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A review by jazzyjan94
Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir by Margarita Engle
5.0
Margarita Engle is a Cuban American torn between the two worlds that make up her heritage. She loves Cuba and the carefree days she enjoyed when she would go visit her mom's family, but she is stuck living in Los Angeles which is a far cry from the beautiful life of Cuba. But when the Cuban Revolution breaks out and ties between Cuba and the United States grows tense, Margarita must deal with the fact that her beloved Cuba may never be the place that she once knew it to be, and with the prejudice that comes with being half-Cuban and the hate between two countries.
Enchanted Air is a lyrical memoir told in verse. It is written in such a way that readers are transported along with the author through her experiences as a child and then as a teenagers. Very early on we see her struggle between her love for Cuba and her life in the U.S., "Am I free to need both, or will have to choose only one way of thinking?" (13). She feels like she has to choose between the countries and that she is not allowed to love both in their own ways. It provides a first-hand refection of what it was like being a young Cuban American during the Cuban Revolution, the Bay of Pigs and The Cuban Missile Crisis.
Margarita's family is founded on the immigrant experience, because her mom is a Cuban immigrant, and then her paternal grandparents had to flee from Ukraine and have every few memories of their life there. And although their experiences are different from that of her mother who immigrated to the States to be with her father, but she longs to go back to her homeland and her family.
When the Cuban Revolution starts, the author has to deal with horrible and ignorant comments from her classmates and teachers because she is half Cuban. Even her mother has to undergo scrutiny just because she is Cuban, for example, she is interrogated by the FBI because they think she could be communist spy. And when her and her mother travel to Cuba for a short visit with her mother's family, she discovers that the Cuban soldiers have animosity towards America and vice versa. However, despite Cuba being somewhat war-torn, the author remembers having and idyllic summer there when she as nine years old.
Against the backdrop of turmoil, the author discovers a love for reading, "Books are enchanted. Books help me travel. Books help me breathe." (54). They provide a way from her to escape from the reality of everything going on around her. She also discusses the isolation her mother feels because she realizes she might not get to go back Cuba when tensions get even worse between them and the U.S. And the author herself reminisces about the day when she will be able to go back to Cuba to visit her mother's family, even though things look bleak.
I loved this memoir and I am planning on picking up the companion memoir soon, and I will have a review for that too! 5/5 Stars.
Enchanted Air is a lyrical memoir told in verse. It is written in such a way that readers are transported along with the author through her experiences as a child and then as a teenagers. Very early on we see her struggle between her love for Cuba and her life in the U.S., "Am I free to need both, or will have to choose only one way of thinking?" (13). She feels like she has to choose between the countries and that she is not allowed to love both in their own ways. It provides a first-hand refection of what it was like being a young Cuban American during the Cuban Revolution, the Bay of Pigs and The Cuban Missile Crisis.
Margarita's family is founded on the immigrant experience, because her mom is a Cuban immigrant, and then her paternal grandparents had to flee from Ukraine and have every few memories of their life there. And although their experiences are different from that of her mother who immigrated to the States to be with her father, but she longs to go back to her homeland and her family.
When the Cuban Revolution starts, the author has to deal with horrible and ignorant comments from her classmates and teachers because she is half Cuban. Even her mother has to undergo scrutiny just because she is Cuban, for example, she is interrogated by the FBI because they think she could be communist spy. And when her and her mother travel to Cuba for a short visit with her mother's family, she discovers that the Cuban soldiers have animosity towards America and vice versa. However, despite Cuba being somewhat war-torn, the author remembers having and idyllic summer there when she as nine years old.
Against the backdrop of turmoil, the author discovers a love for reading, "Books are enchanted. Books help me travel. Books help me breathe." (54). They provide a way from her to escape from the reality of everything going on around her. She also discusses the isolation her mother feels because she realizes she might not get to go back Cuba when tensions get even worse between them and the U.S. And the author herself reminisces about the day when she will be able to go back to Cuba to visit her mother's family, even though things look bleak.
I loved this memoir and I am planning on picking up the companion memoir soon, and I will have a review for that too! 5/5 Stars.