Hotel Cuba
Aaron Hamburger’s novel is rich in character, plot, and setting. Its basic ingredient is a detailed exploration of a young woman’s psychological, religious, and social development. The novel is leavened with great sensory details about immigrants’ experience in a vibrant Cuba, an overwhelming New York City, and an opportunity-oriented Detroit. The novel also adds irresistible dollops of wry feminine humor.
Hotel Cuba is the saga of sisters Pearl and Frieda, who flee from a Russian shtetl in 1922 on a ship bound for the United States and a new life of religious safety and financial opportunity. Because the States will not admit Jewish refugees, their ship ends up in Havana. The girls find refuge with a married couple of Jewish hat makers. Frieda, the pretty baby of the family, pines for her lover who has already made it to America. Pearl, a talented seamstress and budding clothing designer, is determined to earn enough money to smuggle them across the water.
Their adventures in this pursuit make up most of the narrative and are enlivened by the various characters they meet—Mrs. Friedman, the ailing wife of an optician, who bilks Pearl of her smuggling money; Rabbi Singer, whose motivation in helping is suspicious; and Alexander, a charming Jewish German-American expatriate who tries to convince Pearl to stay in Havana and enjoy a good life with him.
Once the sisters make it to New York City, their adventures continue while they pursue a complicated life as poor immigrants with limited English skills and formal education. Hamburger shows a deft hand in painting the details of their struggles, which are offset by traditional comforts of food, family, and prayer. The novel ends in Detroit where both sisters find surprising but well-plotted rewards. The reader can close this book with a satisfied smile!
