Book Review for THE LIGHTNING DREAMER: CUBA's GREATEST ABOLITIONIST by Margarita Engle

Book Review by Allie Davis

MLIS 5653 Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Engle, Margarita. 2013. The Lightning Dreamer: Cuba's Greatest Abolitionist. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780544541122

Connect with the Author 
http://www.margaritaengle.com/

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
      Backing her novel with historical notes, brief biographies of Gertrudis Gomez de Avellandeda and her mentor Jose Maria Heredia, and excerpts from de Avellandeda's prose and poetry, Margarita Engle's haunting and beautiful historical fiction novel The Lightning Dreamer: Cuba's Greatest Abolitionist begins with the coming of age of a young Cuban girl who is about to be forced into an arranged, loveless marriage by her mother and grandfather. From birth, Tula (her nickname) has been a high-spirited, curious girl who only wants to be free to write and read, both of which are forbidden by her mother and her culture.  She continues to defy these forbidden boundaries and finds other ways to read, borrowing her brother's books, reading with the nuns and writing, then burning, the verses, stories, and plays that fill her mind. Her views are evident early on with lines such as "In my plays, all are equal./ Each orphan receives/ a speaking role,/ because every child/ has a voice that must be heard, even if adults only listen/ while children are perched/ on a stiff wooden stage,/ chirping like new-hatched birds/ that have not yet learned/ how to sing" (56).  We spend three years with Tula, witnessing her refuse to marry not only one, but two men who have been chosen for her, watching her grow from a defiant girl into a strong, independent woman who eventually leaves her family's country estate and supports herself in the city as a tutor.  Our hearts are broken when she questions her grandfather's fidelity when she wonders "When my grandfather was young/ and strong, did he rule/ like a brutal king?/ Are any of the slaves/ in the sugar fields/ my relatives?" (123). These early experiences influence her throughout her life, and the historical notes indicate that the grown de Avellandeda's conviction was that "all should be equally proud of every ethnic component of a shared society," an "idea so original and courageous that it helped readers question the way they viewed slavery, interracial marriage, and the broader issue of voluntary marriage.  By telling a simple love story, Avellandeda conveyed her dream of universal dignity, freedom, and equal rights for men and women of all races" (171). 
       The setting of The Lightning Dreamer is during the 19th Century, beginning in 1827 when Tula is 13 years old, which at the time, is marrying age in Cuba.  She first questions why she cannot choose her own husband when her mother has defied her grandfather two times to marry the man that she loved.  She then questions why women were sold into these loveless relationships to only bring more money to their families, comparing them to cattle.  Not only does Tula defy the ideas and cultural values of traditional Cuban marriage, she also questions the entire treatment of women, making this novel both abolitionist and feminist in nature.  We see many of these same ideas and opinions occurring worldwide at the time, including American and Great Britain, where women writers and feminists were struggling to get their voices heard also.  
       Although the setting of the novel is in Cuba during the 19th Century, few elements are present in the text of the novel itself to teach the reader about Cuban culture.  In fact, the setting could have taken place anywhere that slavery was occurring.  There is a mention of Tula's grandfather's sugar plantations, but these plantations could have been anywhere.  There is mention of Caridad, Tula's Cuban slave, who has been freed, but there were slaves in many places during this time.  The plot of the story is told through narrative verse poetry in plain English.  Very few interlingual words are included; only two come to my mind - Mama' and Abuelito.  There are also a few other names that point to Latino heritage, as well, such as Manuel and Rosa.  At the end of the novel, in Part Five: The Hotel of Peace 1836, we learn that Tula has left her grandfather's plantation and has traveled to Havana, and then we learn that she has traveled on to France in exile.  It is during this time of her life that we see how she has matured and her views of marriage have changed slightly.  She accepts love as an ancient legend, and we even learn that she has married twice before her death. 
        Ultimately, the universal themes of abolition and feminism could easily have carried across humanity, not just Cuba. Gertrudis Gomez de Avellandeda was truly passionate about her writing, and in a time period where women had few, if any rights, she becomes one of the most powerful and influential writers of the age.  
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AWARDS  

