Trini Girl Reads is happy to be celebrating Read Caribbean Month.
In the month of June all Caribbean Book influencers will be reading and featuring some of our favourite literature from the Caribbean. As a proud Caribbean person and a lover of books I will be reading and recommending a few Caribbean Books during the month of June.
With that being said, I just finished reading a short story collection called "Everything Inside" by Edwidge Danticat.
About the book
From the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author of Brother, I'm Dying, a collection of vividly imagined stories about community, family, and love.
Rich with hard-won wisdom and humanity, set in locales from Miami and Port-au-Prince to a small unnamed country in the Caribbean and beyond, Everything Inside is at once wide in scope and intimate, as it explores the forces that pull us together, or drive us apart, sometimes in the same searing instant.
In these eight powerful, emotionally absorbing stories, a romance unexpectedly sparks between two wounded friends; a marriage ends for what seem like noble reasons, but with irreparable consequences; a young woman holds on to an impossible dream even as she fights for her survival; two lovers reunite after unimaginable tragedy, both for their country and in their lives; a baby's christening brings three generations of a family to a precarious dance between old and new; a man falls to his death in slow motion, reliving the defining moments of the life he is about to lose.
This is the indelible work of a keen observer of the human heart--a master at her best.
My brief thoughts
This short story collection was very rich.
Every story spoke to a different issue and evoked a different emotion. I really appreciate how the author too us into the lives of Haiti and the struggles of those who both live on the island and those who would have migrated to the United States. I have always had personal interest in Haiti since my Caribbean History classes both at Secondary School and at University. I have always believed that Haiti is a very misunderstood part of the Caribbean region and their struggles are unique wherever they are in the world. Ms. Danticat represented the territory well through these eight stories. My favorites were Dosas and the Port Au Prince Marriage Special. All were good but these two were WOW!!!
This was my first time reading this author and from the body of work that I see she has it would not be my last. So if you are looking for a nice short story collection check this one out.
About the Author
Edwidge Danticat was born in Haiti and moved to the United States when she was twelve. She is the author of several books, including Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection; Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist; and The Farming of Bones, an American Book Award winner. She is also the editor of The Butterfly's Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States and The Beacon Best of 2000: Great Writing by Men and Women of All Colors and Cultures.
Danticat earned a degree in French Literature from Barnard College, where she won the 1995 Woman of Achievement Award, and later an MFA from Brown University. She lives in Miami with her husband and daughters.
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