It charts the return to Haiti
by Montreal
based Laferriere, who left his motherland to escape Baby Doc’s brutal
dictatorship. His first stop is New
York to attend his father’s funeral (who was also an
exile). Then it’s on to Port-au-Prince
to meet up with the family he has not seen for decades, and to give his mother
the news of her long lost husband.
The book
alternates between poetry and prose as the author tries to come to terms with
his return to his homeland; the poverty, the crime and the poor infrastructure.
The feelings it arouses in Laferriere are clearly too painful and poignant for
a straight description of what he comes across. He uses a lot of simile and
metaphor which I think does his experience more justice: ‘A day here lasts a
lifetime/ You’re born at dawn./ You grow up at noon./ You die at twilight.’
I didn’t
choose this book- it was sent as a substitute for something else by Newbooks Magazine. But it was a happy accident
because I loved the beautiful and sharp imagery and although Laferriere doesn’t
give us a clear resolution, we share his journey all the more for it:
‘Returning South after all these years/ I am like someone/ who has had to
relearn what he already knows/ but had to forget along the way.’
Read this if you want a trip out of your literary comfort zone.
