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Book Reviews of Cuba Libre

Cuba Libre
Cuba Libre
Author: Elmore Leonard
ISBN-13: 9780440225591
ISBN-10: 0440225590
Publication Date: 1/12/1999
Pages: 416
Rating:
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 37

3.5 stars, based on 37 ratings
Publisher: Dell
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

5 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed Cuba Libre on
Most interesting aspect was the picture of Cuba that emerges.
reviewed Cuba Libre on + 3 more book reviews
Three stars
reviewed Cuba Libre on
I've enjoyed Elmore Leonard's other books, but this "western" did not interest me that much. Still had some good dialogue, but the setting in 1898 Cuba was just not that interesting.
reviewed Cuba Libre on + 28 more book reviews
Cuba Libre finds Leonard reaching for a broader audience than those which appreciated either his crime novels or the westerns he once wrote, which he accomplishes by combining elements of both. Ben Tyler is a cowboy who robs banks, but only those that contain money of people who owe but won't pay him--he only takes what they owe. Charlie Burke is a businessman who buys horses cheap in the west, then sells them to exporters, while heroine Amelia Brown is the mistress of one of the truly bad men in the novel and struggles with dilemmas similar to those endured by other cast members
Munro avatar reviewed Cuba Libre on + 95 more book reviews
Amazon.com
Elmore Leonard has a long track record of creating memorable characters--enough to bring life to many movies, the two most notable being Get Shorty and Jackie Brown(based on Leonard's Rum Punch). Both are pretty good movies, but the novels are much better. Today Leonard writes mostly "crime" novels, labeled as such because his characters struggle to be good in a world so full of temptation that some kind of crime is always involved.
Cuba Libre finds Leonard reaching for a broader audience than those which appreciated either his crime novels or the westerns he once wrote, which he accomplishes by combining elements of both. Ben Tyler is a cowboy who robs banks, but only those that contain money of people who owe but won't pay him--he only takes what they owe. Charlie Burke is a businessman who buys horses cheap in the west, then sells them to exporters, while heroine Amelia Brown is the mistress of one of the truly bad men in the novel and struggles with dilemmas similar to those endured by other cast members.

Begining around the time that the Maine is sunk in Havana Harbor and ending when Teddy and others storm San Juan Hill, the story is at its best when its colorful characters are turned loose in one of the novel's colorful settings. If you like Leonard, you'll love Cuba Libre, and if--for some reason--you haven't yet discovered the author, prepare for a real treat.