genuine page-turner that allows the reader to experience Cuba-past and Cuba-present through the eyes of ordinary people forced to endure both eras. That level of authenticity is not a surprise in a Libby Hellman novel, however (see A Bitter Veil). In my estimation, what makes Havana Lost special is the author's willingness to take chances with so many of the characters central to her story. Havana Lost is filled with surprises I wish I could tell you about - but then they wouldn't be surprises, would they? Thriller fans, you need to read this one.
Libby Fischer Hellman's new historical thriller Havana Lost, via the fictional Pacelli family, vividly recreates both pre-and-post-Castro Cuba for the reader. As the book opens, time is running out for the mobsters running Havana's plush casinos, and some of the bosses are beginning to hedge their bets by publicly supporting Batista, the country's dictator, while privately shipping arms to Castro's rebels. Well, good luck with that.
Francesca Pacelli's days in Havana are numbered. Sensing the imminent fall of the Cuban government, her mobster father is sending her back to Chicago in order to keep her safe from harm - and kidnappers. And now, at the worst possible moment, Frankie falls passionately in love with a young Cuban she barely knows, a man who just happens to be a pro-Castro rebel. Unfortunately for both, after her father forcibly removes her from the country, Frankie never sees her lover again.
But, as Frankie will learn decades later, Cuba is not done with the Pacelli family just yet. Lured back into the country by the possibility of immense wealth to be had for the taking, the family will pay for its sins - past and present. Havana Lost tells the story of three generations of a family trying to balance greed and family loyalty, but in the process, spectacularly failing at both. It is a tale of innocence lost and innocence abused, all in the name of easy money.
Thoroughly researched by its author, Havana Lost has all the makings of a first rate historical thriller. It is a genuine page-turner that allows the reader to experience Cuba-past and Cuba-present through the eyes of ordinary people forced to endure both eras. That level of authenticity is not a surprise in a Libby Hellman novel, however (see A Bitter Veil). In my estimation, what makes Havana Lost special is the author's willingness to take chances with so many of the characters central to her story. Havana Lost is filled with surprises I wish I could tell you about - but then they wouldn't be surprises, would they? Thriller fans, you need to read this one.
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