What is the author's style in Waiting for Snow in Havana - Confessions of a Cuban Boy by Carlos Eire?

Despite the fact that Carlos Eire is a professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale, the language used in this book is very casual and colloquial. Descriptions in this book are florid and dramatic, true to the Cuban tradition. The tone, despite the grim subject, is humorous. For example, the opening sentence of the book is, "The world changed while I slept, and much to my surprise, no one had consulted me." There is much tongue and cheek, and in just the same way that he makes gentle fun of his child self in this line, he jokes about the idiosyncrasies of those around him. The first characters after himself to be introduced in this story are his parents. He says, "My father, who vividly remembered his prior incarnation as King Louis XVI of France, probably dreamt of costume balls, mobs, and guillotines.