Based on family history, Aaron Hamburger imagines the journey of a pragmatic (and often exasperated) Jewish woman trying her best to get to the United States in Hotel Cuba. Pearl Kahn has always been the one who puts food on the table, keeps the house clean, and brings in money while her family members are, well, less than helpful. Rising anti-Semitism and poverty push Pearl to follow in the footsteps of older relatives and, with her lovelorn sister in tow, head for the New World. The journey is far from easy, not least because 1920s America is tightening restrictions on immigration (especially Jewish immigration) from Eastern Europe. Much of this novel is set during the long months Pearl spends in Havana, Cuba, the closest she and her sister could get to their target destination when they set out from a newly Soviet Russia.
While her sister Frieda frets about what her fiance might be up to in Detroit without her, Pearl does her best to keep the pair traveling in the right direction (towards America) and keep them fed. I felt for Pearl. It’s not that I have family members like Frieda (thank goodness), it’s that I know that my brain would be busily spinning as I juggled immigration regulations, earning money, finding lodgings, discerning who was trustworthy, and on and on the way that Pearl’s mind does. The months on the road (and the sea) must have been terribly anxious ones.
Pearl’s pragmatism is her best quality, even if everyone around her accuses her of worrying about the wrong things. When their way directly to the United States is barred, Pearl learns from other immigrants that Cuba is accepting Jews. They can wait there while they work out how to travel the last few thousand miles to New York and Detroit. The other option is to stay in Russia or Poland. Thinking that at least they’d be in the correct hemisphere, Pearl snags tickets on an ocean liner for herself and her sister. Once in Havana (I can only imagine the shocking heat and humidity for a pair of young women more used to Russia’s frigid climate), Pearl wrangles jobs working for a hat maker, who also agrees to board the pair. Even if she’s not quick with languages like her sister, Pearl’s fashion sense helps her come into her own in the foreign, confusing country.
When Pearl isn’t dressing hats or working gigs as a seamstress, her mind is busy trying to find a way to the United States. The most gripping parts of Hotel Cuba come when Pearl and Frieda work with smugglers to make their way north to Key West, the closest part of the United States to Cuba. Then as now, smugglers are scammers as often as they are genuine routes to where undocumented immigrants want to go. I won’t ruin that tension by revealing here whether or not the sisters make it but I will say that the plot arc of the book is a little odd. Instead of rising towards a climax before a denouement, the plot is more of a bell curve. That said, the slowness at the beginning and end of Hotel Cuba is more than made up for with vibrant descriptions of the settings.
Readers who enjoy historical fiction so accurate and well-written that it feels like you’ve stepped into a time machine will enjoy this one, as will readers who enjoy stories about coming to America.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.