The BabaluBlog Radio Hour | Special Guest Carlos Frias | Tonight 9:00 PM EDT

We have a very guest special guest on the BabaluBlog Radio Hour starting at 9:00 PM. Journalist Carlos Frias will talk to us about his memoir, Take Me With You. Here’s a concise review from our good friend Carlos Eire:

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 or journalists ever get to see: a labyrinth of ruins haunted by the ghosts of those who escaped from it.” — Carlos Eire, National Book Award-winning author of Waiting for Snow in Havana


Here’s the link to Carlos’ book on Amazon.com:

Carlos Frías, an award-winning journalist and the American-born son of Cuban exiles, grew up hearing about his parents’ homeland only in parables. Their Cuba, the one they left behind four decades ago, was ethereal. It existed, for him, only in their anecdotes, and in the family that remained in Cuba — merely ghosts on the other end of a telephone.
Until Fidel Castro fell ill.
Sent to Cuba by his newspaper as the country began closing to foreign journalists in August 2006, Frías begins the secret journey of a lifetime — twelve days in the land of his parents. That experience led to this evocative, spectacular, and unforgettable memoir.
Take Me With You is written through the unique eyes of a first-generation Cuban-American seeing the forbidden country of his ancestry for the first time. Take Me With You provides a fresh view of Cuba, devoid of overt political commentary, focusing instead on the gritty, tangible lives of the people living in Castro’s Cuba. Frías takes in the island nation of today and attempts to reconstruct what the past was like for his parents, retracing their footsteps, searching for his roots, and discovering his history. The book creates lasting and unexpected ripples within his family on both sides of the Florida Straits — and on the author himself.

The call-in number is (646) 652-4506, or you can send an email to Henry and I with questions or comments. The show begins at 9:00 PM EDT. Don’t miss the opportunity to call in and participate!

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