Carlos Frías
About the Book
Excerpts
"Take Me With You"
Now available at Amazon.com and at a bookstore near you!
Reviews
"If you're Cuban-American, his story is yours. And if you're not Cuban-American, perhaps there's even more reason to dive into this honest insider's guide to the Cuban experience."
— Lydia Martin, The Miami Herald. Click here for the full review.
"It wouldn't matter if Frías was Irish or Italian or Martian. This is a compelling story about family. In its way, it's reminiscent of Rick Bragg's book about his mother, All Over but the Shoutin'. Like that book, it's a great story, well told. Frías's writing is elegant."
— William McKeen, Creative Loafing. Click here for the full review.
"A poignant personal journey in a superb debut book.... Frías spares no excruciating detail about his 12-day stay in the forbidden place of his ancestry."
— Phil Tatman, The Indianapolis Star. Click here for the full review.
"Frías' writing is emotional, his descriptions fresh. He provides telling details about the clothes, food and poverty of the Cuban people, the lack of amenities that almost all North Americans take for granted, the ancient cars nursed along year after year, the pervasive fear he senses in those he interviews."
— The Washington Post Book World. Click here for the full review.
"Frias is a good reporter, with an eye for dramatic moments — and dramatic moments are hardly in short supply in Cuba."
— The St. Petersburg Times. Click here for the full review.
"Grade: B+. Frías' story is one of an ordinary family shaped by extraordinarily sad and unusual events. He skillfully weaves politics and Cuban culture into intimate family tales, and even uncovers family secrets."
— Rocky Mountain News. Click here for the full review.
"His very moving book, 'Take Me With You,' reinforces my
sense that by far the most enduring legacy of the Cuban revolution 50 years ago
is the divided family.”
— Lucy Ash of BBC Radio's "Outlook." Click here to hear the interview.
Praise
"'Take Me With You' really does take you with it, on an unforgettable journey, not just to Cuba—a forbidding place unlike any other on earth—but also to that mysterious, nameless part of the human soul that yearns for home, and for lasting bonds with kin.
At once gritty and transcendent, this is one travelogue that soars. Frías lays bare his heart and in the process exposes the Cuba few tourists and journalists ever get to see: a labyrinth of ruins haunted by ghosts of those who escaped from it."
— Carlos Eire, Yale professor of history and religious studies, and author of the National Book Award winning memoir, "Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy."
"Cuba has been a part of the American experience for a century now, a slice of heartbreak defying easy categories like 'electoral politics', 'foreign intrigue', 'domestic affairs' and 'Cold War relic'.
The reason? Family.
The long showdown between Fidel Castro's regime and the U.S. has divided families like no conflict since the Civil War, and with emotional honesty, intrepid reporting, and a vivid evocation of his clan on both sides of the Florida Straits, Carlos Frias pulls off a stunner. 'Take Me With You' is more than a memoir. It's the immigrant's tale made whole—leavened with compassion, spiced by family secrets, and driven by the hope that what was once broken can actually be pieced back together again.
Yes, it's a portrait of Cuba today. But even better, 'Take Me With You' holds up a mirror to America. Peer into it: I guarantee you'll find a piece of your family, your father, yourself here, too."
— S.L. Price, Senior Writer at Sports Illustrated and author of "Pitching Around Fidel," and "Far Afield: A Sportswriting Odyssey."
"With his sensitive, provocative, and mature portrait of the island his parents came from, Carlos Frías is in the forefront of la nueva nostalgia cubana."
— Tom Miller, author of Trading With the Enemy: A Yankee Travels Through Castro’s Cuba
Interviews
5/18/200 — Listeners of Wisconsin Public Radio call into host Jean Feraca to talk to Frías about what life looks like in Cuba today. Click Listen or MP3.
11/19/2008 — The top blog for all things Cuba, Babalu Blog, talks to Frías about his recently released book. Click here to listen to the full podcast. Hosts Henry Luis Gomez and George Moneo. Thanks to Babalu Blog founder Val Prieto for this link.
Background
Read The Palm Beach Post five-day series, "Mi Familia/My Family," and listen to a three-minute narrated slide show, on which the book is based. Available in English and Spanish.