"Krik? Krak!"

Krik? Krak! is Danticat's second book. The blurb tells us that When Haitians tell a story, they say Krik? and the listeners answer Krak! and so we start on the journey into Haitian culture. Danticat is the only "Haitian" author I have read, since she writes in English. I am drawn to her style of writing, short sentences, uses of Kweyol, local colour in descriptions, so that I get a picture of Haitian life outside of the newspapers and television.
 The characters move between stories and between locations - usually Haiti and USA and then between periods of time. Some of them are bleak but the writing gives honour to the characters in them, despite their circumstances. Children of the Sea is about the Haitians who travel on the boat, told in a unique way of letters. 1937 is about the old history of Haiti, and the cruelty when state and faith do not meet. A wall of fire rising is about imagination and dreaming to escape situations. Night women is a tale from a woman of the night who has to protect her son from the truth of her night worm. Between the pool and the Gardenias is about the longing for motherhood, while The Missing Peace is about human relations during occupation. Seeing things simply is not so simple. New York Day Women is a counter to the Night Women I think.  Caroline's wedding is my favourite, about an immigrant family dealing with traditions in the USA based around the wedding of a woman who is marrying out of her 'group'.

Two women I know said that Danticat stories are depressing  The stories are beautiful - I might be weird in that I like the grey skies when 'rain set up' so I find that depressing stories can also be beautiful.

The stories are credible and are different from each other, but connected , same village mentioned throughout as an example, and then the last story mentions the mass for a boat woman which is in the first story.
They bring a perspective of Caribbean life which sometimes sound bizarre, but the stories could be about characters anywhere in the Caribbean.

 
Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie talked about  the danger of a single story  and this was in my head as I thought about how Krik? Krak! gives us stories of Haitian people which we would never ordinarily know. Thanks KD for lending me this!