Warren Wilson faculty member Pablo Medina reviews Tres tristes tigres, or Three Trapped Tigers, by Guillermo Cabrera Infante, for NPR Books:

I’d left Havana when I was 12. After the initial excitement of landing in New York, I fell into a miserable nostalgia for a past that would never be again. Gone were the tropical gardens and blue skies, the labyrinth of streets and arcades, the allure of those soft, silky nights that I’d barely had the chance to experience. Over the years, 1950s Havana has been stereotyped as a sinful city, where tourists came to lose their money, drink good rum and have their sexual fantasies satisfied. But the Havana I experienced was physically beautiful — filled with sunlight and mystery. Three Trapped Tigers was the book I needed to show me that, if the past could not be recovered, it could be invoked through books...[Keep Reading]…

Pablo is the author of Cubop City Blues (2012, Grove Press).