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Reviews
Cuba Libre!: Che, Fidel, and the Improbable Revolution That Changed World History by Tony Perrottet
jesslenc's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
4.5
pamiverson's review against another edition
3.0
Detailed account of the Cuban Revolution. Improbable is accurate -- they were a ragtag group who hid out in remote areas of the island for a long time while Batista self-destructed. Interesting characters. Unfortunately their goals and values shifted once they obtained power.
adinatantalo's review against another edition
4.0
Prior to listening to this book, all I knew of Fidel was the he was a communist. That’s really it. I had little knowledge of Cuba as a country, and certainly not anywhere near enough information about the revolution to have any particular opinions. Although being raised in the US, I’ve only ever heard Cuba and Fidel being discussed with negative connotations.
Cuba Libre has opened my mind and done away with my ignorance. It’s a wild adventure from start to finish and extremely informative. It is also well researched, well-written, and SO hard to put down. The author inserts his own bias throughout, but it did not spoil my love for this book as I find myself in agreement with him anyway. Fidel will always be a controversial figure and for legitimate reasons, but since reading this and doing more research on my own (as this book is about the revolution specifically and not about Fidel’s time as leader of Cuba, I needed to do some extra reading), I realize he’s not quite the supervillain my country made him out to be. I’m not saying he’s an angel or some great leader, nor am I making light of his suppressive regime, but I think it’s important to acknowledge more than one side of a story.
My only reason for four star instead of five has nothing to do with content, and purely for the fact that I found the narrator to be boring at times for such an exciting book.
Cuba Libre has opened my mind and done away with my ignorance. It’s a wild adventure from start to finish and extremely informative. It is also well researched, well-written, and SO hard to put down. The author inserts his own bias throughout, but it did not spoil my love for this book as I find myself in agreement with him anyway. Fidel will always be a controversial figure and for legitimate reasons, but since reading this and doing more research on my own (as this book is about the revolution specifically and not about Fidel’s time as leader of Cuba, I needed to do some extra reading), I realize he’s not quite the supervillain my country made him out to be. I’m not saying he’s an angel or some great leader, nor am I making light of his suppressive regime, but I think it’s important to acknowledge more than one side of a story.
My only reason for four star instead of five has nothing to do with content, and purely for the fact that I found the narrator to be boring at times for such an exciting book.