Finding Manana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus

I knew very little about the Mariel boatlift, save snippets of what I heard on the news. My family had come from Cuba right after the revolution -- my brother and I were babies and, of course, unaware of what was happening. When my grandparents came out of Cuba in the mid-60s, I started hearing about how difficult everything was and how many people wanted to get out. This book fills in the gaps in my knowledge about life in Cuba during that time. Mirta Ojita grew up under Castro and was annoyed at her parents for wanting to leave, after all -- her entire life was in Cuba. She and her parents left Cuba on the Mariel boatlift when she was 15, and she later became a journalist. This memoir recounts her trying to find out how it all came show more about. It is well-written and researched, using her own personal oddyssey as a starting point. show less

This is one of those memoirs where the content is interesting but it's not elevated much by the prose. Ojito writes in a very straightforward style, which is to be expected as she's a journalist, but I found myself craving more artistry and colour from her words. The events have to speak for themselves, which they absolutely can—the Mariel Boatlift is dramatic and heartrending—but this couldn't been so much more affecting with a stronger voice behind it.

Cuba is no longer an obsession in my life. Rather, it is the imprint of my life, a dull pain that throbs at the slightest provocation: a word I thought I'd forgotten; a hymn that only former Communist Pioneers, like me, can still sing; a black-and-white picture of my family circa show more 1970 that my mother keeps on her night table; and that chocolate-colored lipstick I brought with me and is now tucked inside my medicine cabinet, just as my parents always kept the nearly empty container of Vicks VapoRub in theirs. show less

A Cuban woman talks about her experience being part of the Mariel boatlift. She breaks up her experience with interviews of others also involved in the boatlift at the same time. While the first 75% was very well written, the last quarter seemed to lack feeling and seemed to be more reporting. I did find out information that was misrepresented to the public at the time, like the intent was for family to leave Cuba. But Castro then released the prisoners and mental patients and forced the boat owners to also take them. That was not the intention.