Description: This vibrant collection of 22 stories offers a kaleidoscopic view of Haiti and a wonderful encapsulation of the acclaimed author's work.
In a country plagued by dictatorship and insurrection, poverty and corruption, where police officers and gang members become hard to distinguish, art provides a sense of meaning and respite. As people from all walks of life protest their tyrannical leader, a painter tries to reconcile the brutal violence he sees with the beauty of his lover. A wealthy industrialist's kidnapping ties back to his past with a humble laundress from the seaside. A lovesick servant girl turns to magic to win her master's heart. Having escaped the shantytowns he grew up in, a wannabe James Bond feels their pull again when he gets involved with an alluring young woman--and her pimp. Written with the masterful language of a poet, and filled with characters at once lifelike and mythical, Lyonel Trouillot's story collection creates a multifaceted portrait of modern Haiti.Review Quotes: "Trouillot conjures a vibrant community...In sparsely simple, never simplistic stories, Trouillot intriguingly, poignantly centers 'the wounded and the outcast, who have a right to revenge and sometimes take it, if only in words.'" --Booklist (starred review)
Praise for Antoine of Gommiers "With Antoine of Gommiers, Trouillot proposes a dialectic that explains the crisis not only in Haiti but also in the modern world...and asks us to learn to merge our dreams in order to live harmoniously." --Los Angeles Review of Books "A book about the quest for the Haitian identity, both a magic tale and a painful everyday life account, between prosaicness and lyricism." --France Culture