Where Are They Going?
Stories and Backstories of Five Cubans
- Fiction
- Publisher: Resource Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2023
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Publisher's Description
Where Are They Going narrates the comings and goings of five Cubans who represent some of the great cultural diversity making up cubania (the essence of being Cuban), with ancestral ties to five different parts of the world. It is an alternative account to the stereotypical storyline about Cuba we often hear in the US media, that of refugees fleeing a dictatorship in search of a promised land. The largely untold story is that of people who find promise in their own patria, their homeland, despite the challenging circumstances they find there. Here you will find five Cubans who do not appear to feel "trapped" in tyranny; each of them has traveled the world and each made the decision to go back to their Cuban homes. The book not only tells their stories, but also narrates the imagined backstories of those ancestors who left their own homelands to come and contribute to the rich culture and resilient spirit that defines what it means to be Cuban. Listen to their stories and you might find yourself pulled away from your own patria, attracted to a land and a life that could prove to be well worth whatever challenges it poses.
Endorsements (4)
“Stan Dotson’s writing embodies compassion for the needs of others, awe at the beauty of existence, and the capacity to take suffering seriously without falling into despair. This book walks with a handful of people on paths many of us have never seen, beginning eighty thousand years ago and arriving in the present moment. I’m so grateful Where Are They Going? is here. Stan is not only a trustworthy guide, but a brilliant writer who is touched by that rare thing: how to take life seriously and how to show us the way.”
“Stan Dotson uses the word ‘magic’ more than once in Where Are They Going? to describe phenomenal encounters and occurrences. The term can be applied to the creative work he has accomplished in this beautiful book. With ancestral history as warp and current Cuban reality as weft, he has woven a unique and compelling lyrical tapestry. Dotson writes of being ‘captivated’ by Cuba’s people and culture, and through his eyes and heart, we too are drawn into the magic.”
“Stan Dotson, thank you for sharing your insight into the cultural threads that make up the exquisite tapestry of the Cuban people—with particular attention given to those who have responded to the call to stay in the land they love! These stories, imaginatively interwoven with history, literature, music and spirituality, demonstrate what it truly means to be a friend of the Cuban people. Thank you for these deeper glimpses into the soul of Cuba!”
“To say that Stan Dotson’s book provides compelling bio sketches of four current, unsung Cuban citizens is like saying Hemingway wrote about whales and bells and loved Cuban rum. I don’t know what to call this genre, but it includes epochal allegory, the sweep of a towering historical novel, combined with the illumination from the best of Terry Gross’ interviews. Dotson offers resplendent stories, served up with the flair of a virtuoso storyteller.”
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