MIAMI, United States. – The just posted novel Hotel Cuba, by Aaron Hamburger, offers a fascinating account of the author’s own grandmother’s immigration experience in the early 20th century. In a conversation with Sacha Pfeiffer from nprthe writer discussed the startling revelations that sparked the idea for his book and the profound lessons that can be drawn from his grandmother’s story.
Hotel Cuba it is based on a photograph of Hamburger’s grandmother from 1922, in which she appears dressed as a man. This image triggered her curiosity about a part of the woman’s life that she was unaware of until then. She “She was very affectionate… But I didn’t really know her that well as a person,” Hamburger confessed.
The story centers on Pearl, a young woman who emigrates from Eastern Europe to USA in the 1920s, fleeing poverty and antisemitism. However, due to revolutionary hysteria and immigration restrictions at the time, Ella Pearl is diverted to the Greater Antilles, a twist that significantly alters her view of her world.
Hamburger explains: “There was a kind of hysteria in America. New laws were enacted limiting immigration from Eastern Europe; but if you could get to Cuba, Argentina or Mexico, and you established your residence there for a year, then you would no longer come from Eastern Europe.
Pearl’s experience in Cuba and her eventual arrival in the United States form a story rich in detail and meaning. Hamburger sees her novel as an opportunity to explore the harshness of immigration, the importance of creativity and design, and the surprising connections between past and present.
One of the most powerful lessons of Hotel Cuba it has to do with kindness towards strangers. Hamburger recounts how her grandmother was repeatedly helped on her journey by people she never saw again: “It’s amazing how often my grandmother received help from people she never saw again. And if we can all do more of those kindnesses for each other, what a better world we will have.”
Despite the content of the story, Hamburger claims that Hotel Cuba It is not a political book. However, he points out that the language he found in researching the era is eerily similar to today’s divisive rhetoric.
