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thenextgenlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
“My only answer is independence. I need to find out whether it’s possible to live courageously in a time of danger.”
sandlerpage's review against another edition
4.0
Some truly remarkable phrases in this - “Maybe love at first sight actually does exist for those who are well-fed enough to sleep.”
zbrarian's review against another edition
4.0
A powerful novel in verse taking place in Cuba during the early 90s. There, people had to make a hard decision: risk fleeing across the ocean to sanctuary in the US or stay, trying to survive on only hope and very little food. To think this embargo is still in force and Cubans are still to this day fighting to survive.
zoraidasolo's review against another edition
5.0
Lovely. Heartbreaking. Read for review - Shelf Awareness.
syraluna's review
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
2.5
thenextgenlib's review against another edition
4.0
“My only answer is independence. I need to find out whether it’s possible to live courageously in a time of danger.”
haileyannereads's review against another edition
3.0
This book is really beautifully written. I never knew that there was a food crisis in Cuba, and this book tells the story of two teens living through it in raw, emotional verse.
cartermon4's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
atamano's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Abandonment, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, and Police brutality
e_reader124's review against another edition
2.0
This could have been so much better. It had the potential, but there were many times where it missed the mark. First of all, the story just didn't have a whole lot to it, was structured so weirdly, and felt like a whole bunch of nothing. I think it was due to the fact that the book was written in verse. This was a story that needed lots of time to fully flesh out, such as in full novel form. Because of the in verse format, it was very rushed, disproportionately structured, and badly paced. The plot went in a million different random directions and very little truly meaningful things happen. I also found myself extremely bored a lot because it was very wordy. This all affected the romance itself because it didn't feel genuine or deserved. It took about ten poems for Liana and Amado to get together, and it all felt so random and rushed because of the gaps. Heck, even their acquainticeship felt so rushed and random because of these gaps. I did like the depiction of the time period, though. The setting of 1991 Cuba felt very genuine and well written and researched. It genuinely felt like a first person account of the time period. The accurate depiction of the time period was one of the few things that kept me interested in this book. The characters were also pretty well-written. They are very three-dimensional, and you understand them, like what they want, what they feel, what they've been through, etc. Finally, on a more downer note, I wasn't a big fan of the ending. It felt very empty and unfulfilled, and it was ended extremely abruptly. When I finished the last page and saw the author's note next, I was like, "That's it?". It could have benefitted from at least an extra couple pages, something to wrap up the story more neatly. Overall, this ended up being pretty bland, but it could've been really great if it had been written in a different format.