Five Star Book!
Enchanted Air by Margarita Engle

This morning I gave myself permission to read...something that is hard with three kids, three jobs, a husband and a household to run.  As I sat in the living room, coffee in hand, I relished Engle's beautiful poetry that so powerfully weaves the two lives of the protagonist...one in California and the other in Cuba.  She finds herself torn between two cultures which only becomes worse as the Bay of Pigs crisis arrives.  Her mother's family, many of whom are still in Cuba, become something her family doesn't talk about anymore.  It is confusing and frustrating for her.




WAITING TO UNDERSTAND

At home, silence.
At school, chatter.

During visits to Dad's relatives,
long, complicated arguments
about Communism.
Capitalism.
War.
Peace.
Survival.

I escape to Aunt Marcella's
quiet den, where I read magazines
and adventure books,
instead of listening
to grown-up
confusion."  -p.142


A must read!