A moving autobiography of a novelist, revolutionary, dissident, and activist, highly critical of the Castro regime. Arenas tells the story of his youth in poor, rural Cuba, his time with Castro's rebels, and his emergence as a writer. Seen as a political dissident both for his political views and his homosexuality, Arenas fled to New York, where he died of AIDS in 1991 (shortly after this book was completed). His memoir chronicles all this with frankness, passion and depth of feeling. Note to the skittish: lots of sex, and a certain amount of violence to boot.  (CBA37, $15.00)