Here in Berlin by Cristina García6/24/2023 ![]() In that novel, we see Celia del Pino, the book’s protagonist, on a veranda of her own, also looking out to sea, “in her wicker swing guarding the north coast of Cuba.” It’s been 26 years between García’s debut and the release of Here in Berlin. ![]() Its last scene is an echo to another moment from a different García novel-her celebrated debut, Dreaming in Cuban, of course. He spends the rest of his life scanning the horizon from his veranda, binoculars at the ready, waiting for a German submarine to take him away once more. There, he spends several months learning German, becoming friendly with the other young men, battling a British warship, and ultimately, is released back to Cuba, where nobody believes Ernesto’s story. ![]() When Ernesto denies having anything to give, he’s taken into the belly of the submarine. The German who accosts him asks for supplies and rum. ![]() In the story, Ernesto is captured during his shift as a night watchman. Of the many stories one finds in Cristina García’s latest novel, Here in Berlin (Counterpoint, 2017), my favorite is the one told by Ernesto Cuadras, the young Cuban man who spends five months as a prisoner of war on a German U-boat. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |