Before Night Falls - by Reinaldo Arenas (Paperback)

Before Night Falls is a powerful memoir of passions both personal and political, chronicling the life of Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas from poverty-stricken childhood to his oppression as a dissident writer and homosexual.

This book is an essential human testimony, joyful and enraged, a triumph of conscience.

With a New York Times Best Book of 1993 designation, Before Night Falls is a distinguished addition to the literature of dissent and exile.

Arenas's memoir recounts his stunning odyssey from adolescence as a rebel fighting for Castro to his suppression as a writer, imprisonment as a homosexual, flight from Cuba via the Mariel boat lift, and subsequent life in New York.

With simple, straightforward prose, Arenas breaks through the code of secrecy and silence that protects the privileged in a state where homosexuality is a political crime.

This book is a last testament that resonates with passion for the freedom of the human spirit and for the author's beloved Cuba.