It takes the average reader 5 hours and 8 minutes to read Dear First Love by Zoe Valdes
Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more
Zoé Valdés is one of Cuba's most original and imaginative writers. In Dear First Love, her third novel to appear in English, she spins a tale of one womans spiritual and sexual awakening under the soul-destroying Castro regime. The numbing rhythm of daily life in poverty-stricken Havana has deadened Danae's mind and spirit. On the verge of a breakdown, she unceremoniously leaves Havana without explanation to her family. In search of her first true love, Danae retreats into the countryside of her adolescence, where the government of Fidel Castro had sent her and other teenagers in the late 1970s to work in the fields under a corrupt and sadistic overseer. It was here, surrounded by a natural world infused with spiritual wonders, that Danae met and fell in love with Tierra Fortuna Munda, a campesino girl her own age. And here the reader falls into the magic of Danae's late childhood, as a wooden suitcase, an ancient ceiba tree, a manatee, even light itself, narrate the gritty, irreverent, erotic, sometimes comic, often tragic life of the young adults in the work camps. When the adult Danae finds Tierra, their lives are transformed, their love and its mysteries reborn. However, their return to Havana proves to be the ultimate test of love, not only for Danae and Tierra, but also for Danae's desperate family. Dear First Love is a hymn to Cuba and to the soul and spirit of that beleaguered country. In sensuous language, Zoé Valdés renders daily life in urban Cuba and in its countryside, while at the same time exploring the universal themes of love and loss.
Dear First Love by Zoe Valdes is 304 pages long, and a total of 77,216 words.
This makes it 103% the length of the average book. It also has 94% more words than the average book.
The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 7 hours and 1 minute to read Dear First Love aloud.
Dear First Love is suitable for students ages 12 and up.
Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.
When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.
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