SOURCE: A review of Mea Cuba, in Los Angeles Times Book Review, November 27, 1994, p. 3.

In the following review, Eder cites weaknesses that blunt the impact of Mea Cuba, a book he calls "powerful at times."

For the first two years after Fidel Castro's triumphant entry into Havana, Cuba's artistic and literary life bubbled vigorously. It had not really been stagnant under Fulgencio Batista, who took no interest in what artists did unless they engaged in political resistance; nevertheless, the dictator's overthrow released an exuberant energy.

It was an energy of the left, of course, since that was where most writers, painters, musicians and filmmakers placed themselves anyway. It was also libertarian, ungovernable and unrestrained. Its voice was found most particularly in "Lunes de Revolucion," the weekly literary supplement of the newspaper Revolution, whose director, Carlos Franqui, embodied the violent idealism of the revolution's first years.

In its brief...