Christopher Hebert

Although there are flaws that the author might acknowledge himself, this work became a pageturner well before the halfway point. I often felt as though I were reading a fairy tale: there is a hidden garden behind a locked gate, the man and the woman, a parent-child relationship to repair, and a narrator who doesn't relate to people so much as encounter them by chance. But Haiti (as most readers identify the setting) is no place to live in a fairy tale. For me, a former sojourner in Haiti, show more that was a premise I shared with the author, and found his examination of the effects of history and culture on character fascinating. The protagonist says somewhere near the end that it may be his destiny to be invisible--is this the destiny the world assigns to this beautiful and self-destructive place? show less

Christopher Hebert's first novel is a story of the development of an intelligent man born into poverty on a Caribbean island. Alexandre is ambitious, and as an adolescent escapes some of his poor status by working for a wealthy lawyer with government connections. Alexandre's father, a poor shopkeeper, does not like this fraternizing with the rich but tolerates it because he supports Alexandre's initiative.

The story becomes a reinforcement of the idea that success is due largely to people you show more know. In his role as chauffer, Alexandre meets a manager in a hotel in the main town of the island who helps him on his mission to escape his rural poverty. The manager helps Alexandre to become the chief caretaker of a long neglected compound that preserves a section of the island unspoiled by the ravages of civil strife and environmental destruction. The compound has a long history as a large opulent estate, but Alexander finds the land in a natural wild and uninhabitable state. The old buildings, once elegant, are now overgrown and crumbling.

Alexandre's employer, the new owner of the estate, is a very successful US businesswoman who has bought the compound because of its natural beauty. She wants to create a hotel that will rival exotic destinations for wealthy travelers throughout the world. Alexandre works for years on the estate, using Mme Freeman's money to make the estate a beautiful retreat from the pressures of the world. He gradually loses his connection and identification with his roots in the poor native caste. His father never fully opposes his work but shows resentment of Alexandre's working with rich outsiders.

The story is an interesting parable about the endless cycle of struggle between the rich and poor throughout the world, even in paradise. For decades, Alexandre immerses himself in work in his compound and lives an idyllic life in isolation, but the grand cycle of human desire for dominance inevitably overtakes him. He is forced to realize that utopias are relatively short-lived and he must take a moral stand and live in the reality of the world to develop fully as a person.

The Boiling Season is an interesting story told by Alexandre who becomes an increasingly insightful participant observer in the world's repetitive grand circle of survival, contentment, social climbing, economic achievement, resentment, encroachment, strife, and revolution. Whenever two or more of us are gathered in the name of society, the struggle continues and Alexandre shows us that each person must choose a personal myth. show less

{ I received an ARC of this book for free as a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. Full review originally posted to Goodreads. }

Before I started this book, I read a review that said this was more of a character study, and I agree. This book is about Alexandre and his development as a person, about his journey to find his purpose and his place in the world. It is set on an unidentified island in the Caribbean in the midst of war, rich and powerful vs poor and powerless.

Alexandre starts out show more wanting to distance himself as much as possible from the people around him, and he is adamant that they are not "his people." He sees himself as apart from and above them. He wants more to life; he wants the beauty that his mother sought. He pours his time and effort in restoring Habitation Louvois, an old estate that is his version of paradise: green and untouched. His world revolves around Habitation Louvois, and the outside people and their problems are nothing but an annoyance to him.

I enjoyed reading along as he struggled to develop Habitation Louvois and then struggled to maintain it. Alexandre escapes the real world and envelops himself in preparing the estate, which has now become a hotel, for wealthy foreign visitors. As it becomes popular, I felt fulfilled along with Alexandre; things were going so right, and all his hard work was paying off.

But as you read, you know in your heart that the success of Habitation Louvois cannot last, that the peace at the hotel cannot withstand the violence outside its walls. It was heartbreaking to see all Alexandre's hard work disintegrating right before his eyes as the armies march in. The book ends on a bittersweet note, with a feeling of hope and an Alexandre who has truly discovered who he is, despite all he has lost throughout the book. show less

As Alexandre explains, the poor people, the slums are on the bottom of the hill, the higher you go the richer they are. Alexandre wants nothing so much as to escape the poverty he was born to, with that in mind he accepts a job from a senator first working as a houseboy and than as the senator's chauffeur. Although this is an unnamed country in the Caribbean, I believe it is Haiti, and the unstable political system with coups and constantly changing dictators have much to do with this novel. show more Eventually Alexandre leaves the senator to become the manager of a beautiful old Habitat, a wonderful place of green and beauty, amidst all the uncertainty and he is sure he will end his days happily shut away. Alexandre is immensely likable, if somewhat naive, and he quickly learns that sometimes you don't have to seek out trouble, but that sometimes it comes to you. What he does when this happens, is unexpected. He learns that it is harder to escape your past than one thinks and I thought the ending fit perfectly with his character. Another very good book by a first time novelist. show less