Yoani Sanchez is a brave woman. She is a woman who believes in speaking her mind in any way that she can, to let the world outside know what things are really like in her home country of Cuba.

She has a blog that she updates when/if she can in all kinds of clever ways (including disguising herself so she can use internet cafes). This book is a collection of her blog posts and they weave themselves together to paint a picture of a country in serious trouble.

People hunting all over town for something like dish soap, others having to rely on the black market in order to get some of the few things that they need to make food. People who only are able to bathe once a week out of a bucket, since their home only gets water once a week.

The government tried to stop her not just through intimidation and the revoking of privileges, but they go so far as to kidnap her and beat her up before dumping her on the side of the road.

Things are hidden so well from the outside, I’m sure that we all have ideas as to what things are like there, but Sanchez finally sheds light on some of the really sad things that the Cuban government is doing to its people.

Sanchez is a revolutionary and this book is very interesting and heartbreaking to read.

*** 1/2 = glad I read it, I enjoyed it

Copy provided by NetGalley