Haiti Noir

I really feel like the stronger pieces were at the beginning of the collection. With a lot of the ones at the end, I was left thinking "what was the point of that?". I did not enjoy the David Ball translations at all. They were all awkward and choppy. Large's piece seems to have been written in English originally, with mixed results. A lot of the pieces didn't really seem like Noir to me, but I'm no expert on the genre.

My favorites: Danticat's piece --very powerful and the end just sneaks up on you. "The Harem", "Odette" by Patrick Sylvain did make me cry although I didn't love it. I enjoyed the pieces by Mars and Trouillot as well. Some of the other stories were well written, but I couldn't see how they qualified as noir and it bugs me show more when essential elements of the short story structure are missing, although that's just the teacher in me talking. I'll try to shut her up. show less

Really uneven collection, a quality I might attribute to:

1. Writers underachieving or overreaching in their reinterpretation of noir;
2. Literal (and literal-minded) translation.

I loved a few of the stories and hated a few more, but plan on seeking out more from each contributor regardless. Trouble is, many of them have published their best work in francophone literary journals, likely hard to come by via public library here.

Like any compilation of short stories, there are some high and low points to this book, but I appreciated each story for the Haitian perspective the author contributed. Each story also seemed to be influenced by (but didn’t necessarily go overboard with) the folklore and superstition that appears to pervade the history and culture. And there were a few stories dealing with the earthquake, devastation, and aftermath – really eye opening. The anthology and the stories themselves are filled with contrasting emotions, love and hate, corruption and justice, hope and despair, making it a rollercoaster of a read.

Reviewed at Reviewing the Evidence.