After reading “Cloud Cover Caribbean” I can give my opinion of viewing the text as good and enjoyable. Being that the author, Ana Lydia Vega wrote this story completely in Spanish, it is translated well. The story is extremely immersive due to the use of having three men from the same regional area that have nothing in common. They’re differences cause for an intriguing read, despite keeping the story under ten pages.

Ana creates her main character and, he is a Haitian man named Antenor who is fleeing his country to head to the U.S. in the early fall. He comes across a man crying for help on his shipwrecked boat, a
Dominican man by the name of Diogenes. The two men sail for a while util they come across a Cuban man by the name of Carmelo. Among the boat Diogenes has a couple of personal items that he brought
with him on his voyage. They begin to have a verbal argument over his items, specifically a shoebox that later turns into a physical altercation. This mainly happened because the men are culturally different and
can’t seem to work it out. Eventually, they come about their senses and end the quarrel. The men talk and realize they are all traveling to Miami for new opportunities after explaining how there is nothing left for them at home. Finally, they hear another boat, on board are white sailors who rescue them but do it at the expense of their race calling them racial slurs. The three men make it on to the bottom level of the
boat where they hear their mother tongue. A Puerto Rican who fills them in on how hard it will be to actually make it in America.

I enjoyed this story because I think Ana Lydia Vega did a great job in exploiting these three men for being proud of their countries. In real life, Cuba raided the Dominican Republic in 1959. At the time of this
story (1982) the invasion would have happened twenty-three years ago, making it entirely possible for these fictional characters to have experienced this; adding more depth. I think another element that
makes this a good read is that they are so “different” in their own eyes but very similar to the reader. All three men are from around the same geographical region, all leaving for the same reason, all leaving to
the same destination and, will all be looked at as the same when they arrive to America. As mentioned by the Puerto Rican man when he says “If you want to feed your belly here, you’re going to have to work and I mean work hard. A gringo don’t give anything away. Not to his own mother.” I also enjoyed how most of the references in the story were focused on things from their culture. It makes me as an American reader have to look further if I actually wanted to grasp the full magnitude of the conversation. For example, when they refer to the boat “rocking like a mambo’s hips in Dambala worship.”

I do believe that this text is worthwhile if you’re looking to gain understanding on why one might want to leave their country and start fresh somewhere else. Especially a place like America where for
some reason immigration is looked down upon despite the country supposedly being a “melting pot”. Another thing this story presents well is the fact that even though it’s about the differences of three
Caribbean men, almost everyone has a similar feeling to someone else like these men had. So, I would say that it is an eye-opening read if you allow it to be.

All together I did enjoy the story, I feel as if it could have been longer. Extra length could have given the characters a little more. For instance, how did they go from tackling each other “the Dominican
lowed, charging the Haitian’s belly like a raging bull.” To their boat being capsized and saved all with in about a page and a half. If I had to give someone a cultural read, I would definitely suggest this one. It hits the morals right on the head and is short, right to the point.