Blessed by Thunder: Memoir of a Cuban Girlhood

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Summary: Blessed By Thunder: Memoirs of a Cuban Girlhood
Review: "...Flor Fernandez Barrios, in Blessed By Thunder, ushers readers into startling proximity to a Cuba seen through the eyes of a woman whose childhood was both shaped and shattered by the beautiful island. Like the most powerful of fiction or nonfiction coming-of-age tales, the book is rich with tactile memories, laced with the scents of strong Cuban coffee, tobacco and jasmine blossoms, freshly fried plaintains, and much more....The indelible quality of Barrios' observations, specific and true, make Blessed by Thunder an important chronicle of the Cuban experience. Not only that, but her voice stands alongside those of Hispanic writers such as Oscar Hijuelos, Kathleen Alcala, Isable Allende, Laura Esquivel, Rudolfo Anaya, and others in revealing the way in which spirits inhabit the very elements of life....In the voice of a survivor who has both culled the strongest roots of her Cuban culture and looked forward to a rebuilt life in America..., Flor Fernandez Barrios moves readers beyond politics and into the depths of the healing heart." --Marlene Blessing, The Bloomsbury Review

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Summary: Blessed By Thudner, Memoir of a Cuban Girlhood
Review: "The story of Cuba continues to unwind through time, across oceans, in the bloodstream of her descendents, over many lands. Blessed by Thunder reveals a story we didn't read in the newspapers, hear on the radio, watch on the nightly news or scope from alternative news sources as the volatile story of the island of Cuba unfolded in the North. This is a story of a girl accompanied by lightening at birth, of how her complex family and community rooted in a lush and beautiful land lose everything to political terrorism. It's a stunning portrait of what binds life together despite terrible tests and inflexible doctrines. I love this book. It is gorgeous in the telling. I could not put it down." -Joy Harjo, author of The Woman Who Fell From The Sky

Rating:
Summary: Blessed By Thunder: Memoirs of a Cuban Girlhood
Review: "...Flor Fernandez Barrios, in Blessed By Thunder, ushers readers into startling proximity to a Cuba seen through the eyes of a woman whose childhood was both shaped and shattered by the beautiful island. Like the most powerful of fiction or nonfiction coming-of-age tales, the book is rich with tactile memories, laced with the scents of strong Cuban coffee, tobacco and jasmine blossoms, freshly fried plaintains, and much more....The indelible quality of Barrios' observations, specific and true, make Blessed by Thunder an important chronicle of the Cuban experience. Not only that, but her voice stands alongside those of Hispanic writers such as Oscar Hijuelos, Kathleen Alcala, Isable Allende, Laura Esquivel, Rudolfo Anaya, and others in revealing the way in which spirits inhabit the very elements of life....In the voice of a survivor who has both culled the strongest roots of her Cuban culture and looked forward to a rebuilt life in America..., Flor Fernandez Barrios moves readers beyond politics and into the depths of the healing heart." --Marlene Blessing, The Bloomsbury Review

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Summary: Blessed By Thunder: Memoirs of a Cuban Girlhood
Review: "In the heartbreaking story of her life in Cuba and the United States, Flor Fernandez gives us one of the first accounts of this passage that does not have a political agenda. These gentle portraits of the women who loved and raised her tell us more about the situation of the people of Cuba than a hundred works of propaganda.

Flor realizes that the one thing she can salvage from the past is her don, her gift for healing, and that rather than hindering her from adapting to the United States, it offers a doorway to the future, and a focus for her life. She draws a continuous thread that links us to traditional healing and the hope that it holds for contemporary women today.

I look forward to reading more from this talented and insightful writer."

-Kathleen Alcalá, Author of Spirits of the Ordinary and The Flower in the Skull

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Summary: Tantalizing
Review: Blessed By Thunder is a stunning achievement and a heartfelt story about what it is to grow up too quickly, what it is to lose your home and your country and to find yourself in the land of magnificent promises and deferred dreams... America! Flor Fernandez Barrios has written an exceptional memoir that recounts shocking stories of the layers and layers of betrayal and deception the Cuban people have endured through Castro's four-decade-old revolution. As the child of Cuban exiles I devour books about that mysterious jewel of an island called Cuba...so near and yet so far.... We are Blessed by writers such as Fernandez Barrios who has pierced the exotic veil of this intoxicating neighbor of ours and who has laced her stories with wrenching details of how ordinary lives have been touched by this larger world event. Her memoir is elegant and deeply provoking and her stories stay with you long after the book is done. ~ Juana de la O

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Summary: An engaging, candid, vividly recounted autobiography
Review: Blessed By Thunder: Memoir Of A Cuban Girlhood is a compelling autobiography of a Cuban childhood amidst the drama and struggle of Cuba's revolution and consequent relative isolation from the western world in general, and the United States in particular. Flor Barriors grew up in a family embittered by their treatment at the hands of Castro's government. After requesting to leave the country, her family was ostracized, and eleven-year-old Flor was sent to a rural work camp where she picked tobacco and sugar cane for two years. Headstrong and defiant, with a spirit unbroken by daily hardships, she found wisdom and comfort in the older women in her family (two grandmothers and a nanny), each of whom taught her about the power of spirits and the magical ways to seek healing. Finally able to leave Cuba, Flor was uprooted and living in exile, but used the lessons learned from the women in her family to heal her losses and make her way in a new life far from home. Blessed By Thunder is a remarkable, engaging, candid, vividly recounted autobiography of an unusual girl in unusual times.

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Summary: Bless you, mom and dad
Review: I thank God daily for the decision my parents made when sending me alone out of Cuba . Since my parents thought that they could say they were going on vacation, they had also packed to leave with me but the militia was too wise for that and held my mom's and dad's visa at the docks since they had not left everything to the government.At the precise moment they decided to send me alone (8-05-61)on the last cargo ferry that left Havana with sugar,under the care of Pedro Pan Operation. I was starting fourth grade that September of 1961 and I would have gone through the same ordeal Teresa went through. I admire Flor Teresa for the loyalty to her parents and family, for her courage of making the best of the moment and for her maturity at such young age. I believe that young as well as old will get teachings from this book. Teachingsof survival, of meeting with your goals, of distinguishing what is right from what is wrong and of giving a value to the simple things in life. As an adult Flor Teresa must be an extraordinary human being.

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Summary: Well Done
Review: The book was a smooth read. Ms. Fernandez-Barrios made me feel apart of her. Her memoir was so vivid. She connected herself to all the ancestrial roots of Cuba. She is an excellent writer. I would love to see more literature by this author.