Description: "Explores the deep-seated trauma and the suppressed memories of a middle-class Haitian family when their eldest son, Alexandre, must return to the family hearth after his mental institution closes in the wake of the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti"--
Review Quotes:
Returning to the post-quake timeline used in Aux frontières de la soif (2013), Mars creates another narrative decidedly linked to the 2010 Haitian earthquake... Her choice to describe the edges of the tragedy rather than crafting a novel based solely on the horrific physical event is deceptively powerful. By targeting fringe circumstances such as sibling rivalry and family hierarchy, Mars ensures that the reader is pulled into a personalized version of the earthquake perhaps on an even more impactful, relatable level... The labyrinthian narrative structure chosen by Mars develops in such a way as to mirror the dizzying aftereffects of the quake, one from which its characters and the reader cannot escape.
--French Review