The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle

The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle
My Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Finished Reading: July 11, 2018
Format: Book
Favorite Quote(s):

"I can't understand why dark northern soldiers and light ones are separated into different brigades. The dead are all buried together in hasty mass graves, bones touching."

Review:
I'll be arriving in Havana, Cuba tomorrow and wanted to read something about Cuba before arriving. I, sadly, know very little about Cuban history and what I do know was told to me through American history books. In the historical note, Engle quotes William Randolph Hearst to one of his journalists covering the Third War for Independence (known in the US as the Spanish-American War): "You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war." I'm afraid too much of the history that I have learned is through this lens.

The Surrender Tree is a story written in verse from the perspective of 5 characters (all but one are based on real people). It details the actions of a healer during the three wars for Cuban independence from Spain. For so few words, the story of Rosa was powerful. I was brought to tears twice in the short 2 hours it took the read the book. I recommend this book, not only for the history lesson, but for Rosa and the lessons in humility, kindness, and selflessness she teaches readers.