Boxing for Cuba by Guillermo Vicente Vidal reviewed by Celine
Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing; Reprint edition (April 12, 2013)
Publication Date: April 12, 2013 Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Kindle File Size: 4637 KB Print Length: 258 pages
Genres: Autobiography, spiritual, true story, cultural writing
REVIEW
This memoir and autobiography is a powerful, moving and memorable account and reflection of the life of Guillermo Vicente Vidal, whom at ten years old was torn away from his country of birth, Cuba; to endure horrific circumstances as an exile in the U.S.A. during the 1970s.
Guillermo’s writing is of excellent quality and this book is hard to put down, once started. Above all, the capacity for deep reflection and deep acceptance is a hall-mark of this story.
If you are ready to read about a frightening, disturbing and violent family situation for a young child and his two older brothers, interwoven with the context of the threat that Cuban residents faced in the 1960s, illustrating the character traits and the moods of many Cuban citizens in Cuba and in exile, this book is a must-read.
Guillermo illustrates the likely motivations behind some of the benighted views of the people he loves; and recounts the disturbingly violent behavior of his bi-polar mother, and as you read his story your feeling that he is “boxing for Cuba” really comes out.
This is the brutally honest story of a man who clung onto hope and onto the maxim to do your best, while a boy undergoing trials that shouldn’t have happened at the Sacred Heart Orphanage in Colorado, and who suffered from emotional, spiritual, physical and psychological abuse, from his own parents and supposed care-givers at the orphanage.
Around page 200 of the Kindle book or at 80% of the story I began crying because I could feel the struggle of Guillermo only too well,
But if you push through your sadness and/or empathy over the depression and self-doubt and self-criticism that this man had, borne from around 15 years of seeming punishment that no young person should endure, you will come to the astonishing end.
When Guillermo revisits his past, his penchant for understanding and forgiveness, simply but eloquently expressed in his book, will deliver a punch.
Guillermo is a beautiful and natural and logical story-teller, interweaving the pressures of external circumstances upon his family and loved ones unforgettably.
This is a sad story but certainly with good fortunes and relationships and happiness laced among it, of which the latter are what Guillermo so poignantly and clearly illustrates.
It took a long time for Guillermo to feel accepted in the U.S.A. because of his Cuban roots.
This book will make you feel grateful for your blessings and make you take a new look at life, that of realising that people try their best, given the circumstances they are in.
I am grateful to Guillermo for sharing his experiences from his heart and soul, as the way he traveled through Life amidst the trauma, shows not only resilience, but an understanding that we are all connected and that sometimes you have to let go, and sometimes Let God (help you understand and withstand).
Thank you Guillermo for this truly astonishing and remarkable reflection.
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2165911.Boxing_for_Cuba
Copyright notice: this article may not be used as someone else’s work, or reproduced without credit to the author.
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