Take Me with You: A Secret Search for Family in a Forbidden Cuba

By Carlos Frías and Carlos Frías

Book Overview

An evocative and unforgettable memoir from award-winning journalist Carlos Fr as about his journey to Cuba where he retraces his family's history and encounters the realities of Cuba under Fidel Castro's rule.

Carlos Fr as, an award-winning journalist and the American-born son of Cuban exiles, grew up hearing about his parents' homeland only in parables. Their Cuba, the one they left behind four decades ago, was ethereal. It existed, for him, only in their anecdotes, and in the family that remained in Cuba--merely ghosts on the other end of a telephone.

Until Fidel Castro fell ill.

Sent to Cuba by his newspaper as the country began closing to foreign journalists in August 2006, Fr as begins the secret journey of a lifetime--twelve days in the land of his parents. That experience led to this evocative, spectacular, and unforgettable memoir.

Take Me With You is written through the unique eyes of a first-generation Cuban-American seeing the forbidden country of his ancestry for the first time. Fr as provides a fresh view of Cuba, devoid of overt political commentary, focusing instead on the gritty, tangible lives of the people living in Castro's Cuba. Fr as takes in the island nation of today and attempts to reconstruct what the past was like for his parents, retracing their footsteps, searching for his roots, and discovering his history. The story creates lasting and unexpected ripples within his family on both sides of the Florida Straits--and on the author himself.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416559523
• ISBN13: 9781416559528
• Release Date: November 2009
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.5" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Take Me With You is a must read for family historians

Carlos Frias' book "Take Me With You" not only personalizes life today inside of Cuba, but it is a must read for anyone who has an interest in writing about their family heritage. Carlos' parents and their former Cuban associates are now in their senior years, but through his writing you see them as they were in their years of youth in a Cuba before the communist revolution. Carlos' descriptions mirror my own research in learning to know my parents, both now deceased, as the young people they once were.

Amazing Journey

Through Carlos Frias' heart-felt scribing, I stowed away to Cuba on this amazing journey. His descriptive writing truly brings the smells of Havana's streets and Cuban coffee into your home. This is a must read for anyone who has ever wondered what daily life is like behind the Cuban curtain. I wait with earnest for Carlos' next gift to the literary world.

Beautiful

Take Me With You is a soulful memoir by a wonderfully talented writer, certainly a writer to watch. Carlos Frias brings to the Cuba polemic fresh eyes, an open heart, but also the historical context that is necessary to tell this story of loss and separation. The perfect antidote for revolution-chic excesses.

A personal story that opened my eyes

I thank Carlos Frias for taking this journey, then writing this book and taking me -- and all his readers -- along, too. I had considered myself pretty familiar with issues of Cuba, but Frias' emotional tale puts me inside the lives of Cubans in country and in South Florida and my understanding has deepened. Should be required reading for those making policy in D.C. and college classes studying related subject matter. I do recommend having a map handy while reading to better navigate the story. Would recommend that future editions include this.

Definitely recommend

This book is fantastic. It really gives a great view of the social and human cost of the "glorious" Cuban revolution that has caused so much suffering and hardship in Cuba. Frias' juxtaposition of his life in Miami with the life that would have been, had his family not made the decision to leave Cuba (at a very great cost), is quite compelling. After reading it I gave copies as Christmas gifts to some relatives and a couple of co-workers who will relate. Excellent read, quite engaging.