I originally picked up "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina Garcia for a class, so I was obligated to read it start to finish. Despite this, I found myself enjoying the prose and characters. This is definitely one of those books that even if the plot is slow-paced, and there's not a lot of action, that reading from start to finish is the best way to get the most out of it. I could even see a second reading of this book being beneficial to a full experience.

"Dreaming in Cuban" is written with careful attention to detail and beautiful sentence crafting from start to finish. Perhaps one of the books strongest points is how Garcia paints pictures with her words. The settings are vivid, the descriptions are unique, and the characters are full.

This book really feels like I was taken into another world in Cuba. I was fully immersed in the characters and their experiences. The timeline jumps around quite a bit, and Garcia switches between several characters to tell their stories but does so in a way that layers the information. Not everything is chronological, but we are given details and secrets about each character over a well-crafted structure. At the beginning, it may feel like the most interesting events are being withheld, but doing this allows us to change our perceptions as the events are revealed.

If you're expecting a lot of action, then you're going to be disappointed. This book is more focused on the characters, their psyche, and their relationships with each other and Cuba. The beginning feels slow at first due to this, but once I got used to the writing style and the pacing, I began to enjoy the characters more. The writing is both beautiful and easy to understand, which kept me turning the page until the very end.

Overall, I gave this book a 4/5 star rating on Goodreads. My rating may have been affected by the benefit of having classroom discussions based off the book, so for the full experience, read the book with a friend!