OneMetal.com book REVIEW:
Cuba: My Revolution

Lightly treading in the footsteps of Persepolis, a French woman’s portrayal of life growing up in Iran, comes Cuba: My Revolution. Born in Havana, novice author Inverna Lockpez spent her most influential years immersed in her country’s upheaval. In her recently published Vertigo book, Lockpez presents her tell-all through the fictional character Sonya, a smart-minded and impressionable young woman and proponent of Fidel Castro’s 1960s rise to power.

Despite sharing common ground with predecessor Persepolis, My Revolution singularly stands as a frank and unforgiving confession to not only Lockpez’s readers, but herself, as well. Trusting that Fidel will liberate her fellow countrymen, Sonya watches in disbelief as violence and oppression replace hopes of peace and innovation. Even more suffocating, as a soldier and artist, she learns firsthand the kind of ideology Castro has implanted in Cuba’s fertile soil. Her loyalty disregarded, her creativity stifled, Sonya desperately clings to murdered ideals as the ground gives way beneath her and her loved ones disband from Cuba one by one.

Sonya might struggle to preserve her own independence as Cuba locks into stagnancy, but My Revolution is a flourish of personal and artist expression. Eisner-nominated artists Dean Haspiel and José Villarrubia, the latter who produces a beautiful red-and-black color palette, evoke both a surrealism as grandeur as propaganda and a realism as bleak as war, and the combination stirs the revolutionist within us all.

Cuba: My Revolution shocks as often as it romances, a love story as much as one of individuality, and while Lockpez ends her tale on a turning point, we breathe with her a sigh of relief, the optimism of new beginnings taking hold.

Bottom Line

Powerful and riveting, Cuba: My Revolution grabs readers with its unrelenting honesty and expressionistic visuals, both working to build a stunning declaration.