Haiti Noir

by Edwidge Danticat Narrated by Robin Miles, Peter Jay Fernandez, Rachel Leslie

Overview

Award-winning author Edwidge Danticat edits this collection of stories that puts a noir twist on the Haitian experience. From kidnappings gone wrong to deadly sibling rivalries, Haiti Noir features some of the Caribbean nation's leading voices, including Gary Victor, Evelyne Trouillot, Kettly Mars, and Patrick Sylvain. "This anthology will give American readers a complex and nuanced portrait of the real Haiti not seen on the evening news and introduce them to some original and wonderful writers."-Library Journal

Editorial Reviews

|Los Angeles Times

"Danticat has put together a collection possessing classic noir elements—crimes and criminals and evil deeds only sometimes punished—but also something else, perhaps uniquely Haitian too."

Daily Beast

"Who can ever judge how important Danticat has been to Americans’ understanding and re-evaluating Haiti’s position and role in the hemisphere? Not just as a novelist and essayist in her own right, but as editor and guiding force behind this collection of short stories and the re-publication and English translation of the Chauvet triptych, the Haitian-born Danticat has brought her country’s literature back into the world of English-speakers. Filled with delights and surprises, Haiti Noir, taken as a whole, provides a profound portrait of the country, from its crises to its triumphs, from the tiny bouks of the countryside to the shanties of the sprawling bidonvilles. Danticat herself has a lovely story in the collection, and permits two distinguished foreign writers on Haiti, Madison Smartt Bell and Mark Kurlansky, to slide in there among all the brilliant Haitians.
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Ms. Magazine

"The characters that emerge in the anthology are divergent figures, alienated by exile, thriving in the diaspora and devastated by limited choices. Their stories are multi-layered, thrilling and necessary."

Booklist

"A solid contribution to the [Noir] series, especially for its showcasing of a setting not commonly portrayed in crime fiction."

Library Journal

Haitians may be among the poorest people in the world, but they are rich in an imaginative spirit that has helped them endure centuries of poverty, political corruption, and natural disasters. "Haitian creativity has always been one of the country's most identifiable survival traits," writes novelist Danticat (The Dew Breaker) in her introduction to the latest entry (with Copenhagen Noir, see above) in Akashic's acclaimed noir series. Reflected in the country's vibrant visual arts and music, this creative genius also finds full expression in the 18 stories contributed by writers in Haiti and in the Haitian diaspora as well as two "blan" (white) Haitiphile authors (Madison Smartt Bell; Mark Kurlansky). A few of the tales are noir in the traditional crime fiction sense—Josaphat-Robert Large's "Rosanna" is a chilling tale of a kidnapping gone very, very wrong: tensions between an émigré sister and her stay-at-home sibling come to a deadly head after their mother's funeral in Katia D. Ulysse's sardonic "The Last Department." Others experiment with stretching the genre's boundaries. Gary Victor's "The Finger" branches into hallucinatory horror, while Kettly Mars's "Paradise Inn" is a study in existential surrealism (shades of Sartre's No Exit). VERDICT This anthology will give American readers a complex and nuanced portrait of the real Haiti not seen on the evening news and introduce them to some original and wonderful writers. [A portion of the profits will be donated to the Lambi Fund of Haiti; see Q&A with Danticat on p. 92.—Ed.]—Wilda Williams, Library Journal

OCTOBER 2011 - AudioFile

This anthology of important voices from Haiti is capably and uniquely rendered by three narrators who each have a distinct delivery style. As one reaches the end of each story, the volume's overall narrator reminds one that the current story has ended and next one is beginning. It’s a pleasure to transition to each new voice. Robin Miles, Peter Fernandez, and Rachel Leslie invoke the mystery and danger that are inherent to varying degrees in each story. Presenting characters ranging from a teenage girl who is fending off an ex-convict to an earthquake survivor who is attacked for being a witch—these voices and stories demonstrate the variety that is Haiti. M.R. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

A wide-ranging collection from the beloved but besieged Caribbean island.

The 18 new stories, most by native Haitians, are introduced by Haitian-born National Book Award finalist Danticat. The editor/introducer does triple duty with "Claire of the Sea Light," which focuses on the sensuality of the island seen through a young girl's eyes. Each remaining tale has a different geographical setting. The opening and closing stories, Patrick Sylvain's "Odette" and Rodney Saint-Éloi's "The Blue Hill," deal with the recent earthquake. The former follows a grandmother's movements shortly after the disaster; the latter gives the quake a more metaphoric dimension. Other highlights: "Paradise Inn," by Kettly Mars, begins with the hero, Gokal's new police chief, arriving at his new post on a dark, humid night. In Josaphat-Robert Large's "Rosanna," the heroine's excitement over an outing with her beloved aunt soon turns to fear. Izzy Goldstein, the hero of Mark Kurlansky's wry "The Leopard of Ti Morne," knows that inside his Jewish exterior is a Haitian soul and decides to live accordingly. "The Harem," by Ibi Aanu Zoboi, probes the MO of Jean-Robert, an incorrigible seducer known to his conquests as Robby.

The 36th entry in Akashic's Noir series (which ranges from Bronx to Delhi to Twin Cities) is beautifully edited, with a spectrum of voices, stories grouped under three headings, maps that pinpoint story settings and pictures accopmanying the thumbnail author bios.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171050788
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	09/16/2011
Series:	Akashic Noir Series
Edition description:	Unabridged

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