Telex from Cuba: A NovelRachel Kushner has written an astonishingly wise, ambitious, and riveting novel set in the American community in Cuba during the years leading up to Castro's revolution -- a place that was a paradise for a time and for a few. The first novel to tell the story of the Americans who were driven out in 1958, this is a masterful debut. Young Everly Lederer and K. C. Stites come of age in Oriente Province, where the Americans tend their own fiefdom -- three hundred thousand acres of United Fruit Company sugarcane that surround their gated enclave. If the rural tropics are a child's dreamworld, Everly and K.C. nevertheless have keen eyes for the indulgences and betrayals of the grown-ups around them -- the mordant drinking and illicit loves, the race hierarchies and violence. In Havana, a thousand kilometers and a world away from the American colony, a cabaret dancer meets a French agitator named Christian de La Mazière, whose seductive demeanor can't mask his shameful past. Together they become enmeshed in the brewing political underground. When Fidel and Raúl Castro lead a revolt from the mountains above the cane plantation, torching the sugar and kidnapping a boat full of "yanqui" revelers, K.C. and Everly begin to discover the brutality that keeps the colony humming. Though their parents remain blissfully untouched by the forces of history, the children hear the whispers of what is to come. At the time, urgent news was conveyed by telex. Kushner's first novel is a tour de force, haunting and compelling, with the urgency of a telex from a forgotten time and place. |
Contents
Section 1 | 1 |
Section 2 | 5 |
Section 3 | 33 |
Section 4 | 40 |
Section 5 | 54 |
Section 6 | 67 |
Section 7 | 72 |
Section 8 | 93 |
Section 17 | 191 |
Section 18 | 210 |
Section 19 | 211 |
Section 20 | 223 |
Section 21 | 246 |
Section 22 | 257 |
Section 23 | 263 |
Section 24 | 264 |
Section 9 | 101 |
Section 10 | 121 |
Section 11 | 127 |
Section 12 | 144 |
Section 13 | 149 |
Section 14 | 150 |
Section 15 | 158 |
Section 16 | 165 |
Section 25 | 270 |
Section 26 | 274 |
Section 27 | 286 |
Section 28 | 298 |
Section 29 | 301 |
Section 30 | 307 |
Section 31 | 319 |
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Common terms and phrases
Allain American asked Batista Bloussé called cane Carrington Castro closed club couldn’t Cuba Cuban Daddy dance didn’t door dress drink Duffy Everly eyes face father feel felt fire first French front Fruit gave girls glass gone Gonzalez green guard guys hair hand happened Hatch Havana he’d head heard it’s keep kids knew La Mazière later leave Lederer light living looked Mackey Mazière mean meant Mother moved never Nicaro night party person Phillip play Preston Rachel rain rebels remember road running seemed seen she’d ship side sitting someone started stay Stevie Stites stop sugar sure talking tell things thought told took town turned United waiting walked wanted wasn’t watched week Willy window woman women