Boxing for Cuba by Guillermo Vincente Vidal

When I recently started carp(e) libris, I had a vision. I wanted to bring books to readers, unique pieces of literature hunted like gold from small presses who publish works as labors of love. I have found one of those books. Boxing for Cuba by Guillermo Vincente Vidal is exactly the kind of book I wanted to share when I began this blog. It's written courageously, from the heart, and in such an honest, strong style that I won't soon forget it.

Boxing for Cuba, published by Ghost Road Press, is the memoir of a man who left Cuba as a boy with Operation Peter Pan in 1961. Operation Peter Pan carried more than 14,000 Cuban children between the ages of 6 and 16 to America to save them from Fidel's regime. Unfortunately, with too few homes to accept all these children until their parents could hopefully someday join them, many, like Guillermo and his two brothers, ended up in orphanages. Through the pain and struggle of feeling abandoned when his parents sent him and his brothers away, to the reunion of his family only to find his mother and father fight just as viciously as before, Boxing for Cuba brings you an amazing memoir you won't be able to put down. The journey starts and ends with Cuba, taking you from the tropical home of Vidal and his family, to the U.S. where he grew to adulthood in Colorado, and finally circles back to an emotional visit to his homeland. It's a story of family history and of learning to be proud of who you are and where you come from. There's so much to be gleaned from this book, and anyone who reads it is sure to put it down feeling they've grown from it.

If ever a book gives the perfect example of why I adore the memoir, this is it.

The Silence of Parents by Susan Simpson Geroe

The Silence of Parents is the story of what happens when families keep secrets, in particular those of the holocaust. Ilona, the only child of holocaust survivors, struggles to grow up as part of the second generation, or "Second Gen". She finds her whole life shifted when her father makes a secret decision based on fears her parents hold but won't explain to her. In their love for her and an attempt to protect her from the evil they know exists in the world, their interference drastically changes the path of her life.

Published by Fithian Press, The Silence of Parents covers a side of the holocaust you rarely hear about. What happens to the children of holocaust survivors? How did they grow up in the hideous shadow of the past? What are their lives like as adults? Geroe's story tells it with an intricate plot that will pull you into the lives of Ilona's family and the love of her life, with whom she has been forced to separate.

I asked Susan Simpson Geroe a few questions about her book. Here is what she had to say:

carp(e) libris: You're a Second Gen just like your main character Ilona. How much of this book would you say is autobiographical?

Susan: Indeed, I am a Second Gen just like the main character in the book. Although not an autobiography, the way Ilona reacts to the world around her mirrors mine at various times in my life. The parts of the book that relate to living in post war Romania and the immigration process in the mid 1960s reflect reality. The love story and the characters are fiction, created to provide the backbone to the way I, as a Second Gen, feel about the world around me.

cl: One portion of the book shows interviews with some Second Gens who share their stories. Were these from real interviews?

Susan: The interviews were not conducted with separate individuals, although I've used some information that friends, or cousins shared with me. Again, the interviews provided means to express how I, as an adult today, came to terms with my feelings as a child, a teenager, a wife and mother while reflecting upon and accepting my life as a child of Holocaust survivors.

cl: If someone is a Second Gen, how would you suggest they find a support group?

Susan: In our days, I think the easiest way to find a support group for Second Gens is to search the Internet with key words such as Holocaust Survivors, Second Generation Survivors, or inquire at local synagogues, or Jewish institutions.

Thanks so much to Susan and Fithian Press! For more information, visit Fithian Press's website.

Delta Pearls by Judith Bader Jones - Review and Giveaway

One of the most interesting things about a collection of short stories by the same author is following the progression of skill and tone. Since most of these collections are written over a greater period of time, I often find myself reading a short story and wondering what was happening in the author's life to inspire a plot, a character, a voice. This is certainly the case in Delta Pearls, a book by Judith Bader Jones, published by Sweetgum Press.

Winner of the 2007 William Rockhill Nelson Award in fiction, Delta Pearls is a book of shorts set in the Missouri Delta. The stories are written in a variety of time periods, and every one shares the spirit of the South. If Hallmark commercials get you teary, then several of these tales will have you reaching for the box of tissues also. Most of the stories have a positive heartwarming feel, but my favorites were more bittersweet. In fact, I daresay my favorites were most likely those which were gleaned from the author's personal experience; there were several that stood out above and beyond the others, with extra heart and soul woven in.

My favorite story of all? A Family Gathering. If Bader Jones chooses to write a full novel, she could expand on the characters in this book and easily keep the readers' attention.

The great news is I have an extra copy here to give away! If you're subscribed to carp(e) libris, you're already entered to win. If you haven't yet subscribed, please do so in the bar on the left for your chance at a copy of Delta Pearls. As long as you're subscribed, you're automatically entered into all my book giveaways. For a second entry, please leave me a comment at this post telling me what intrigues you about Delta Pearls. If you post a link to this drawing on your blog, I'll even throw in a third entry! Just be sure to let me know in the comments, or email me at themommyspot(at)gmail(dot)com. A winner will be chosen Monday, January 7th, 12:00 noon EST. I'll notify the winner by email, so please make sure themommyspot(at)gmail(dot)com is in your address book.