Page 2 April 19 , 2018
My Brigadista Year Buoys No Bromides About Cuba
Reviewed By Tommy Vinh Bui,
MLIS, Associate Librarian,
Inglewood Public Library
With all the commotion and cacophonous
current events centering upon Cuba as of late,
I thought it appropriate to cover a young
adult book that approaches this Caribbean
country in a positive light. It serves as a
Entertainment
timely reminder that this charming island
nation is much more than just the center of
entrenched historical turmoil of missile crises,
embargos and frayed diplomatic ties. There’re
positives too. And those positives are ably accentuated
in Katherine Paterson’s well-crafted
and unconventional Cuban coming-of-age
bildungsroman My Brigadista Year.
The writer inveigles us to reconsider
preconceived perceptions of Cuba with
this highly readable and enriching historical
novel. The narrative follows teenage Lora
as she submits to her patriotic vigor and
volunteers to leave Havana to teach literacy
in the impoverished villages of Cuba.
Against the wishes of her family, she enlists
in a small brigade of youth educators whose
unwavering mandate is to promote learning
and a love for reading. Often in the most
remote and far-flung of jungle locales. My
Brigadista Year deftly delves into notions
of courage in the face of self-doubt and
daringly delivers a tale of newfound resoluteness
that should prove inspirational to
young readers. It should especially appeal
to readers interested in the feats of this
little-known legion of life-long learners that
stalwartly champion the power of words and
empower vulnerable communities. It is history
roundly resuscitated and revivified to
retell an endearing story of self-discovery.
Check It Out
Profoundly personal and primed with pathos,
this story parries convention and pulls no
emotional punches.
This well-researched Cuban chronicle just
drips with authenticity and accuracy. The
narrative sheds light on an exceptional moment
in history with a country at a critical
crossroad of transition and revolutionary flux
and change. The Cuban Literacy Campaign
managed to raise the national literacy rate
from a nadir of 60 percent to a remarkable
96 percent. It was no small feat and one that
was effusively heartening for the future of
the Cuban people.
The narrative is compelling and produces
plenty of thrills and flutters of the heart.
Young Lora wrests with her own insecurities
and inner conflicts throughout the
novel. A plot peppered with true travails
that are seemingly insurmountable test her
resolve. It’s a fish-out-of-water story and she
must adapt quickly to the harsh demands of
rural living and her new role as an educator
seeking to abolish illiteracy. She wobbles
slightly at first, but really undergoes a
considerable transformation as the novel
progresses. Her determination and grit win
out resoundingly. We follow along and experience
every high and low as Lora does.
We watch her mature and collect hard-won
wisdom and really come of age before our
eyes. She taught, yes, but also learned sage
life lessons herself. It amounts to a riveting
reportage of self-realization. The story is
equal parts The Motorcycle Diaries, Jane
Eyre and The Dead Poet’s Society. It’s an
enthralling combination.
So all in all, it’s a whole-hearted recommendation
for this shrewdly structured story
of strength, persistence and social awakening.
This is a book that instills a sense of
pride and moral responsibility in the very act
of cracking open a book. So quick-march
on down to the local bookery and foment
an incisive insurrection via the radical act
of reading. •
My Brigadista Year by Katherine Paterson. Tommy Vinh Bui.
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“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most
accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”
– Charles William Eliot