Cuba Libre

Rating:
Summary: Good for a bit.
Review: I found Cuba Libre to be a mixed bag. It started out kind of slow. I didn't feel very compelled to care about the main character, Ben Tyler. But as the story moved along, I became more interested. By the end of the 2nd chapter (out of 26), I felt myself getting pulled in. Its setting and mood really made the book feel authentic to turn of the century Cuba.

There were some chapters that dragged or weren't of much interest. But the story was deep enough that none of that mattered much. The middle of the story involves a large amount of ransom money for a fake kidnapping, and the heroes' pursuit of said money. Things start getting exciting, as everyone in the story has their own seperate scheme. It builds and builds and then.....

...it ends. It ends badly. Not badly as in bad for the characters, but bad as in shoddy writing. I firmly believe Leonard had some sort of deadline and had to wrap the novel up in an hour. There's really no other explanation.

So, overall, what you get in Cuba Libre is a pretty good story with a bad ending. It would make a pretty good film if they would change the ending so that it had a tangible climax. Except I just know the producers would cast Matthew McConaughey, or Mark Wahlberg, or Ben Affleck, or someone else that wouldn't fit at all.

Rating:
Summary: no wonder it comes in supermarket novel format...
Review: i read "cuba libre" because a friend left it behind after moving away from my city and i'd never read an elmore leonard novel, though i'd heard of him many times...it's no surprise that she didn't take this book along with her, since it is completely forgettable... this is the kind of book you would expect to find sitting between a package of cheez-wizz and the tabloids at the checkout counter in your local grocery store, and it is of about the same literary quality... the characters are totally absurd archetypes, the writing is about 5th-grade level and the use of the spanish language is downright insulting (because of all the mistakes, misspellings and the like)... how did such an interesting historical event get wrapped up in such a mediocre novel? i would just buy a history book on the origins of the spanish-american 'war' and would probably find it much more fascinating... in any case, it was impossible for me to read beyond the 60% point, so at least this scathing critique won't give away the ending: to tell you the truth, i couldn't care less what happened to any of the characters.

Rating:
Summary: Cowboy in Cuba
Review: The year is 1897. Steaming into Havana harbor past the wreckage of the battleship Maine, the cargo ship "Vamoose" carries cattle, a herd of horses under care of Arizona wrangler Ben Tyler, and hidden under the manure, guns for the Cuban insurgency. Fated by this reckless challenge to the brutal and capricious Spanish authorities in Cuba, Ben finds himself fighting for survival, as civil order gives way to war. It's a tropical Wild West story, masterfully told. Leonard is at the peak of his power as a writer. His characters are flawed, complex, and interesting, and the action fast-paced. As is often the case when a writer is in tune with his material, the reader learns much about the great events unfolding as historical context. Though I wasn't there then, this feels like Cuba and is a fitting celebration of the 100th anniversary of Cuban independence from Spain. In the audio version, Alexander Adams is superb, particularly with the gruff Spanish and Cuban accents.