My Seductive Cuba: A Unique Travel Guide
Chen Lizra, 2011
Latidos Productions
328 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780986891007
Summary
Enough books have been written about Cuba to fill an entire library, but few take the approach Chen Lizra does with My Seductive Cuba. Deeply personal and always engaging, Lizra—an Israeli-born dancer and entrepreneur now living in Canada—fuses history and politics with her real-life experiences among the people of this often-visited but little-understood island.
The result is a moving portrayal of Cuba on the verge of historic change. Packed with practical information on where to go in Cuba, what to pack and the best ways to get there, My Seductive Cuba also helps readers ferret out persistent opportunists while finding Havana's best reggaeton, flamenco, jazz and salsa clubs. A glossary of Cuban slang and a description of the Santeria religion—along with a vivid chapter titled "Getting Possessed"—makes Lizra's humorous travel guide even more compelling. This is one book you won't want to be without, even if you don't plan on going anywhere!
My Seductive Cuba changes the way we approach travel guides from an index book to a book that people fall in love with even if they are not planning on visiting. In fact any person reading it ends up wanting to visit Cuba if they haven't yet. The book also includes QR codes that lead to online videos and transport you to Cuba through visuals and sounds. If you plan on traveling to Cuba you will arrive knowing the mentality and how to move around.
The website—www.myseductivecuba.com—is full of updates from Cuba always keeping you update on the latest news and serving as an extension of the book and the Cuban lifestyle. (From the author.)
Author Bio
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With nearly a decade of experience in the animation industry, working on projects for MTV, TVA, Alliance Atlantis, Mainframe Entertainment and Radical Entertainment, Chen Lizra’s intellect, imagination and creative thinking evolved her into a branding expert. What makes her truly stand out is her ability to mix her creative ideas with solid business understanding. A BBA with focus on international business and marketing, seduction training with the best professional dancers in Cuba, sixteen years in the international business arena, and a TED Talk under her belt, make Chen a dynamic entrepreneur and public speaker.
In 2009 & 2012 Chen was nominated as one of the “YWCA Women of Distinction in Vancouver,” and was honored by the Australian government with a Distinguished Talent Permanent Visa for her international achievements in the arts. As the international best-selling author of My Seductive Cuba: A Unique Travel Guide, Chen has won two awards in the US, including the prestigious IPPY Book Award. Chen was featured in the Vancouver Sun, Globe & Mail, The Province, Global TV, CityTV, CBC, and many other media outlets. With a passion for dance and creative movement, Lizra offers students seduction workshops and focused lectures and seminars about the art of seduction in our everyday lives and its practical uses.
You can see what other projects Chen is involved with on her site - www.lizraconsulting.com. She has just signed with Bettie Youngs for a second book called Seducing Happiness and another book is in the plan for 2013. (From the author.)
Book Reviews
What makes My Seductive Cuba an exceptional travel guide is its mix of handy and useful travel guide tips, with personal anecdotes from Lizra's own experiences. Lizra discovered the Cuba she loves through dance. A profession-al dancer, originally from Israel, now living in Vancouver, she travelled to Cuba to study. She came away with not only dance skills, but a new understanding of the people who taught her, danced with her, ate with her, and allowed her to embrace their culture. She returned again and again, first as an arts tourist and dancer, and eventually as a travel guide. It's a book filled with stories of passion—including seduction—and real-life experiences, making it both a practical and adventurous travel guide. Lizra shares where the locals eat and what they eat, as well as where they dance. She describes extraordinary locations on the island, untouched by commercial tourism, and discovers how to have a relationship of respect with the Cuban people. QR codes are used in the hard copy of the book and some are linked to videos on YouTube, enhancing the whole cultural experience. The eBook allows travellers the ability to take the book with them electronically. For those who know Cuba, My Seductive Cuba will make them want to return, and for those who have never been to Cuba, this book will draw them there..
The Province (Canada)
Lizra's well-illustrated and structured book is a by-product of her motivation to visit the island in the first place: her passion for Latin dance. Users can get ultimate use out of this book by scanning the QR barcodes found throughout. That gives readers access to online resources that provide further information on a specific topic or destination. A big part of My Seductive Cuba is devoted to the island's rich dance and musical traditions, rooted in that country's African heritage. No surprise, given Lizra's intensive training with the National Folklore Group of Cuba, the National School of Art and the National Cabaret. But Lizra didn't limit her research to Havana and its environs; she also investigated trends throughout other major Cuban cities and historic sites. One chapter, "Getting Possessed," details Lizra's attendance at a ceremony at which spirits took over the bodies of practitioners. Lizra also delves into an area few other Cuba travel books touch: romance with locals. "Seduction is part of the place," she explains. "When you go to Cuba, you experience the charm and the seduction, and always find a reason to come back." That kind of advice, generated from firsthand knowledge of the country's culture and informal way of doing things, is what will help any visitor become a Cubanaut—ready to blast off for a return visit to the island. "In Cuba, everything turns into an adventure," she says, "and the things that happen along the way—which you don't plan for—are what makes it exciting.
Vito Echeverria - Cuba News
[Y]ou tell it like it is, in terms of inter-personal dynamics. So it's terrific for its introduction to manners. For that alone, I would recommend it. I like the style of writing. Breezy but informational. Congratulations on a fine and spirited book
BC Book World (Canada)
And, as she proves in My Seductive Cuba, she is one of the best tour guides this Caribbean island could ever want to have. This travel guide not only tells you some of the best places to eat and visit in Cuba, but she transforms it from an all-inclusive tourist destination into a country that pulses with history and culture. The book answers all the most practical question a visitor could ask but then she asks you to understand why Cuba is the way it is so you can appreciate its nuances as much as she does.
Martha Perkins - We (Vancouver)
Discussion Questions
1. What makes Cuba seductive? What did the book teach you about seduction in Cuba?
2. In Cuba people can get possessed by deities and dead spirits? What would you have done instead of Chen when she was asked the most personal questions about her life in front of everyone? How would you have handled it differently?
3. Taking things for granted in life is one of the strongest messages that My Seductive Cuba delivers? Do you take things for granted in your own life? What makes you notice that you do and makes you value what you have again?
4. Chen comes across as adventurous going with the flow and trying things in order to understand the culture better? Can this attitude backfire? Do you find yourself more liberal or conservative in your approach? Have you learned something from her by reading this book?
5. What prevented Chen from running away from Cuba the first time she went? What made her want to run away in the first place? Did it pay off to stay? if you were faced with the same situation, would you have gone back or stayed?
6. Seduction can be quite luring and tempting waking up the desire in us making us want things. Chen handles seduction quite well in Cuba. Do you think that you would have been able to handle it the same or would it have terrified you? Do you ever fear losing control and being manipulated into things you don't want? And how would you react to it if you did?
7. Do you know the Cuban dance styles that Chen talked about in the book? Have you tried the QR codes to watch the videos online? Did their description take you deeper into the culture and if so what have you learned about their norms of behaviours? Do you feel at ease with it or does it make you nervous?
8. A lot of people have misconceptions about food in Cuba. They think that food is horrible. But Chen clearly shows you how great food can be in Cuba if you know how to do it. What did you learn from the food chapter about how Cubans think and behave?
9. How did you like in the 5th section of the book the photos and descriptions that took you into cultural experienced you will run into in Cuba? Did it make you feel closer to the culture? How did it compare to the culture you come from? is it very different? Is it similar?
10. Cuba's history and the embargo tint many people's view of what this little-understood island is all about. The tendency is to think of Cuba as a repressive country with human right violations. Did the book show you a new take on this culture? Did you learn something new? If you did—what was it?
(Questions provided by author.)