Marielitos, Balseros and Other Exiles (2009) by Cecilia Rodriguez Milanes

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Marielitos, Balseros and Other Exiles (2009)

 by Cecilia Rodriguez Milanes

1641 NE 8th St, Homestead, Florida

Florida: 12/21

    I think Florida got shorted within the confines of the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America.  Surely, if Louisiana is a 30-title state, Florida deserves at least that many titles.  This is a book of connected short stories about the experience of different Marielitos, the name for the group of Cuban refugees which famously included the contents of Cuba's mental hospitals and prisons.  This group was a scapegoat for decades in South Florida and made it to the silver screen- Al Pacino's Scarface remake was filled with Marielitos, including Pacino's character.  Of course, this book of short stories, published in 2009, is far from the sensationalized treatment of Scarface or the frequent depiction in local crime-fiction of Marielitos as drug addled criminals.