I read CityWalker from this author and I shared in my review of
I read CityWalker from this author and I shared in my review of that book of poetry, that I was left wanting more, wondering why, seeking answers to so many questions that arose while reading prose that brought out so many complex emotions within myself. Apologia is a deviation from that prose, a memoir that answered just as many questions I had and still left so many more unanswered. We get snippets of exchanges with the author's sister, mother, grandmother and through the telling of childhood memories, a fragmented picture of a kaleidoscope of bitterness, love, religion, politics and a tinge of regret reaches out via the memories of a special child and translated by the man he has now become. There is so much more I want to know and so many gaps that left me to imagine how much suffering this child endured and how, as a man today, he can conjure up the sweetest of emotions and imagery by simply using his senses. What trials and tribulations has he gone through that he only hints at, and how lucky is he to have known such deep, pervasive, unconditional love from the women in his life. Each chapter could have been made into a book all its own and I hope the author continues to reveal little by little, the underlying stories of his life. It seems as though he is still uncovering who he is and how he feels and only as he heals and remembers, can we be allowed to partake of his life story. This is a story that makes the reader feel privileged to be the proverbial fly on the wall; we instinctively know we are observing what is still a life in the making and we are left wanting more.

Apologia is Highly Recommended. You must check out this insightful memoir about Orlando Ferrand and his native Cuba!
Unlike other memoirs I've read, Apologia: Cuban Childhood in My Backpack by Orlando Ferrand is both informational and poetical. The author takes us in a retrospective journey to the 1970's and 1980's Cuba, the Caribbean island nation of his childhood and teenage years, while exposing with clarity and eloquence the contradictions of a social revolution turned dictatorship by his leader Fidel Castro.
Even though this is not a history book, I felt that I learned more about Cuba by reading Mr. Ferrand's story of his family than I ever did while reading dense and bias books about the Cuban revolution. What sets apart Orlando Ferrand's memoir from other books in this genre is the author's ability to intertwine the historical and the personal with a witty sense of originality. Small chapters make it an easy and very pleasant read; I read it in two hours. The characters-family members, teachers, friends-have been developed in an almost theatrical way, and the author gives them voices in the fashion of a written play. I learned some facts about controversial periods in the history of Cuba, and was delighted by the author's use of rich imagery that made me think of those magic Latin American novels the world so enjoyed in the 60's and 70's. Orlando Ferrand is not only a poet, but also a great narrator who turns non-fiction into an beautifully crafted story.

Awesome! You'll love it.
Finally, a memoir that by all intended purposes gave me much more than just an interesting insightful journey into a life that I can respect and admire which also afforded me the opportunity to connect to and reflect upon.
One of the things that I most find intriguing is when a writer is able to closely parallel, express and evoke feelings, emotions and experiences that mark the quintessential pivoting moments in your life. Orlando Ferrand has captured the sometimes forgotten innocence of childhood which is, at times, meshed with all the nuances and complexities of adulthood, as well as the circumstances of nature and of the nurturing hands and souls that protect and guide us all.
There were moments like the subtle, yet impactful protective responses from the chapter "KINDERGARTEN, A TEACHER FROM HELL," in which the altogether negative social norms are corrected with simplified auto-mechanical innate responses that are satisfying yet consequential by the status quo.
The sincerity and candidness that expose the unfortunate and realistic circumstances of the post modernist era in relation to the divided political and religious perspectives, not to mention the radical ideology among family and country, to the realism of the Darwinist approach to survival at any cost was totally unimaginable and heartbreaking.
This memoir, filled with the fond memories of his childhood in Cuba, as well as his very early professional accomplishments has certainly shaped and transformed this writer into a formidable vessel of piercing anecdotes turned stories. The substantial wealth of untold historical events, the overall truth of the sentiment, and the communal perspective that Orlando Ferrand posses about his Cuba and it's radical unforgiving regime is compelling. The "Pearl of the Caribbean" gave birth to an unmistakable star of hope to tell his story and enrich our lives with beautiful vivid memories, resilient human nature, and absolute delightfulness. Wonderful read.

A childhood to remember can be transformed into a magical journey thanks to the word of his author
Apologia, Cuban Childhood in My Backpack. Orlando Ferrand. Publishamerica. U.S.A, July 2011.100 pages. Today, memoirs take a variety of approaches. Some explore miserable childhoods and find that others inquire into blessed tribulations, often filled with chaotic emotions and perplexity . Orlando Ferrand's memoirs belongs to this second semblance that supports a tragic-comic soap opera approach. The excited child was going to travel to his childhood island out there without leaving his island in NYC. The littler boy with feverish spirit for not wanting to miss any interesting scene, would fill thousand pages in his memoirs. Instead Ferrand has written a lively and impeccable one hundred pages book, framed into small chapters to make its reading convivial and fast. This book is arguably a tribute to the author's family, that converges on his privileged childhood years with his mom and the women in his family but also a theatre of memory. Being the author a man of theatre, he has found his own way of dramatizing his Memoirs exploring his " I do remember". Ferrand knows that Time is solely and ultimately memory. "Apologia, Cuban Childhood in My Backpack " is here to let us observe the beauty of those days. When we read it, it seems that we can hide under the table and watch, listen, smell, be part of the conversations of the family, part of those aloud dreams, dreams that sometimes were given up once said. Ferrand wrote the emotions out of his beloved mouths. He knows that putting their words on paper defines himself. A childhood to remember can be transformed into a magical journey thanks to the word of his author. He takes us through Sierra Maestra, Pico Turquino, Mariel, the bridge of massive Cuban exodus in the eighties; the carnival time of Santiago de Cuba, happening where Cuban identity breathes " The Chino-Cubano, the Afro- Cuban, the European, the all together. The all-in-one " These are among the restless, perhaps as yet incontestable identity questions set in by Ferrand's entering memory lane. The artist declined to join the crowd, but looking to be a witness, he entered the picture of multiple islands, drawing from within and not from outside. Such perspective brings about a journey of people moving in the scenery before the eyes of the readers. The Prima Ballerina Absoluta Alicia Alonso, Heiner Muller's adventures in Havana and Orlando Ferrand's friendship with the German author, passed also along this Apologia. At one point Orunmìla, the Yoruba god of fortune-telling and prophesy summarizes what Ferrand captures when writing the memoir: " Doors will open and doors will close. And the time will come when he himself will make doors where there will be none - Yes, definitely. It is clear that so many islands can not find enough oxygen for their existence, that one day their people would remove the stonewall and go back to that other island in which, no matter where,we all dream to coexist. Therefore, this Apologia of Ferrand shows, that the fleeting of bodies and perishable objects can only be retained by the remembrances of a cultural sense of belonging. As a reader I felt like someone who leaves home to take one of those long trips measured in the time of vocation ; no schedules, no limits but the willingness of enjoying the anecdote per se. I just missed some pictures which could be added to the colourful framework in which Apologia took place.

