Nights in Havana: A Review of Jose Sotolongo’s The Optimistic Cuban
It’s been a while since I’ve read a two-hundred-page book, and The Optimistic Cuban by José Sotolongo got me back into my groove again. It’s a wonderful and captivating novel. Sotolongo’s writing style—rich with imagery and strong character-building—is beautiful. He uses his mind to craft a stunning story that centers Cuba, making the setting come alive to readers.
Sotolongo has published fiction and poetry in the Atticus Review, Lito, Blue Fifth Review, Miracle Monocle, and elsewhere. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best Small Fiction. The Scented Chrysalis, a novel, was released in 2019, and was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. A third novel, Parallel Circuits, will be released in 2026. Sotolongo was born in Cuba, which explains why he is able to render the place with such detail in The Optimistic Cuban.
The novel follows the lives of Fernando, Luis, Elena, Antonio, and their maid, Inés, who live together in Havana, Cuba during the 1950s, amid the Cuban Revolution. I loved this story—it’s full of love, death, lust, history, and conflict. All of these are essential parts of human nature.
I didn’t know much about the Cuban Revolution until recently, but I learned it was sparked by Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorship. The novel touches on the historical context, and I was saddened to read about how Batista seized control of Cuba again by force, unwilling to give up his rule. He made alliances with the United States, the United Kingdom, and others, sending them most of Cuba’s farmland crops and focusing on tourist attractions. Meanwhile, the Cubans struggled with money, a lack of farmland, and job insecurity.
After learning that Sotolongo was born and raised in Cuba, I couldn’t help but imagine that he must’ve known a woman like Inés—someone who cleans and cooks for a family to support her own—or someone like Fernando, a college student hoping to find a stable job to help his family. Fernando can only work at the casinos because the Americans love to tour there. Living this way is difficult, but sadly, it’s also become the norm around the world.
The more that I read The Optimistic Cuban, I kept thinking about what people are facing today: hunger, financial loss, political warfare, genocide. I kept asking myself: Why do some humans want others to lead for them? Is there a way to dismantle a corrupt government and live in peace?
In the novel, the new government began executing members of the old guard without trial, dragging men away on camera, handcuffed. They also took away rent due to urban reform and limited the number of Masses that churches could hold on Sundays because many priests were critical of the government, warning their congregations about its actions. Fidel Castro even called the church “the enemy of the people.”
There’s a moment in the novel where Gustavo warns Fernando about his family not being involved in any revolutionary groups in the neighborhood. Fernando and his family don’t want to join the CDR (Committee for the Defense of the Revolution) because they don’t want to be part of a group that monitors their neighbors. But Gustavo and his friends think they could be seen as enemies of the government since they’re not showing any support. Gustavo tells him, “I can’t protect you if anything happens. If there’s any protest or unrest, the military is going to interrogate you and your parents, maybe even detain you.”
In this section of the book, Gustavo and Fernando’s friendship completely falls apart, and it made me so sad because it dramatizes the importance of recognizing the individuals who want no part of a new government after one has been dismantled. What if a person felt as if they belonged nowhere and just wanted to live in a place where no one knew them? They’d feel independent, free from the interference of government. We all want someone to lean on when we get sick, need glasses, want luxuries, or simply need someone to balance our lives. But can we exist outside of that circle and still enjoy what life has to offer?
After finishing The Optimistic Cuban, I concluded that all the characters in the novel just wanted to live a fair life, without a ruler pushing their ideals onto them. This is why I understand why many people supported Fidel Castro, but it also made me wonder: Can we, as humans, think about what life was like before all of this ruling?
Before electricity, before lights. We should remember the linseed oils and candles, embracing the night instead of using lights to destroy the beauty that the night offers. Nights so bright extinguish the stars. Reading this book made me reflect on what the night was like without the light—without all this political madness.
What would a normal day look like for you?
New in October 2025 from Histria Books, The Optimistic Cuban is now available for purchase.