Part travelogue, part memoir, part political treatise, Baker unabashedly records not only his impressions of Cuba but also those of his more private thoughts and experiences. This was not the writer's first attempt to uncover the reality of today's Cuba. As the author of two comprehensive and practical guidebooks about the island, he had made several previous trips. Baker is at his best on his motorcycle, his senses completely at one with the island's unfolding landscape. Transporting the reader with him, he cruises the country's coastline and inland terrain.
Impressions riff and rumble, creating verbal snapshots of Cuba's people and places.
As one recedes, another more vivid unfolds. During his three-month odyssey, Baker and his bike consistently engage and attract the locals. Ultimately Cuba itself, its people, its history and geography propel the narrative. The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway's most enduring works. Here Hemingway recasts, in strikingly contemporary style, the classic theme of courage in the face of defeat, of personal triumph won from loss.