Krik? Krak!

Description

Krik? Krak!, originally released in 1996 following the publication of Edwidge Danticat's extraordinary Breath, Eyes, Memory (abacus, 1996) confirms her as a remarkably gifted writer. Examining the lives of ordinary Haitians, particularly those struggling to survive under the brutal Duvalier regime, Danticat illuminates the distance between people's desires and the stifling reality of their lives. These short stories inform and enrich one another, as the female characters reveal a common ancestry and ties to the fictional Ville Rose.

Edwidge Danticat is the author of numerous books, includingBrother, I'm Dying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was a National Book Award finalist;Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection;Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist; The Dew Breaker, winner of the inaugural Story Prize; and The Farming of Bones, whichwon an American Book Award for fiction in 1999. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, she has been published inThe New Yorker,The New York Times, and elsewhere.

Praise for Krik? Krak! National Book Award Finalist for Fiction "Steeped in the myths and lore that sustained generations of Haitians, Krik? Krak! demonstrates the healing power of storytelling." -San Francisco Chronicle "Virtually flawless . . . If the news from Haiti is too painful to read, read this book instead and understand the place more deeply than you ever thought possible." -Washington Post Book World "The voices of Krik? Krak! . . . encapsulate whole lifetimes of experience. Harsh, passionate, lyrical." -The Seattle Times "Steady-handed yet devastating . . . In Haiti, where politics are lethal and women are condemned to suffering and death by men who envy and fear their powers, hope does indeed seem ludicrous, but in Danticat's fiction, mind and spirit soar above the pain and horrors of life." -Booklist "Danticat beautifully balances the poverty, despair, and brutality her characters endure with magic and myth. For many characters, she also explores the inevitable clash between traditions of Haitian home life and a new American culture. Principally mothers and daughters confront each other in these cultural and intergenerational wars, wars that would be emotionally devastating were it not for the indomitable presence of love . . . Highly recommended." -Library Journal "Spare, luminous stories that read like poems . . . [These] tales more than confirm the promise of her magical first novel. A silenced Haiti has once again found its literary voice." -Paule Marshall, author of Daughters