• Pura Belpre Honor Book; Nominated for Award in 2014 
• ALA's Notable Books For Children; Won Award in 2014
• 2014 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults
• School Library Journal’s Top Ten Latino-themed Books for 2013
• Teaching for Change 2013 Favorite
• Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature selection as a Best Multicultural Book of 2013
• International Reading Association Top Chapter Book for 2013

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

• Horn Book Magazine, "...Loosely based on the early life of the Cuban novelist and human rights advocate Gertrudis Gomez de Avllaneda (1814-73), this novel in verse follows Tula for the three years that take her into open rebellion and its first consequences; there's also a glimpse of her living independently, as a poet, seven years later.  Tula's desperate need to write and her struggle for self-determination resemble that of Pablo Neruda in Pam Munoz Ryan's splendid The Dreamer..." (C) May 7, 2013.
• Voice of Youth Advocates, "...From a young age, Tula is a feminist and abolitionist plagued with thoughts of being married off in exchange for slaves. Her brother secretly passed on his books, paper, and pen, inspired by Tula's independence. Throughout the book, Tula evolved from a girl who sees 'forced marriage' and a 'loveless wedding' in her future to a young woman who sees love as 'Ancient. A legend. The truth.' This is a unique piece of literature-historical fiction about a historical figure written in verse through imagined perspectives. Complete with  historical background, notes, and references, The Lightning Dreamer is a quick and powerful read worthy of addition to any collection. The verses speak of tolerance and acceptance beyond the context of this story.  At its core, though, it is a story about the nineteenth-century, Cuban culture, folk heroes, and women's rights."   (C) April 1, 2013
• Booklist, "Engle's historical novel in verse is a fictionalized biography of the nineteenth-century Cuban abolitionist poet Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda, known as Tula. Told in multiple voices, Engle's elegant verses, rich in simile and metaphor, focus on the poet's life as a teenager. Forbidden access to books because her mother believes reading and writing make women unattractive, Tula escapes to a nearby convent. There, she discovers volumes by the rebel poet Jose Maria de Heredia, whose words feed her own rebellious spirit, which is exemplified by her rejection of two arranged marriages. I long to write like Heredia, she muses, but what do I know of great cities and the wide lives of men? I'm just a silenced girl. My stories are simple tales of emotion. Seen as an outcast and a madwoman, she is sent to the country, where she falls in love with Sab, a freed slave, and continues to write about equality for slaves and for women. Engle's richly evocative verses conjure up a time when women, like slaves, were regarded as property to be sold into loveless marriages. This is the context for a splendid novel that celebrates one brave woman who rejected a constrained existence with enduring words that continue to sing of freedom." (C) February 15, 2013.

CONNECTIONS

Use as an introduction to biographies, narrative verse, Cuba/Caribbean, abolitionists, feminism, slavery, arranged marriage, women's rights, and activists .

https://teachinglatinamericathroughliterature.wordpress.com/march-2014-the-lightning-dreamer-cubas-greatest-abolitionist/
https://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=34945
http://www.margaritaengle.com/core/lightning%20dreamer.pdf
http://www.nowaterriver.com/poetry-friday-the-lightning-dreamer-margarita-engle/

• Research the life of Gertrudis Gomez de Avellandeda and write about her life.
• Write a narrative poem about something that has happened or is happening to you.
• Do a compare/contrast project on Cuba's abolitionist movement and America's abolitionist movement.

Other Margarita Engle titles to read:

• Firefly Letters:  A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba; ISBN  0606395857
• Lion Island: Cuba's Warrior of Words; ISBN 0606405240
• The Wild Book; ISBN 1299891942

Gather more feminism titles:

·        Hood, Karen Jean Matsko. Feminist Awakening: A Collection of Poetry  ISBN 159210835

·       Trites, Roberta S. Waking Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Voices in Children's Novels  ISBN 0877455910
·       Yousafzai, Malala and Patricia McCormick.  I am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World.  ISBN: 0316327913