I'm in this weird place with the books I'm reading. I'm not really into any of them, although they're mainly well written books by good authors. I don't know why it's been this way. I'm just sort of feeling complacent. Jumping from book to book without really caring, sometimes not even sure which book it is or what I'm reading. Last Monday I was at the local thrift store rummaging around and thought I'd look over their massive pile of books. Maybe I could find one that would hold my interest? The store's a mess, and the books are the worst of it. Apparently no one really cares. The workers toss them in piles, the covers getting bent, the pages creased. I lifted up a generic looking hardcover, it was some horror schlock by Dean Koontz so I tossed it back. Next came a Sidney Sheldon and then I pushed aside a Danielle Steele. Underneath were a million Stephen King novels and then some book telling me the secrets to super abs. It was like what you'd find in county jail, except if that were the case there'd be a Louis Lamour - the obligatory convict's standard. When I spotted Elmore Leonard's Cuba Libre I tried to remember who Leonard was, and I couldn't recall anything he'd written. But I knew he'd done film scripts, or at least a few of his books had been made into films. The cover was sort of cool, the title I liked, the price tag was half scraped off, but I was pretty sure it said ninety-nine cents. So okay, how wrong could I go only spending ninety-nine cents - right? Besides, looking at all these mundane useless books was depressing the hell out of me, I had go.The girl who worked the cash register was staring off into space, so I stood waiting for a few minutes trying to get her attention. Finally she came back to earth and asked if I needed help. I handed her the book. She checked the cover, then rung it up and said, "dollar ninety nine, please." I said, "I thought it was ninety-nine cents."She said, "no sir, all paperbacks are a dollar ninety-nine. You still want it?" "Yeah, I guess I'll take it." But I must have looked uncertain. "There's a Flashdance DVD for the same price," she said. "You want that instead?" The cash register girl had this dreamy look to her when she said Flashdance. She kinda resembled Jennifer Beals. Same mop of curly hair, and her shoulder was sticking out the neck of her shirt all the time. I admit I considered it for a second, okay maybe even two. But said no and left with Cuba Libre.Three days later - I'm okay admitting I mighta made the wrong choice. I think I'm gonna go back and see if I can return it. Besides, the cash register girl was really cute. She might take pity on me. She might even let me exchange it for the Flashdance DVD. Which believe me, couldn't be any worse. I'll try and look like Kevin Bacon in Footloose, and pirouette into the store in tight pants and a ripped t-shirt.
read this in february and here it is december and i marked this 5-star. leonard has never let me down...all of his stories have been a joy to read.story begins:tyler arrived with the horses february eighteenth, three days after the battleship maine blew up in havana harbor. he saw buzzards floating in the sky the way they do but couldn't make out what they were after. this was off morro castle, the cattle boat streaming black smoke as it came through the narrows. time*1898, give or take places*cuba*havana*sweetmary in the arizona territory, sweetmary, a town named for a copper mine*the cattle boat vamoose*the congress hotel in sweetmary*st. simeon something or other for boys in new orleans, school/ben*yuma prison, hell hole on the bluff*maricopa bank*benson...a town*lobby of the charles crooker*regla, across the harbor from havana*galveston, texas*a ship, the alfonso xii*steamship city of washington*the diva, british ship tied up at regla*sandy hook, new jersey...where a quarantine camp for choleraguayra, venesuela characters*ben tyler*mexican deckhand*pilot (of a tug)*charlie burke*victor fuentes...60 years old...little cuban mulatto*the horses*mr. boudreaux*as many as thirty riders at the circle-eye, burke/foreman*a mustanger named dana moon*convicts/visitors at yuma prison*hatch and hodges*lasalle*red, a warm springs apache...works with ben...robbing banks*mr. rinning, the superintendent at yuma prison..has kids...ben teaches them horsey riding*a fella ben shot...his relatives looking for ben*ben's dad...ran a sugar mill in cuba...ben was there little as a kid younger kid.*ben's mother, her sisters died of influenza*cuban insurgents*the spanich army*the dons*miz inez...in benson*camille...married a railroad dick*a correspondent named richard harding davis*neely tucker*bill mckinley...president i think, right? *maximo gomez...accent marks missing...head of the cuban insurgents against spanish rule*mexican stock handlers*negro deckhands*merchants and officials in town clothes*a spanish soldier, an officer in a pale grey uniform*probably captain-general valeriano weyler, recalled to spain, called the butcher...killed thousands*250 dead out of 370 officers and men/the u.s.s. maine*the captain of the maine, man named sigsbee*lieutenant teo barbon, accent mark missing...agu? to the left over the o*lionel tavalera, guardia civil, a major*the famous gentleman matador from spain, mazzantini*virgil webster, private, seagoing marine off the uss maine, 24 years old, on his second five-year enlistment, joined at sixteen*his uncle hartley webster, a marine who fought in korea, 1871*miss barton*clara barton*this is a work in progress...and progress is slow as i need a cup of coffee...later, gator
What do You think about Cuba Libre (2002)?
