Autobiography of Fidel Castro

By Norberto Fuentes

Book Overview

An audacious biography of the ex-president of Cuba told in Castro's own outrageous, bombastic voice. Prize-winning author and journalist Norberto Fuentes was once a revolutionary: a writer with privileged access to Fidel Castro's inner circle during some the most challenging years of the revolution. But in the late 1990s, as the regime began sending its oldest comrades to the firing squad, he became A Man Who Knew Too Much. Escaping a death sentence and now living in exile, Fuentes has written a brilliant, satirical, and utterly captivating autobiography of the Cuban leader in Fidel's own arrogant and seductive language discussing everything from Castro's early sexual experiences in Biran to his true feelings about Che Guevara and his philosophy on murder, legacy, and state secrets. Critics have long admired Fuentes's writing; one U.S. article called him Norman Mailer's Cuban pen pal. Akin to Gertrude Stein's The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, or Edmund Morris's Dutch, this wickedly entertaining, true-to-life masterpiece is as imaginative and outsized as Castro himself.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393339033
• ISBN13: 9780393339031
• Release Date: December 2010
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 594 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Not an autobiography, but a salacious hit piece

Fuentes despite supposedly being a former "revolutionary" has seemingly no grasp of theory besides a amatuerish "more freedom good, less freedom bad" that take zero account of the role imperialism and US global hegemony has on the third-world. It's exactly the kind of vague politicing that appeals to American conservatives who want their baisis confirmed and American liberals who want an excuse not to think too deeply. This is not only not an autobiography, it's not even a work of any scholarly interest even from a critical perspective - it's a rag. A cheap newpaper tabloid stretched past the point of breaking, disguised as a novel. This is the kind of book your boomer dad buys and leaves on his coffee table so his friends think he reads more than Facebook posts for a living. The claims, as they are presented, are spurious at best, but that's to be expected. Not worth the paper it was printed on.

Great

Excellent book.Fuentes is a great author and shows why he is currently one of the Best Cuban writer alive today! The book is written by an insider,Fuentes, who knew Castro intimitely and who spent much time with him.His "Autobiografia de Fidel Castro ,la segunda parte" is even much better.