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| Plot Summary of Dying To Get Here: A Story of Coming To America |
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"Dying to Get Here chronicles Paco & Esther Robaina's daily struggle in Castro's Cuba during the early 1990's.
They are reduced to living on government rations and on a few American dollars earned by his 21 year old daughter Maslinda a few nights a week. Paco Robaina plots with his future son-in-law, Raul, to escape from the communist island on a homemade raft.
After weeks of covert trash picking, wrapping leaky inner tubes with coarse burlap, and fashoning home made paddles from their own bed slats; the family attempts to flee from Fidel under the light of a new moon; and instead is caught in a hail of gunfire which wounds Maslinda Robaina, as her youngest brother is shot dead in her arms.
Despite being wounded, Maslinda becomes the driving force of the family's flite to freedom as they attempt a perilous ninety mile crossing of the shark infested Florida Straits.
The remaining Robainas are spotted by a Wings of Freedom search plane after spending their second night on the straits fighting for their lives in a howling squall that nearly takes the Roabina's 12 year-old son Miguel, but instead Maslinda Robaina loses her fiance, Raul.
It is only after the U.S. Coast Guard fends off a Cuban gunboat; and Maslinda kills a giant bullshark stalking the raft, are the Robaina's rescued and hoisted to freedom, and flown to Key West, Florida.
"
Frank Bama, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Dying To Get Here: A Story of Coming To America |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- thoughtful
Political/social activism
Yes
Plotlet:
- surviving repressive dictatorship
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- actor/actress/producer
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Hispanic/Latinic
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Main Adversary
Identity:
- society
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- throughout most of the book.
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 10 ()
Water?
Yes
Water:
- warship
- drowning
- lost at sea
- feeding sharks
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to deaths
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- descript of kissing
- descript. of female anat. (the big B's)
- descript. of female anat. (the big V)
- rape/molest (yeech!)
Unusual Style:
- a lot of play on words
Amount of dialog
- significantly more dialog than descript
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Click here for more information about this book
Matt Lawrence Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 Frank Bama
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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