The short story collection entitled Kirk?Krak! packs a punch coming from the
Haiti-born writer, expressing Haitian-Caribbean human experiences from perspectives
of hard-living, Oral traditions, perseverance, immigration, and family
cohesiveness in the midst of lacking resources. I remember finding out about
Danticat by way of “Children of the Sea” in Short Stories For Students encyclopedic series, and wanted to pick it up. As of the time I’d become more
involved in writers and books of Africana and Caribbean cultural mentality, and
this sent me along deeper into my studies.
Because it’d be far too long and
unnecessary with this type of book, I’ll go over a few to give potential
readers anticipation for the rest of the collection.
Stories:
Children of the Sea
Nineteen
Thirty-Seven
A Wall of Fire
Rising
Night Women
Between the Pool
and the Gardenias
The Missing
Peace
Seeing Things
Simply
New York Day
Women
Caroline’s
Wedding
Epilogue: Women
Like Us
“Children of the Sea” describes two Haitian
youths, boyfriend and girlfriend, who are separated, and are writing
descriptively to one another, having each other in mind for solace while
dealing with the oppressive circumstances that separated them. This mainly
relates to the male narrator being a part of a grouped resistance against Haitian
government dictation, and is forced into exile.
The story’s structure is clever, splitting
between each of them as the narrators of the story, never identified by name, one
in bold print and the other regular, separated between boat and land. It’s unexpected
how much emotional turmoil is actually involved, but makes the most powerful
read in the collection, showing a power of deep affection to keep two persons
sane in positions of deprivation or being under duress.
“A Wall of Fire Rising”: to not spoil it
not much can be said on it, but within the story a child excitedly recites
lines of a play, and the writer blended the play’s lines with the story’s drama
very well by the end. This expands on the living conditions of this family, and
with skill looking within the dialog, you can see that the character Guy was
ashamed of not being able to be a proper provider, speaking to poverty and
emasculation of the male.
“Seeing Things Simply” can be seen as weird, quirky, and even
a little morbid, about a developing youth, being in association and service of
a Paris-oriented painter, by being her subject. So far, if you’re going in
order, this is the least “horrid”
story so far, and actually far more upbeat. There’s a lost aspect in Princesse,
and the artist Catherine, help give something to fulfill herself, aspiring to
draw herself eventually.
“Epilogue: Women Like Us”: there’s a
good use of second-person past-tensed, (using “You” throughout) and it’s as if
the main character in question is being told her own story as if she forgotten, or needed to be reminded. Told by
who you could wonder, and eventually leave up to just non-descript narrations,
or through what was said, it’s her spirit guides in form of forerunners. The
saying of “We are always with you” or “An army of woman are always with you”
are why you could frame it as spirit guides, women/mothers of ancestry, recounting
on her as a little girl wanting to be a writer, a poet, in an atmosphere that
didn’t promote it. It looked upon that desire ridiculously, and even more, the
story suggesting that it was dangerous
to be a writer, male or female.
Other stories of note are “Night Woman”
for its afro-fantastical element, and “Caroline’s Wedding” a great way to end
the book. The main issue of the latter is the troubles and work that had to be
put in for the father to travel to America, get married, and eventually divorce
to bring the rest of the family over. This is where Caroline is born but not
Gracina. The story primarily focuses on the daughters gaining independence,
especially Caroline (the narrator) by getting her naturalization papers and
becoming an American citizen.
Readers can get the sense of a story
arc/timeline running through the book, which I feel Edwidge intended, but never
close enough to push it, whereby it’d seem novelized. Due to Some imagery given,
someone could consider these stories ‘Haitian horror tales’ with some of the
grim actions described, but this is not even intended in that genre, showing
how horrid poverty can be. Though fictional, realistic relations were based on
Danticat’s own experiences, and some geo-cultural context besides what we could
usually imagine as a tourist spot; very poetic but having hard-hitting and depressing
themes, and shows the need for post-colonial action and economic empowerment in
Haiti, and the islands in general.
OVERALL RATINGS:
Creativity in Writing/dialog: Excellent
Main Story Investments: Children of the
Sea, A Wall of Fire Rising, Seeing Things Simply
Overall Structure/style: Substantial
Overall Pacing: Mostly Consistent,
Re-read Value: 9/10
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