I've spent all day reading over and over Orlando Ferrand's Apologia: Cuban Childhood in My Backpack. I did not want it to end, for I felt at times that I was looking at myself in the mirror of his words. The story of millions of us Cubans make interesting, passionate Best Sellers, however the key to attract readers is to give it that touch, that dose of magic entangled with your very own reality...as troubled, as sour as that might be; which is what Orlando has always done in everything he sets out to do...whether is poetry, or fiction ... or his take on the visual arts. It grabs you, and it does that on the first paragraph of this book. You are enthralled, captivated by this magician who writes with his guts ...

When I began reading, and came across this .... I've always, since I can recall as far as back, to when I was a three-year old, been attracted to opposites, to what is different, to art and thinking in nonlinear ways...When I read this over and over, I felt connected...I've always felt this incredible connection with Orlando's work. However, this is the story of a boy, in this case a Cuban boy, but it is the story of many boys and girls all over the Universe, and the dealings with the coming of age in a country where being different has a high price to pay. It is a beautifully told story, almost as if it were a movie being played in a small town rundown theater, as in Cinema Paradiso. The images come to me in sepia tones, but with such realism that when he mentions his Aunt Orquidea's meringues, or the bubbling lights on their imported from Chicago Christmas Tree, you can almost touch them with your fingertips. While on this rollercoaster you also get a glimpse of major events in Cuban history told with honesty; the honesty of this boy who craves knowledge at every turn.

This is the kind of memoir that you keep near you on your night table... as a guide, as a sort of self help book, and go back in time to reread, for it not only heals the writer, but it soothes the souls of us readers who find common ground in this heartfelt story Orlando gives us in Apologia: Cuban Childhood in My Backpack.

I have experienced as far back as I can remember that writing heals... Orlando is on a mission to heal his wounds, some might be too deep to close with this book... He will probably try many more times, and I sure hope he does, for his kind of writing can heal many boys and girls out there, including myself.

Inspirational, Heartfelt, and Informative

June 29, 2012

Format:Paperback

"Apologia, Cuban Childhood in My Backpack" by Orlando Ferrand, is a collection of stories reflecting on the author's first 20 years in Cuba.

There were times in reading this book that it seemed that the author was using a camera instead of a pen to take snapshots of his childhood memories in Cuba. Some memories burst into frame by frame, second by second account of familial love and conflicts, cultural pride, and the changing political climate in Cuba during the 60's. And other memories were more fragmented, especially those moments of reflection when he tries to make sense, as a 5 year-old child, of the upper political hand that was motivating his teacher to become a militant monster, and the same political hand that was trying to divide his family and control his own destiny.

In the chapter, KINDERGARTEN, THE TEACHER FROM HELL we are introduced to that very large oppressive presence. The description and tone of this monster is coming from a 5 year-old perspective. The realization that she represents oppression develops in time through reflection. It is a complex mix of memory and reflection. Most of the stories throughout this book are set up in this way. And although it is the mature Ferrand whose voice we hear through the eyes of younger self, one still can imagine a terrified Kindergartner whose childhood is about to be robbed prematurely by the presence of communists in his backyard, and the divisive political beliefs in his own family. Although Ferrand, the child, may not have the intellectual capacity to comprehend the intention of adults, he can feel it. The overbearing teacher reminded me of the giant-sized monster in "Where the Wild Things Are" in the famous book by Maurice Sendak. And like Max, the protagonist in the 1963 children's story, Ferrand stares his oppressor in the eye because he knows his own truth, possibly because of the strong support from a loving family, or his own incredible intellect. Ferrand is able to sense there is something off kilter in his environment and he begins, at an early age, possibly subconsciously, paving an escape route.

Although the mature Ferrand seems to be confident that he made the right choice in coming to America, this choice is without emotional setbacks. In the chapter, A CLOSET FULL OF MEMORIES, he is a young man who misses his mother and family. My heart hurt imagining those lonely days when Ferrand was trying to find his way on his own. But ironically, in reading this book, one gets the sense that this is Ferrand's destiny. He has always been an explorer of sorts. He isn't afraid of removing security blankets from his life and forging ahead. He knows eventually he must depend on himself. How difficult it must have been to come to New York City, in his Trying Twenties, and not have his mother or his other female confidantes by his side. One cannot help but feel his loneliness and pain.

There were several things I walked away with after reading "Apologia: Cuban Childhood in my Backpack", an education in Cuban history, which I knew very little about, and the appreciation of an artist who possesses enormous vision and courage. Ferrand's ability to unravel chaos and lies and see truth is strong, and he goes after that truth no matter the sacrifice.