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lauren_endnotes's review
▫️ABANDONED HAVANA by Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, translated from the Spanish by Mary Jo Porter, 2014 from @restlessbooks
"Life in Cuba is a carnival, the apotheosis of the unconscious, an asylum where even evil seems infantile. A paternalistic perpetual State makes us as irresponsible as a herd of children..."
Phew. "Landy" Lazo is a street photographer, banned blogger, and dissident. Abandoned Havana is 80 photos accompanied by essay /vignettes. His writing is eviscerating in parts endearing in others. He captures an essence, the words and scenes of Havanas's street, the history. Photos of oil slicks, billboards, decaying architecture, children breakdancing in the rain, seascapes accompanied by statistics, anti-Castro polemics, overheard stories and words.
I was struck by his photos, but his words are what will stick with me - he likes word play, calling things "Mea Cuba" (vs "Culpa") when he is reprimanded or censored... He refers to Cuba's "Sugar Curtain" (vs Iron Curtain)... Much more.
"[Cuban] poet Virgilio Piñera evoked so we'll: 'What can the sun do with such a sad people?'"
"Life in Cuba is a carnival, the apotheosis of the unconscious, an asylum where even evil seems infantile. A paternalistic perpetual State makes us as irresponsible as a herd of children..."
Phew. "Landy" Lazo is a street photographer, banned blogger, and dissident. Abandoned Havana is 80 photos accompanied by essay /vignettes. His writing is eviscerating in parts endearing in others. He captures an essence, the words and scenes of Havanas's street, the history. Photos of oil slicks, billboards, decaying architecture, children breakdancing in the rain, seascapes accompanied by statistics, anti-Castro polemics, overheard stories and words.
I was struck by his photos, but his words are what will stick with me - he likes word play, calling things "Mea Cuba" (vs "Culpa") when he is reprimanded or censored... He refers to Cuba's "Sugar Curtain" (vs Iron Curtain)... Much more.
"[Cuban] poet Virgilio Piñera evoked so we'll: 'What can the sun do with such a sad people?'"
More...