Jubana!

April 18, 2005
Castro's regime began in 1959, and Anders's family fled a year later, arriving in Maryland when Anders was a toddler. At this memoir's heart is Anders's relationship with her mother, Mami, whom the author alternately worships and scorns (leading to decades of therapy for Anders as an adult). Mami prepared Anders early for the life she should have: that of pampered wife. Standing over her infant's crib, Mami murmured, " 'Tafetán color champán
.' " Anders writes, "It took about a year of hearing this bizarre mantra over and over before I was old enough to finally understand what... my mother was talking about: the color and fabric of my wedding dress." Mami is a complex woman who does puzzling things, like bringing four-year-old Anders to her job at a mental hospital every day because she doesn't believe in summer camp. But Anders doesn't sufficiently explain Mami's reasonings, and much of what she complains about is average adolescent angst. When Anders does find herself in serious situations, she resorts to humor, keeping the tone so light, readers are kept at a distance. If only this memoir had the frothy richness of the café con leches
Anders so loves. Agents, Jane Dystel and Miriam Goderich.

June 15, 2005
Journalist and first-time memoirist Anders tells the captivating story of her Jewish and Cuban heritage and her fruitless attempts at melting into the proverbial melting pot. She describes herself as a Jewish Cuban Princess (JCP) and a Jubana (Jewish Cuban woman) expected to inhabit the traditional female role espoused by her Mami. Anders and her family were forced out of Cuba in 1960 when she was only two years old. In Cuba, they were beautiful and affluent, but in Miami, where they settled, they were just beautiful. Their once-easy lifestyle was wrenched from them and replaced with all the fears that accompany a new beginning. Anders examines what it means to be different and how hard some people try to overcome obstacles from their past (something she has managed to do with humor and strength). Passionately written, this memoir lets readers in on some quirky moments in Anders's life, though her sometimes humorous idioms can be difficult to follow. Recommended for larger public libraries. -Susan McClellan, Avalon P.L., Pittsburgh

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2005
" Oy veh" and " ay caramba! "What an upbringing " Washington Post "writer Anders had! Writing in a unique voice that captures the distinctiveness of both her Jewish and Cuban heritages, Anders becomes a sort of Alice in Wonderland, leading readers through a looking-glass life, before and after her parents were forced from Cuba in the wake of Castro's revolution. Anders remembers a princess-perfect world in Havana, where her Jewish grandparents had immigrated in the 1920s and made their fortunes. Then, in a poignantly funny scene, the clan must leave with almost nothing. The guards even demand Anders surrender her red tricycle, but she fights them off with a signature willpower that becomes more evident as the story proceeds. Handled equally well are her Cuban Jewish, fish-out-of-water stories, culminating at her eastern private school, Sidwell Friends, or as she calls it, Frenzy. There's only one character more fascinating than Anders, and that's her gorgeous, redheaded, red-fingernailed, potty-mouthed ("Fohk!") Mami. And Mami's unquenchable charisma is the ongoing problem in the relationship between mother and daughter. Gigi is always playing catch-up with a mother who doesn't even know there's a competition on. Often laugh-out-loud funny, with lots of Spanglish dialogue and priceless cross-cultural moments, this is more than a read; it's an experience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)