Issue Four - Family

This month we’re chatting about a book from debut author Christina Diaz Gonzalez. The Red Umbrella is a powerful novel about a family that must make the heartbreaking choice to send their kids to the United States after Fidel Castro slowly, yet harshly, takes over Cuba. Operation Pedro Pan allowed over 14,000 Cuban children to come to the United States. The Red Umbrella tells the story of Lucia, a fourteen year old girl, who experiences changes in her town in 1960. Our hearts break along with her’s as every part of her life shifts until finally her family is  ripped apart when her parents make the decisions to send her and younger brother Frankie to America where they know not a soul. To say anything else would spoil this simply amazing and beautifully written story. A MUST READ!

Kerry: Whadya' think, girls?
Jill: I LOVED it! so emotional, in all the right places
michelle: I loved this book!
Kerry: and powerful!
michelle: for so many reasons. I love historical fiction!
Kerry: it's one that's sure to be around for years and years
Kerry: I do too, Michelle
Jill: definitely, made you think about so many things differently
michelle: i think this story is so, so important here in south Florida
Jill: actually, I don't always love historical fiction, but this one was done so well.
Kerry: I think it's important everywhere
Jill: yeah, but it is a good part of South Florida history
Jill: one that maybe is often forgotten?
michelle: yes, Kerry, but here it's people's personal family story
Kerry: to see how the revolution unfolded...how people in Cuba slowly bought into Castro because it was all so unassuming at first
michelle: So many of my closest friends have family from Cuba....it's a much closer history than most
Kerry: I meant more from a learning perspective
michelle: yes....you mean for others about the revolution?
Kerry: the book is important for kids to learn about how history happens...in hopes that we don't make the same mistakes over and over again or to see what worked and was good
Jill: oh, I see. well, being new to SOFLA, the personal side of this was new for me. Of course, I knew the historical/political side of things, but this gave it a much more personal story to it, made it so much more real
michelle: one thing that I thought was interesting...the term gusanos, worms
Kerry: I meant to look that up...no clue what it was...worms...interesting!
michelle: the kids all picked up on that and started using it in all kinds of situations
michelle: I wondered if that was a 'revolution' term or just a common dis
Jill: it sounded like more of a common dis to me
Kerry: I actually thought it meant something worse than worms
Jill: but maybe it was like "traitor"
Jill: like, literally translated to worms, but meaning more
michelle: the soldiers used it first...it seemed like it meant low life
Kerry: speaking of soldiers, life seemed awful for Lucia in Cuba once they arrived in her town
michelle: definitely
michelle: big changes, huh?
Kerry: totally
Jill: very hard for her family, because they didn't like what they saw
Kerry: the scene with the doctor is heartbreaking
michelle: church closings, school closings, arm twisting to get kids "involved", arrests, shut down newspaper
Jill: yeah, Kerry. that broke my heart, too.
michelle: the pharmacist -- Doc Machado?
Kerry: yeah, there were a few scenes like that...ones that tore at my heart
michelle: the airport!!!!
Kerry: like Mama on the roof at the airport when Lucia and Frankie leave
michelle: with the umbrella!!!!!
Kerry: Jinx, M
michelle: omg!
Jill: OMG, that scene is beautiful!
Jill: you know what I found interesting, though? that they let kids out at all during that time
Jill: you would have thought they would have let NO ONE out
Kerry: You're right, Jill. I wouldn't let mine out, but they had to keep up the "appearances"
michelle: I think the kids were out because if you were on the side of Castro...no biggie
michelle: and if you weren't on his side...you didn't want to call attention to yourself
Kerry: right
Jill: no, I mean, all the kids that left were against Castro
Jill: so, you would have thought that the gov't would have held them there, make them reform
michelle: oh...you mean that Castro let them out of the country
Jill: yes
michelle: well it was a punishment for their parents, right?
Kerry: gotcha. i wondered that too
Jill: because, like in other countries with dictatorship governments, you can't leave. no one can
Kerry: Don'tcha love a book that makes you want to run to the computer and do some research?
Jill: yeah, I did for this one, for sure!
Kerry: I want to know why he let them go
michelle: i don't know this, but i don't think his grip was quite as firm at that point
Jill: right
Kerry: prolly not
michelle: and it was a way to punish the families who weren’t following. in later years, people came on boats, rafts with nothing
Kerry: what I loved was the optimism in every single one of those kids who left
michelle: ?
Jill: yeah, that was amazing.
Kerry: each of them thought it was only a matter of "when" not "if" they got back to Cuba
michelle: that they all thought they were going back?
Jill: they truly believed that things would get better in Cuba
michelle: exactly!
Kerry: and Lucia and Frankie were brave to live apart from their parents for so long
michelle: how hard !
Kerry: each of them thought it was their job to take care of the other
