Next Year in Havana(108)
A woman stands in front of the sign in a floral dress, selling conch shells laid out on the ground.
Miguel is instantly captivated by the shells, and Juan smiles indulgently, taking his wallet out of his pocket. It’ll make a good souvenir for our boy.
I watch as Juan shows Miguel how to hold the shell up to his ear so he can hear the sound of the ocean. Our son’s face lights up at the novelty, the pride on Juan’s face inescapable. He loves him as though he were his own flesh and blood.
I walk forward a bit, their conversation drifting away, the roar of the ocean and the sound of the wind blocking out all else. It’s late in the day, the sun nearly setting, the sky a placid blue.
If I close my eyes, I can almost see it; if I look straight ahead, my gaze fixed on the point beyond the horizon, I imagine I do.
There’s a girl in a white dress, strolling along the Malecón, a white silk rose clutched in her hand, her dark hair blowing in the breeze. And there’s a boy. He’s taller, older, his head slightly bent as he leans into her, as he strains to hear what she says over the sounds of the city, the honking of horns, the laughter of people passing them by. She wants to laugh, too, but the thudding in her chest robs her of the emotion, and instead she feels something portentous, like the moment before a storm rolls in over the water. It’s in the air around them, carried on the wind—hope, anticipation, longing.
He will kiss her and everything will change.
They will march from the mountains to the sea and everything will change.
The girl is now in a pink dress, her figure altered by motherhood and time, the white rose left in a box, buried in a backyard in Havana, for when she returns.
She sees his eyes every day in another’s. It is both her greatest pleasure and her deepest pain that all she has to do is look to her son to see the man she loved and lost.
But one day . . .
Her knowledge of God was formed in the pews of the Cathedral of Havana. Some of it has stuck; most of it ebbs and flows with age, with circumstance.
But there’s an undercurrent of hope, whether brought on by religion or Cuban birth—
One day when she dies, she’ll see him again. She knows this with a certainty that resides in her bones.
If there is a Heaven, surely it will be this—
Five miles of seawall. Havana behind her, an ocean before her. They’ll walk hand in hand, their son between them, a trumpet playing in the background, the smell of jasmine on the air, coconut ice cream on her tongue.
But for now there’s only the sea. And beyond it, ninety miles away, a country.
Home.
How long before we return?
A year? Two?
Ojalá.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
The novel alternates between Elisa Perez’s life in Cuba in 1958 and 1959 and her granddaughter Marisol Ferrera’s trip to Cuba in 2017. Which woman did you identify with more? What parallels can you see between their personalities and their lives? What differences?
The first chapter ends with Elisa wondering how long her family will be away from Cuba. The final chapter ends over a decade later with her posing the same question. How are the themes of hope and exile illustrated in the book? How does the weight of exile affect the Perez family?
When Marisol arrives in Cuba she struggles with identifying as Cuban because she grew up in the United States and because she has never set foot on Cuban soil. How much does a physical place define one’s identity? How does Marisol’s trip alter her views about being Cuban and change her perception of herself? How do Marisol and her family attempt to keep their heritage alive in exile? Are there stories and rituals handed down through the generations in your family?
Like her grandmother, Marisol falls in love with a man who has revolutionary political leanings. What similarities can you see between Pablo’s and Luis’s dreams for Cuba? What differences are there in their worldviews? How do they go about achieving their dreams for a better Cuba?
Sacrifice is a major theme that runs throughout the novel. How do the characters make sacrifices for one another, and what are some examples of them risking their safety and security for their loved ones? How do you think you would have acted in similar situations?
Family plays an important role in the novel, and each of the characters face their own struggles in their attempts to live up to their family’s expectations. What are some examples of this? Did you identify with one character’s point of view more? Are there certain expectations in your own family? Do you feel the need to live up to them? How have they shaped your life decisions?
Elisa’s final wish is to have her ashes scattered over Cuban soil. Do you agree with her decision? Would you have wanted your ashes spread in Cuba or would you have preferred to be buried on American soil? Do you think Marisol picked the best place to spread Elisa’s ashes? Where else would you have considered scattering them? Have you scattered the ashes of a loved one? What was the experience like?
What initially attracts Elisa to Pablo? Do you believe they would have been able to overcome the differences between them if they weren’t caught in the midst of the Cuban Revolution? Or was their love fueled by the urgency of the times?
Elisa chooses to save her letters from Pablo and her memories of their romance by burying them in a box in the backyard. If you had a box in which to bury your most precious possessions, what would you choose to keep safe?