I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A coming of age novel about a young girl growing up in the 1970s and 1980s in tumultuous Cuba where people in her life were leaving for other countries and her mother wasn't strong enough to be depended upon.

Everyone Leaves by Wendy Guerra (book cover in in the image), the the republication of thee story of Nieve, a girl living in Castro's Cuba. Told in the style of a memoir, this novel takes a unique perspective in the sense, that it does not depict a revolutionary who escapes the oppression of Castro's Cuba, but stay behind and gives the reader a glimpse of those who lived during this time.

The narration by Diana Bustelo was expertly done and I highly recommend this book.

Thank you @harperaudio, @harperviabooks, and @netgalley for the opportunity to listen to the ALC and read this eARC. All opinions are my own.

Original Pub Year: 2012
Pub Date: Jul 22 2025
Rating: 5 Stars

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Thank you to NetGalley and Harpervia for the chance to read this book as an arc in exchange for an honest review!

I was really drawn to the emotional aspects of this novel; the protagonist has such a unique perspective and her diary entries are captivating. After reading, I feel compelled to learn more about the history of this setting because a lot of the politics and social conflict was left to be confusing and vague at times (which, granted, is likely realistic to the young narrator). If you already have an idea or interest in the period which the book takes place you will probably enjoy it more than me, but even if not there is much to take from this edition :]

As I was reading this novel, I had a revelation: I had never read a Cuban novel in translation before now. I was really interested in what this novel had to say about the experiences of women in Cuba during the 1970s-1990s, as these are often perspectives we don't get from Cuba in American literary publishing. Formatted as a series of diary entries written by its protagonist, this novel really flies by, but you become quite connected with this young girl, then woman, as she learns to find her footing as an artist and human being in a country that's grappling with change.

interesting and well-written book/diary from the perspective of a little girl. well done, and i can definitely tell why it's so popular. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

this book was not advertised as poetry, but it got very poetic at times and was vague and flowery in the writing at times. I regret reading it in english first, and think i would have enjoyed it more in spanish. i don’t think the translation did it justice. i was confused by what was going on half the time. the story could be more well put together, and it definitely can be since it isn’t nonfiction. direct translations don’t work, what’s important is keeping the tone of the original writing.

Thank you netgalley for the eARC. I read this book because the author shares my last name. It comes in the form of diary entries from a life growing up in Cuba after a young girl is taken from her mother. I was a tad lost at the ending but it was a great read!

"Everyone Leaves" was not for me. It wasn't bad by any means, however, I don't think I was the target audience for it; the target audience seemed to be Cubans, as some other reviews have mentioned, As such, I don't think I fully grasped the nuances and subtleties of the novel that many Cuban-born folks could, thus my perhaps lacking appreciation for it. This is simply a case of incongruence between the book and the reader.

It was nevertheless insightful to read about late 70s to 80s Cuba, to take a peek behind the curtain. The bleakness was compounded by the protagonist Nieve's troubled home life, however, and the ending did leave me feeling bereft, for better or for worse.

"After so much damp intimacy, we shouldn't talk about what's missing from your Diary, which is the equivalent of your life. But you need to recognize facts that are worthy of attention."

This quote comes from a letter received by our protagonist, Nieve - that letter being the only part of this book that is not one of her chronological diary entries. These were based on Wendy Guerra's own diary, giving readers a limited window into her experience of coming of age in Cuba.

Nieve has filled her diaries with her most private thoughts, fears, and traumas, but even so, the reader is left wondering about the times that have been left out. Sometimes Nieve writes in her diary almost every day. At other times, she can't or won't write, and there are large gaps of time with no entries. We're left with a portrait that is both incredibly intimate and necessarily mysterious; how many of the stories that we tell about ourselves are true? The setting of Cuba during the 1980s, unfamiliar to me as a white American, is very compelling, but not nearly as compelling as Nieve herself. Guerra (and her translator, Achy Obejas) convey a stunning depth of feeling throughout the story that kept me reading.

Wow! The end of this novel has me feeling so empty and sad. I initially was struck by the cover thinking “oh, she kinda looks like me as a kid” and when I clicked on more information it was like serendipity to discover this is about a girl in Cuba. I, too, was born in Cuba (although in 91” and escaped by raft to the US in 95”) so this was really in the time of my mother, who herself wasn’t able to leave until I was well into my teens already in the US with my grandmother. It was refreshing to read about Cuba in a very realistic light, not a romanticized one. I loved it so much I went ahead and ordered a copy of the Original in Spanish.

This book is filled with emotion. It’s in a diary format telling about Nieve’s life growing up. Takes place from 1978 to 1990. Nieve uses her diary like Anne Frank. It’s more like a friend or something else. She lived through abuse, going to different schools, moving to different places, growing up, and other things.