Published By: Envelope Books
Pages: 314
Released On: 01/11/2023
Chris Hilton went to Havana in the early 2000s to escape the drudgery of everyday life in England―and, boy, did he escape it. Suddenly he found himself mixed up with a variety of gangland chancers, some Cuban, one British, all living on the edge of legality.
There was always a risk of their moneymaking schemes getting rumbled by the police but that’s what made it so compelling: the chance, the risk. Office life this wasn’t. And then there was Jamilia―a refugee from rural poverty, who’d come to the big city as a teenager, and been rescued from the streets by an unnerving family of small-time criminals.
“A little crazy is good,” Jamilia tells Chris― and a little crazy they become, living hard, loving hard and downing a deal of Cuban rum.
*****
Thanks to Envelope Books for the gifted copy of this book in return for an honest review.
I love a memoir, especially a travel one, but I’ve never read anything set in Cuba so this was eye-opening and very interesting. How much of this is actually true and how much has been sensationalised for the book, who knows, but it was entertaining, nonetheless.
Chris hasn’t hidden the less salubrious aspects of his time in Cuba, it’s all there in black and white and it’s not always that pleasant to read about. Some may feel quite uncomfortable with it as he discusses his sex life, his shady dealings and whatnot, but I think it makes it a stronger read when you can tell an author hasn’t hidden anything.
Some non-fiction books, memoirs, and travelogues can be quite dry and a bit boring, a bit like “we went here and then we went there, and whilst we were there we did this, and then we did that, and then we flew here” – a bit like join the dot, or colour by numbers. But Chris has given us his day-to-day activities and infused them with his heart and that makes for a more personal piece of writing and gets the reader more invested.
There are other – I want to say characters, even though it’s a non-fiction book but go with it – characters that work well with Chris, but he has infused every single line with his personality and so I was less interested in the lives of everyone else.
This is the longest Envelope Book I own but it was one of the quickest to read as it was so intense and absorbing that I just kept coming back to it. It’s a non-fiction, travel-based memoir, but it often reads like a novel with all its going-ons and unpredictability.
I originally thought this was Chris’ only book but having done some research I can see he has written others which I hope are as good as this. I would highly recommend it, even to those who usually steer clear of this genre, I think it is still exciting enough to enjoy.
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