The Handsomest Man in Cuba: An Escapade

The Handsomest Man in Cuba: An Escapade
by Lynette Chiang

The Handsomest Man in Cuba: An Escapade
List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $5.05
You Save: $9.90 (66%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Lynette Chiang
Edition: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2007-04-01
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 280
Publisher: Globe Pequot

Book Reviews of The Handsomest Man in Cuba: An Escapade

Book Review: Not your typical tourist ...
Summary: 5 Stars

It would take years for most of us to cumulatively experience the intensity of Lynette Chaing's three-month folding-bicycle journey through Cuba. That's not because she audaciously overcomes major obstacles or fortuitously finds the love of her life. She does not discover a lost tribe or a cure for a disease. No, the author just lives those three months day to day, albeit while traveling on two wheels in an unfamiliar land with a foreign tongue and less than plentiful food.

So what is it that sets "The Handsomest Man in Cuba" apart from other travelogues and adventure tales? Chaing demonstrates her courage not by conquering Cuba, but by immersing herself in its uncommon culture and then exposing her own reactions and behavior. The pictures she paints are not always pretty - sometimes even those of herself - but she never flinches from honesty. She doesn't brag, but never ceases to impress. She sometimes stumbles, but always makes the best of each situation.

"The Handsomest Man in Cuba" tells us about much more than a visit to a tropical island nation. Chaing's self-effacing, often humorous book is about cross-cultural sensitivity, self-reliance and resourcefulness, all qualities essential to travelers trying to shuck a typical tourist mentality.

Before I fold up my bike and head for ... anywhere ... I might check out a guidebook, but the book I'll take with me will be Chaing's.

NB: Anyone as observant, candid and creative as Lynette Chaing must have more than one book in her quiver. I know I can't be the only person waiting for her next one.

Summary of The Handsomest Man in Cuba: An Escapade

An engaging, witty account of the people, customs, food, and culture of Cuba framed by a fascinating approach to travel. With only a folding bicycle and a towable suitcase, Australian Lynette Chiang spent three months touring Cuba, eshewing tourist hotels and typical iteneraries in favor of an unpredictable day-to-day existence among ordinary citizens. She discovered a people who, despite great privation, are warm, generous?and generally happy. Her narrative covers equally well the challenges of travel on two wheels and the surprises of life in the land of Fidel.
Read more about Lynette at http://www.galfromdownunder.com/cuba/

Caribbean & West Indies Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Caribbean & West Indies Books
Trinidad Carnival: The Cultural Politics of a Transnational Festival ImageTrinidad Carnival: The Cultural Politics of a Transnational Festival
Indiana University Press; Published: 2007-03-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.24
Price in other shops: $21.95
Black Power in Bermuda: The Struggle for Decolonization (Contemporary Black History) ImageBlack Power in Bermuda: The Struggle for Decolonization (Contemporary Black History)
by Quito Swan
Palgrave Macmillan; Published: 2009-12-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $83.90
Price in other shops: $89.00
The Caribbean: A History of the Region and Its Peoples ImageThe Caribbean: A History of the Region and Its Peoples
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 2011-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $29.76
Price in other shops: $35.00
Family Portrait with Fidel ImageFamily Portrait with Fidel
by Carlos Franqui
Jonathan Cape; Published: 1984-09; Paperback; Book
Development of Creole Society in Jamaica, 1770-1820 ImageDevelopment of Creole Society in Jamaica, 1770-1820
by Edward Brathwaite
Oxford University Press; Published: 1971-10-28; Hardcover; Book
Negro with a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey ImageNegro with a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey
by Colin Grant
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2010-03-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.19
Price in other shops: $17.95
The Caribbean: The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism (Latin American Histories Series) ImageThe Caribbean: The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism (Latin American Histories Series)
by Franklin W. Knight
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1990-10-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops: $39.95
The Rucksack War: U.S. Army Operational Logistics in Grenada, 1983 (Paperback) ImageThe Rucksack War: U.S. Army Operational Logistics in Grenada, 1983 (Paperback)
by Edgar F. Raines Jr., Center of Military History
U. S. Army Center of Military History; Published: 2010-12-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $39.00
Price in other shops: $62.00
The Grenada Documents: Window on Totalitarianism (Special Report (Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis)) ImageThe Grenada Documents: Window on Totalitarianism (Special Report (Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis))
by Nicholas Dujmovic
Pergamon Pr; Published: 1988-05; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops: $9.95
Timelinks, Grade 6, Leveled Reader, On Level, The Haitian Revolution (Set of 6) (Timelinks Leveled Reader Library) ImageTimelinks, Grade 6, Leveled Reader, On Level, The Haitian Revolution (Set of 6) (Timelinks Leveled Reader Library)
by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
Macmillan/McGraw-Hill; Published: 2008-10-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.59
Price in other shops: $23.44
Similar Books and other products
Havana: Autobiography of a City ImageHavana: Autobiography of a City
by Alfredo Jose Estrada
Palgrave Macmillan; Published: 2007-03-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.41
Price in other shops: $24.95
This Is Cuba: An Outlaw Culture Survives ImageThis Is Cuba: An Outlaw Culture Survives
by Ben Corbett
Basic Books; Published: 2004-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.12
Price in other shops: $18.00
Bicycling Cuba: Fifty Days of Detailed Rides from Havana to Pinar Del Rio and the Oriente ImageBicycling Cuba: Fifty Days of Detailed Rides from Havana to Pinar Del Rio and the Oriente
by Wally Smith, Barbara Smith
Countryman Press; Published: 2002-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.72
Price in other shops: $19.95