Book excerpt: A panoramic portrait of the Cuban American community, Marielitos, Balseros and Other Exiles shares the joys, tragedies and amazing resilience of the Cuban immigrants who arrived in the US via the Mariel boat lift of 1980 and the rafters (balseros) who came in the years afterwards. The stories in this debut collection reveal the full social, economic and emotional scope of the immigration experience - from the repression experienced in Cuba to the discrimination faced in the US and the struggles to build new lives. An arresting work.