Slow Train to Guantanamo

November 1, 2013

Millar, a British journalist and writer (1989: The Berlin Wall and All Gone To Look for America), has done the potentially impossible: he's made traveling by rail across Cuba, from Havana to Santiago, sound almost fun--sort of. Journeying by train--or doing anything in Cuba, for that matter--is an ordeal. There are mounds of red tape, a dearth of palatable food along the way, and opportunists at every corner--and don't even think about using a bathroom on board. Yet the author forges on, taking the Hershey train (yes, as in the chocolate empire) to Matanzas, delving into Che Guevara culture in Santa Clara, getting terribly lost in Camaguey, looking for tuna in Las Tunas (spoiler alert: wrong kind of tuna), peering at the infamous American base outside of Guantanamo, and ending up in Santiago, birthplace of La Revolucion. VERDICT Those interested in Cuba, Latin America, or rail travel or folks who just devour well-written, entertaining travel literature will find this work enticing (with or without rum).--Lee Arnold, Historical Soc. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2013
As journalist and travel writer Millar puts it, Cuba beyond the Castros is already on the horizon. With that thought in mind, he recently took a train from Havana in the northwest to Guantnamo Bay in the southeast, stopping along the way to stay at bed- and-breakfast-type houses and interacting with ordinary Cuban citizens. The result is this charming, witty, but sometimes sad memoir that offers a portrait of a nation on the cusp of enormous change. The once great rail system, which was the most advanced in Latin America, is now a rusted, decrepit mess plagued by bureaucratic constipation. Millar also points out the grinding poverty faced by many Cubans as well as the class distinctions in a supposedly classless society. But this is no hatchet job on Cuba. Millar points to some of the real achievements under socialism, and he finds Cubans to be warm, welcoming, and not at all shy about expressing the shortcomings of their government. This is an enjoyable, informative glimpse at a Cuba seldom seen by Americans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)