Colorful cast of characters, very well-developed. You can certainly pick up on each person's personality, from the cadence of speech to the swaggering egos. Overall I found the story to be compelling. The backdrop of revolutionary Cuba was an excellent environment for the twisting revenge novel (though not necessary by whom you might expect).My main complaint would be that the relationship between Ben Tyler and Amelia felt contrived. Also you start to get the feeling that Leonard relies on the same type of protagonist in his novels - the renegade beholden to no one.
—Nick
This is a cowboy/western book, set in historical Cuba in 1898. The protagonist, Ben Tyler, is taking horses as a cover for smuggling guns to Cuba, and arrives shortly after the sinking of the battleship Maine. He meets various bad guys (Guardia Civil) and a sugar mill plantation owner, along with American newspapermen (it is the time of yellow journalism coverage of Cuba), and the mistress, Amelia Brown, of the plantation owner. Tyler quickly ends up in prison for killing someone, is rescued with the aid of Amelia, and then they are off to make their fortune in the rough-and-tumble, deadly war time effort with Cuban insurgents and Spanish soldiers and Americans soldiers all fighting each other.Ben Tyler is good with guns, killing, and horses, but also a former unsuccessful bank robber and overall rather dim-witted. Amelia Brown is more intelligent, but nonetheless falls in love with Tyler; she is primarily an opportunist interested in fame, excitement, and money. The Spanish plantation owner is an interesting character, but the Cuban characters are poorly developed, even though they play major roles in the book. As it turns out, all the main characters in the book are motivated primarily by money, not by idealism or patriotism. The reading is pleasant enough. The plot starts off nicely, but definitely languishes after the initial third of the book. The character development is adequate but not great. One of the major pluses is the historical aspects. Many real places, people, and events show up. Even some of the small details are historical too, such as the boat "Vamoose", which was a real filibuster smuggling boat used to smuggle weapons into Cuba at that time.
—Sam
I'm adjusting my review of this book as I have just finished reading it. As with most historical fiction the author had accurate historical facts, locations & landmarks . . .War for Independence & various individual battles, Matanzas, Morro Castle, etc. . . in place. The story connecting it all together was compelling but in a few places my sensibilities were assaulted by concepts which may or may not have been based in fact. Either way, I was so bothered by the concepts that truly never would have crossed my mind had I not read the book that I had difficulty falling asleep after I finished reading it and had terrible dreams which woke my husband. He said I was mumbling but in my dreams it was some kind of confused singing. Bottom line, it was an emotionally stressful dream. I've read many other books including scripture which precipitated dreams of either deep personal understanding or an awareness of how to proceed with a personal concern in a constructive way. Frankly, I'd rather dedicate my time to constructive personal growth so I'll choose my recreational reading with greater care. Hence, reducing the rating to 3 stars.
—Loretta Estrada
