33 Turns

“Canek Sánchez Guevara speaks of Cuba, which, it seems, you cannot help but love by hating it and hate by loving it. [...] A 33-rpm record plays endlessly, spinning on the battered turntable of a thwarted existence; it is already scratched, and grows ever more scratched — through his music we feel the sorrow, the gloom, the dead end, the madness.”

“In _33 Revolutions_, although the structure of the system remains the main theme, attention is focused on something heavier, more internal. On disillusionment, on the death of hope and expectations. And if anyone ever asks me, this death is far worse than biological death.”

"...We don’t know what Che Guevara would say about his grandson if he read this description of modern-day Cuba, but we can tell you that this short novel, the first and only one by Canek Sanchez Guevara, is stunning..."

Che Guevara’s grandson accuses Fidel Castro.

“Perhaps no book is better attuned to the mood of the times—whether the mourning for Fidel’s death or, conversely, the open condemnation of him—than the novel by Che Guevara’s grandson. It is a courageous portrayal of the deep disillusionment of a generation that believed in the principles of the communist revolution and saw its noble hopes shattered, and at the same time an insightful glimpse into the lives of ordinary people in Cuba who struggle with deprivation and lack of freedom, and who try, even at the risk of their lives, to leave the island, which seems to be drifting alone and rudderless in the grey waters of a nightmarish authoritarianism.”

– Katerina Schina, the books’journal

"...It is shocking to read such a book written by this particular man, who remained faithful to the ideals of the revolution and sees it becoming a caricature."

– Kostas Stoforos, Votre Beauté

"...In a poetic manner, Guevara presents simple moments from his hero’s life, his wanderings, his dreams, the way he thinks, works, walks, is shaken by the stagnation of his own life and that of his fellow human beings, by the power of History to stir up the past and ‘carry people’s lives away on the currents of the sea’."

"...The author creates a brilliant tangle, a continuous, unstoppable flow of everyday life and, with it, of hope or its complete absence, ‘like a scratched record that repeats itself endlessly’. A charming novel, translated by the ever-excellent Achilleas Kyriakidis."

"...A book about the human need for freedom as the dream one wishes to live."

"...It is certain, however, that this text is a testament to literary skill and a work that confirms the posthumous reputation of an entire family who saw things clearly and unadulterated, without evasion, distortion or alienation."

"...Rarely is a novel as musical as this unique work by Che Guevara’s grandson. In a composition that is small in size but great in emotion and intensity, Canek Sanchez Guevara presents post-revolutionary Cuba."

"...The only way out seems to be escape. But will he be able to escape the almost tedious repetition of daily life, the monotonous rhythm of the 33 turns?"

"...His book is an exceptional account of everything he experienced in his homeland before leaving it, displaying evident literary merit. It would certainly be particularly interesting to hear Che Guevara’s opinion of his grandson, regarding this striking account of Cuba in recent decades."

"...With a simple, ingenious device, Guevara speaks of Havana and Cuba. A 33-rpm record plays endlessly, spinning on the battered turntable of a thwarted existence; it is already scratched, and grows ever more scratched—through his music we feel the melancholy, the gloom, the dead end, the madness...”

“_33 Turns_: An exceptional read, steeped in history, steeped in the past and an ‘endless’ future.”

"...Through ‘33 Turns’, Canek Sánchez Guevara captures his own personal disillusionment, as well as the disappointments of a people who saw their dreams dashed. He rejects his political legacy as Che’s grandson and, through the hero of his book, vividly describes the real gap between Ideal and Reality and its impact on the people of Cuba..."

"...The harsh reality of a regime, which nevertheless failed to turn the book’s protagonist into a snitch, permeates the novella’s 33 chapters, moving along the familiar, beautiful lyrical axis of Latin American prose. Hence the melodic and evocative linguistic style and the corresponding atmosphere of a music that, from being resonant and stentorian, ends up sounding like an unimaginable, oppressive murmur."

"...His short novel _33 Turns_ is nothing less than a melancholic indictment, both existential and political in nature, of the Castroism that dominated Cuba and transformed the visions of the Revolution into a Manichaean machine, directed by the ‘messiah’ Castro."

– Dionysis Marinos, Eleftheria tou Tupou

"...The despair of a man who, unable to bear his daily life, contemplates giving up is a dominant theme in Guevara’s book. The shattering of dreams, and the anxiety that one might easily, for no reason, without any apparent cause, find oneself cast out by the regime, have been rendered with exceptional eloquence – a fact that is also highlighted by Achilleas Kyriakidis’s translation."