HAITI NOIR 2

Like a good tasting menu that promises larger portions with the entrée menu I have totally enjoyed this short volume.

It kicks off with a fabulous piece form 1930 by Jacques Roumain about a failed writer who contemplates giving up his dream to become a civil servant who would please both his wife and her hypocrite mom in Port Au Prince. This is a haunting “preface” to his book The Life of a Bureaucrat which I will certainly now search out in the NYPL (New York Public Library).

Ida Flaubert’s A Strange Story illuminates the dark side of voodoo and how it stains a family’s legacy.

The dark side of Haiti with its sordid characters and history soon reveals itself in these tales but the shining character and will of its people to save some personal dignity is also illustrated.

I especially liked the fast moving, Reve Haitian, by Ben Fountain about an international observer who becomes involved with a mysterious revolutionary. Together they hatch a plan to smuggle canvases of art by great Haitian artists to Miami to raise money for guns. The author captures the distance between international “do gooders” and those fighting against the corrupt governing class. One gets a sense of the different neighborhoods each inhabit.

This is one of the best aspects of all the “noir” series of books and this edition is no different. The reader experiences the ambience of what it is to live in Haiti. The editor, Edwidge Danticat, herself a well acclaimed writer has done an admirable job curating a wide range of writers to illustrate the mystery of her native country, Haiti. ( )

Haiti Noir 2 is a welcome addition to the Noir world collection and an important extension to the original Haiti Noir release. This one is labelled The Classics (I'm not sure it deserves that title — most of the 19 stories were written after 2001) and the book has been divided into three parts with the best stories seemingly in Part 1: Hunted/Haunted. The mix of deeply spiritual and superstitious religious beliefs and a vicious political regime provides strong themes for many of the stories in this collection. Vodou, Ton-ton Macoute, torture and revenge, insurrection and survival all fit comfortably under the Noir banner. ( )

An absolutely essential collection, edited by one of Haiti's best contemporary writers. Some of the reading is hard. All of it is valuable. I will be returning to this book regularly for the thinking it provokes and the voices it represents. ( )

Excellent selection of short novels. The format adopted by Akashic books is great for any city commuter who can fully read an inspirational piece during that time. Our multitasking modern life makes the novels coming from Haiti a way to resource to the mysteries of the land, its spirits, their occult powers, and those of nature.

The lead author Danticat invites the reader to a literary party. As in other Noir book by publisher Akashic it starts with maps giving the reader a sense of whereabouts. Great to have all the authors pictures and short bios at the end. Some authors write in three languages while the preface of Mrs. Danticat reminds the importance of Haitian creole. However translated novels do not indicate which language it is translated from.
If there is a third or for future publications, it would be great to give this detail to the reader.

The novel of Jacques Roumain set in Port-Au-Prince; "Preface to the life of a bureaucrat" is particularly delightful in that it narrates the friendship between a rich dilettante and failed law student; Horatio Basile, and Michel who embodies the soul of Haiti.
Resolutely Chekhovian in style it could have many different endings. It is one of these short stories with marvelously crafted sentences that could be read again, and again, and again. And again.

"A Strange story", by Ida Faubert is very moving and takes place in Haiti and in France, mixes vodou and Catholicism when a funeral leads to the discovery of a family secret of shattered childhood.

Jacques-Stephen Alexis "The Enchanted Second Lieutenant" shows a character with complex loyalties whose life ends tragically because he chooses the spell of the mountains.

"A White house with the pink curtains in the Downstairs windows" by Jan J. Dominique (these short stories titles are all fantastically creative") is about supernatural forces and the power of the "Ougan".

"Oresca" by Paulette Poujol Oriol, is a tragic Haitian cocktail of murder, politics and macoutes in the district of Source Diquini. ( )

This was a nice addition to my Caribbean book collection. I have discovered some new authors whose other work I will seek out. For instance, I am looking forward to Roxane Gay's first novel and reading more of Touillot, Chancy, and Anglade. Solid tales and highly recommended. ( )