Cuba, Adiós: A Young Man’s Journey to Freedom

Reviews/Quotes

"A tour de force. The most compelling of all Pedro Pan testimonies I have read. It is so well written that even painful moments sound like music. The latter was possible because Lorenzo has combined his sensibilities as a musician with his abilities as a writer. And he excels in both...the result is a masterful achievement." -- José (Pepin) Álvarez, Ph.D., University of Florida's Emeritus Professor and Award winning author. "Martínez' writing is mesmerizing. With uncensored and lyrical prose, he pulled me into his experience and kept me turning the pages until the end...Cuba, Adiós is a beautifully written personal tears-to-triumph story..." -- Kathleen Pooler, author of "Following His Lead." "Told from a historical perspective as well as from personal experiences, Martínez vivid memoir grabbed me and drew me in right from the start...engaging and lyrical..." Susan Bernhardt, author of the Kay Driscoll series. "...impressive writing, Martínez knows how to tell a story in an appealing way." --Ray Mosely, author of two biographies, "Mussolini's Shadow" and "The Last Days of Mussolini." What other readers are saying: "Very seldom do I find a book that is hard to put down." "...flows like a symphony." "...a beautiful 3D tapestry of the Pedro Pan experience." "...while filled with loss and pain, Cuba, Adiós is a brave account of resilience by a remarkable man who--against tremendous odds--discovers his true self and his rightful place in the world." ||| REVIEWS: Editorial review by John E. Roper for The U. S. Review of Books. Just as a storm at sea can sometimes suck unsuspecting fish from the water miles from shore and then dump then inland, so, too, can people get caught up in events that rip them from the lives they have always known and plant them in new places. Wars and natural disasters are the usual culprits, creating thousands of refugees and displaced people who often struggle to survive in their new surroundings. But occasionally the reasons are more politically and ideological in nature. As a young man with a future goal clearly in sight, the author suddenly found himself part of what would one day come to be known as Operación Pedro Pan, one of the largest relocation movements of unaccompanied children in the history of the Western Hemisphere. In 1962, Lorenzo is eighteen and proud to be living in Cuba. Blinded by the revolutionary rethoric that his parents have long seen through, he basks in Castro's support of the arts and dreams of the day he will win a music scholarship to study in Prague. That all changes one day with the news that he and his brother Beni have been given permission to go to the United States... Life in what many see as the Land of Promise doesn't start out well. What began as a program in late 1960 to bring over a couple of hundred Cuban children as a means to eventually see their families be allowed to escape Castro's regime, as well, has swollen to a point that by October of 1962 over 14,000 minors have been funneled into the United States. The logistical nightmare of housing and dispersing these children throughout the country is incredible. Lorenzo and his brother, like many of the youngsters, do not always end up in places where they are very welcome. However, Lorenzo manages not only to survive but also thrive, eventually obtaining a doctorate from Columbia University and having his musical compositions performed on radio and television. This is not just a story about his and his family participation in Operación Pedro Pan. Lorenzo also shares the often painful account of his early struggles and confusion with his sexuality. After some brief heterosexual relationships in a Washington State, he moves to New York and immerses himself fully into the gay lifestyle, which culminates in his current life partnership with a man for over thirty years. Unlike in so many weaker memoirs, the author recounts this aspect of his life fairly tastefully without resorting to the amateurish use of titillation and graphic sexual depictions which tend to degrade otherwise excel kent autobiographical narratives. Despite the fact the author was no longer a child when the majority of the events take place, his tale is very much a coming-of-age story. Martínez has expertly captured the emotions of a young man determined to become independent yet trapped in many ways by the needs and expectations of his family. He also generally shows a good sense of balance when reflecting on how hard it must have been for some of the people he and his brother encountered along the way, such as their host family, rather than depicting them stereotypically. Possibly the strongest point of the book, though, occurs when the narrative comes full circle on Lorenzo's return to Cuba as an adult to both face his memories and one of the key individuals who helped shape his life--a literary technique that gives this well-written memoir a sense of bittersweet completion.