Cuba: My Revolution - Hardcover

Inverna Lockpez

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 140122217X ISBN 13: 9781401222178

Publisher: Vertigo, 2010

Synopsis

Seventeen-year-old Sonia, a medical student with dreams of becoming a modernist painter, is caught up in Fidel Castro’s revolution from the moment it captures Havana on New Year’s Eve 1958. While her eccentric mother hatches an increasingly desperate series of plans to flee Cuba, Sonia joins the militia and volunteers as a medic at the Bay of Pigs — where she encounters her mortally wounded high school sweetheart as an enemy fighter, then is arrested and tortured for treating another CIA-trained brigadier.  Scarred, yet clinging to her revolutionary ideals, she seeks fulfillment in an artists’ collective, only to be further disillusioned by increasing repression under Castro. Finally, she flees to America where she has been a painter and influential arts activist.

About this title

About the Author

Inverna Lockpez is a Havana-born artist and curator who left Cuba in the late 1960s. Upon settling in the U.S., she became involved in political art movements including the pioneering feminist exhibition x12 and the anti-Vietnam War “People’s Flag Show.” Her painting and sculpture has exhibited in over 80 venues, including the winning design of a major public art competition in New York City. Under her directorship, the INTAR Gallery was cited as one of the best 15 galleries for seven years running by Art in America. A two-time recipient of grants from The National Endowment for the Arts, Lockpez lives in New York and Florida.


Dean Haspiel is the creator of the Eisner Award-nominated Billy Dogma and the webcomics collective ACT-I-VATE. He has drawn comics for The New York Times, DC/Vertigo, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse, Scholastic and Toon Books among others. He is best known for his collaborations with Harvey Pekar on THE QUITTER and with Jonathan Ames on THE ALCOHOLIC and the HBO series Bored to Death. He lives in Brooklyn.

Reviews

Gr 10 Up–This memoir is an excellent example of the graphic novel's ability to make pain visible. Opening panels dated December 31, 1958, introduce Sonya, fashionably dressed in vibrant red, looking forward to a new year with Fidel Castro's overthrow of the Batista regime and a new hope for Cuba. "I feel a new beginning has come for my country. Finally the justice and equality we have yearned for is about to happen." Sonya gets caught up with the fervor of this movement and renounces her plans to study art. Instead she joins the military and commences medical studies in her zeal to bring positive change to her beloved country. However, life in Cuba becomes progressively worse. This is signaled visually by the change to a black-and-white palette. She is imprisoned and tortured by her own country. Her mother, stepfather, and infant sister are finally able to leave, but Sonya stubbornly refuses to go, clinging to her dreams and ideals. The final panel reveals her tear-stained face, etched with the years of pain and horror as she finally leaves Cuba. "I don't know right from wrong anymore. What happened to the principles we believed in five years ago? I'm always afraid, all the time. All the time." The pain is both visually and verbally palpable. Due to graphic depictions of violence and nudity this searing account is most appropriate for mature readers.Barbara M. Moon, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

This dramatic account of the experiences of a young woman named Sonya during the Cuban revolution is based on the experiences of Lockpez. The narrative traces Sonya as she transforms from an idealist revolutionary studying to be a surgeon to a dissident artist who realizes she must flee her beloved but troubled country. Along the way, she witnesses carnage, is imprisoned and tortured, and is separated from her family. In the midst of the chaos, she also finds love. Haspiel, who has known Lockpez for over 20 years, provides striking illustrations that chart Sonya's shifting emotions and alliances; particularly strong are the surrealist depictions of her dreams and her ordeal in prison. Painter José Villarubia adds tones and shades of red that further intensify the story. At times Lockpez relies too heavily on clunky exposition explaining the history of Cuba and Castro, although some readers may find the context helpful. It is impossible to deny the power of Lockpez's dramatic coming-of-age story, which make the human cost of the revolution all too clear. (Sept.) (c)
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This graphic-novel memoir depicts one young woman’s changing political views as a middle-class Cuban artist who came of age during Castro’s revolution. Sonya experiences the excitement of Batista’s overthrow, shortages in the medical clinic where she works, the early thrill and later torture of army life, her own willingness to create dissident art, and a couple of well-depicted affairs of the heart. Concise text and stylish art combine to make the whole both accessible and moving: Sonya, her parents and friends, her dying lover, and her new husband—as well as protesters, Castro’s commanders, and astute neighbors—are all well realized in both image and action and come to life on pages that flow with carefully and creatively designed panels. This is sound political fiction, with a definite point of view but without an axe to grind. Teens interested in the Cuban revolution will also find the book to be essential and accessible reading about life during that time. --Francisca Goldsmith

Edition details

• Publisher: Vertigo
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 140122217X
• ISBN 13: 9781401222178
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Dean Haspiel
• Number of pages: 144