Cuba Libre

For its first two-thirds, this historical thriller, set in the Spanish-American War, is my favorite of many good Leonard books. His formula -- trickster who's not as smart as he thinks he is gets in trouble with even dumber guy, then allies with beautiful third party to swindle the highly competent villains -- is so familiar by now that the variations really stand out, and in this case he's made a serious and convincing attempt to explore the roots of the America that his 20th-century lowlifes inhabit. And then the last third of the book is a big Hollywood chase scene in which the villains are picked off in the usual way; oh well.

Can't believe how long it's been since I've read an Elmore Leonard. Not since Out Of Sight came out, I think. Wow. I used to eat these up, and now I remember why. Funny, cool, savage, wild and actually kinda romantic, helped in particular by the setting, this is a deliciously enjoyable read.

One his best. If you're wary or thinking, "Elmore Leonard . . . historical fiction . . . what?" don't panic. It's Elmore Leonard through and through. Mantanzas, Cuba could be Detroit and the characters all talk, act, and think like they do in his mainland American settings. This one has terrific dialogue as well as terrific pauses ("He thought about that and looked at her again") and six or seven characters trying to think one step ahead of each other. I read this when it was first published and again, long after I had forgotten the machinations of the plot or who-wanted-what. If this is filmed, I hope the producer is smart enough to get Ian McShane to play Boudreaux and Timothy Oliphant to play Tyler--a Deadwood reunion that would be show more just fine. Wholly enjoyable and not a false phrase in the whole book. show less

Leonard is the master of many things, but the two that shine here above all others: dialogue, and men with ethics who end up on the wrong side of the law. I wish he would write more historical fiction -- this is set in Cuba during the Spanish American war -- because he could give McMurtry a run for his money.

I had never read this author and picked this up from the library shelves. A cowboy from Arizona, Ben Tyler, sets off with a friend to sell horses to Cuba in the late 1800's and soon finds out the shipment also contained guns for the Cuban revolutionaries. After meeting a beautiful young woman, Amelia Brown, who is the mistress of a wealthy American owning a sugar plantation, Ben finds himself in prison. Then the US ship, Maine, was blown up in the harbor and war is sure to begin. There are many adventures, all readable and believable. Good fast read with a big of history thrown in.

Sometimes a story works hard to get the reader to the end just for the pay-off for a twist that just has to satisfy. Othertimes, the reader is lured in by a book that is great for long enough that one becomes invested, and has to continue to the end, no matter how poorly or anticlimactic it might turn out to be. "Cuba Libre" falls into the latter camp.

Leonard is a good writer, and can tell a good tale; one would expect this to be the case, considering his popularity among Hollywood's elite (okay, Jackie Brown and Get Shorty are not exactly classics). "Cuba Libre" is effortless, gracefully moving from page to page a story of gun-runners gone good in Cuba at the turn of the nineteenth century. There are betrayals, murders, accidents, show more incidents; everything is place.

But then when the end finally arrives, as it must always do, it is such a damp squib of an affair, with a silly conclusion stapled on, and a worthless final line of dialogue. This last ends with an exclamation mark; ironic considering how little there is to exclaim about. show less

What can you say? Leonard is a master at what he does and this one doesn’t disappoint. A but different from his mafia stuff but very good still. Kinda disappointed there isn’t a sequel out there.