Jill: yeah, I would have LOST IT. And they accepted the Baxters pretty quick, too
michelle: to leave your parents and have to learn a new language on top of that
michelle: really tough
Jill: It's also amazing that families from all over the country took the kids in
Jill: without payment
Kerry: I know, Jill
Kerry: but, I would have too, for sure
michelle: it was the right thing to do
Jill: yes, definitely. But in reality, lots of people wouldn't want to get involved. I would have my reservations about getting involved
michelle: we have that today with the situation in Haiti
Kerry: i know
Jill: yes, but the situation in Haiti isn't political, if you're talking about the earthquake
michelle: one thing i really liked about the story
michelle: lucia is a regular teen girl...and the one thing she wants is independence from her parents
Kerry: despite missing her parents and being away from them, she still wants to cut her hair and wear make-up even though Mama wouldn’t approve.
michelle: not the independence she expected, tho’!
Kerry: Super cute that Lucia kept thinking Grand Island, Nebraska would be a real island
michelle: very cute!!!
Jill: yeah, I felt sad for her because I thought she would HATE it there!
Kerry: she says, "Well, an island is still an island."
Kerry: she was totally wrong, poor girl
michelle: some funny heartwarming scenes in Nebraska!
Kerry: absolutely
Jill: the Baxters truly were amazing people
Kerry: wasn't sure what to make of Mr. Baxter at first
michelle: like when Mrs. Baxter cooks Christmas Eve dinner
Jill: I was a bit worried...
Jill: yeah! that was so cute! so sweet!
michelle: mmmm...i grew up in the mid-west...so he just seemed like a farmer to me
Kerry: but he never said a word to them for so long
Jill: oh, I've never really met any farmers in real life. but I'm glad I liked him in the end
Kerry: loved Christmas Eve dinner!
michelle: really stoic...midwesterners
Jill: wasn't it so sad, about Ivette though?
Kerry: yeah. and the fact that she was originally so into clothes and stuff really drove home the influence of the revolution
Jill: that's true, Kerry. I never really thought of it like that before
Kerry: her character was pivotal to this book, kudos to author Christina for that
michelle: kudos to the author on many, many things!
Jill: yes, I agree!
Kerry: for sure!
Kerry: especially the final scene...
Jill: yeah! OMG. I was in hysterics.
michelle: very good....lots of crying!
Kerry: I remember crying the very first time Christina read it in our crit group
michelle: would you ever send your children away?
Kerry: and I cried again when I read it
Jill: No, I wouldn't have
Kerry: Yes, if I had to
Kerry: but it was such a gamble
Jill: exactly
michelle: if it meant a better life for them
Jill: I don't think anyone KNEW that...but they suspected
Jill: bad things could have happened to them in Miami, or in Nebraska...who knew?
Kerry: the parents knew things were never going back to "before", so yes, I'd send mine
Kerry: they trusted the Catholic faith...to protect their kids
Jill: yes, faith is important in this story, for sure
Kerry: I would have trusted them over Castro any day
michelle: it was like there was a war within Cuba -- class warfare
Jill: class?
michelle: economic class
Jill: hmmm....I don't know if it was economically divided so much...maybe though
Kerry: I do hope readers will know that though Castro began the revolution as a socialist movement, it quickly turned into one of communism. there’s a clear distinction between the two, in theory
michelle: some leaders in history have used the term “socialism” to attempt to gain absolute power for themselves. they’re the worst kind of dictators like Castro, Chavez, the Soviet regime, and Hitler
Kerry: there's a difference from what they claimed to be and how they ran things
Kerry: That's why history is sooooooo important
Jill: yes, Kerry, to learn that there is a very clear distinction between the two
Kerry: kids need to see this, understand it, learn from it
Jill: I'm glad both Lucia and Frankie found friends they fit in with, and trusted in Nebraska
Jill: so, do you think that in real life, many of the families who ended up leaving, stayed where their children had been placed, or moved back to Miami to be with other Cubans?
Kerry: great question and one I was wondering too…have to add it to my list of things to research because of the book. lol
michelle: I loved how Lucia found the heron in Nebraska...just like the one that took off from the beach in the opening scene in Cuba
Jill: yeah, that was gorgeous Michelle
Kerry: beautiful
Jill: the thing about the heron, though. it made the world seem smaller for Lucia, don't you think? like she wasn't that far from Cuba after all
Kerry: I think there's irony in that very statement Jill
Kerry: how the world is so big and yet so small all at once
michelle: Yes Jill -- I loved that!
Jill: yes. I do, too.
Jill: such a memorable point in the book for me.
Kerry: how even though she was thousands of miles from Cuba and things were different, people were still people
Kerry: kids were still kids
Jill: exactly!
michelle: right....family is still family
Kerry: EXACTLY, Michelle
Kerry: Okay, girls, till next time...
Jill: bye!
Kerry: adios
michelle: bye

If you’d like to see more about The Red Umbrella check out the book trailer on our YouTube channel!