The hidden island : essays / Abraham Jiménez Enoa ; translated by Lily Meyer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jiménez Enoa, Abraham, 1988- author.

Contributor:

Meyer, Lily, translator.

Standardized Title:

Isla ocula. English

Language:

English

Spanish

Subjects (All):

Cuba--Description and travel.

Cuba.

Cuba--Social life and customs.

Genre:

Essays.

Physical Description:

223 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Ig Publishing, 2025.

Summary:

In this powerful collection of essays, we encounter a memorable and diverse cast of regular Cubans who are trying to survive with few resources and little hope--including a female boxer in a country that has long outlawed women's boxing, a boy who collects money for the country's underground lottery, a male gigolo, and the residents of a neighborhood that is so poor that the government doesn't officially recognize its existence. We also meet the homeless, and vendors who eke out a meager living by selling fruit and vegetables, scraping by in a former socialist paradise. Jim̌nez Enoa juxtaposes these ordinary lives against the repressive tactics of the government, or "regime." He describes his "walks" around Villa Marista, the headquarters of the secret police, and the spies, confidantes, informers and regime sympathizers who crush anyone who questions the official narrative, which forces many independent journalists into exile. In a final self-portrait in the book about his own exile, Jim̌nez Enoa writes that, "to escape from Cuba is to fall into the world, to realize that Cuba is an island that has been hijacked by a political system which ensures that the country remains locked inside the twentieth century."

ISBN:

9781632462091

1632462095

OCLC:

1499593862

Publisher Number:

90102673562