• Is a moving testimonial of man's inhumanity to man — especially man's inhumanity to woman — that you cannot leave untouched. Moving beyond the frustratingly ephemeral considerations of presidential politics, Danticat's poetry of pain is an indelible portrait.
• Adrienne Rich, Of Woman Born (247) Adrienne Rich writes in Of Woman Born that there comes a time in a daughter‟s life where she realizes that her mother, like herself, is also engaged in an identity struggle with the society around her. The frustrated daughter may sometimes hate her mother for being the “victim” if she sees the mother‟s.

1. Woman Like Us Danticat Movie

At an astonishingly young age, Edwidge Danticat has become one of our most celebrated new writers. She is an artist who evokes the wonder, terror, and heartache of her native Haiti-and the enduring strength of Haiti's women-with a vibrant imagery and narrative grace that bear witness to her people's suffering and courage.When Haitians tell a story, they say 'Krik?'

And t At an astonishingly young age, Edwidge Danticat has become one of our most celebrated new writers. She is an artist who evokes the wonder, terror, and heartache of her native Haiti-and the enduring strength of Haiti's women-with a vibrant imagery and narrative grace that bear witness to her people's suffering and courage.When Haitians tell a story, they say 'Krik?' And the eager listeners answer 'Krak!' Danticat establishes herself as the latest heir to that narrative tradition with nine stories that encompass both the cruelties and the high ideals of Haitian life. They tell of women who continue loving behind prison walls and in the face of unfathomable loss; of a people who resist the brutality of their rulers through the powers of imagination. The result is a collection that outrages, saddens, and transports the reader with its sheer beauty.

“These were our bedtime stories. Tales that haunted our parents and made them laugh at the same time. We never understood them until we were fully grown and they became our sole inheritance.”- Edwidge Danticat, “Krik?

Like most scholars in this field, I rely on ideas from Adrienne Rich‟s Of Woman Born as a springboard to further develop my ideas, as well as other sources published in the 1990s and early millennium. I examine short stories by the following authors: Edwidge Danticat, Maxine Hong Kingston, Leslie Pietrzyk, and Amy Tan.

Krak!”This selection of short stories was absolutely amazing. Heartbreaking, but brilliant. We see Haiti through different eyes, each pair experiencing a lot of pain and loss. Even with the knowledge that I have of Haiti’s horrific history, what Danticat wrote (using vignettes tol “These were our bedtime stories.

Tales that haunted our parents and made them laugh at the same time. We never understood them until we were fully grown and they became our sole inheritance.”- Edwidge Danticat, “Krik? Krak!”This selection of short stories was absolutely amazing. Heartbreaking, but brilliant.

We see Haiti through different eyes, each pair experiencing a lot of pain and loss. Even with the knowledge that I have of Haiti’s horrific history, what Danticat wrote (using vignettes told from the point of view of various characters) still managed to shock me. In that way, I feel Danticat illuminates Haiti’s painful history the way Toni Morrison highlights slavery in “Beloved.”The stories were separate yet created a larger picture spread over decades.

There’s a lot of heartbreak in these tales. The one that touched me the most was “Children of the Sea”, which featured a story about Haitian refugees trying to make it to Miami in boats. It’s obvious that this is a difficult and risky feat but have we considered the psychological issues and the everyday constraints that the migrants have to deal with? I hadn’t, Danticat obviously had.

That’s one of the many things l like about fiction; being given the opportunity to think about something that would probably have never crossed my mind otherwise.That scene really created a lot more empathy in me:“Sometimes, I forget where I am. If I keep daydreaming like I have been doing, I will walk off the boat to go for a stroll.”The whole book was very much alive for me due to Danticat’s superior writing. Her narrative just flows and manages to incorporate so much; history, relationships, superstition, culture, and so on with such honesty and clarity.This is a complex book that made me think of how it is that one can love their homeland so much, yet at the same time realize there is so much ugliness present, embarrassing stuff at that.Judging from Danticat’s writing, that doesn’t mean one loves their country any less.Definitely a rewarding read. Hopefully more books like this are read so people can have more empathy for migrants. Everyone knows what the baseline reader is. The body is abstract, the habits of the norm, the names of a conventional origin, the hierarchy unquestioned. To get a hint of the opposite, look at which covers are commissioned for thematic design and which consist of bodies and cultural artifacts.

You'll learn about the blackened butterfly of this cover through one of the stories, as well as about the lives of the women that fit the archetype of my alternative cover that the digitized edition does n Everyone knows what the baseline reader is. The body is abstract, the habits of the norm, the names of a conventional origin, the hierarchy unquestioned. To get a hint of the opposite, look at which covers are commissioned for thematic design and which consist of bodies and cultural artifacts. You'll learn about the blackened butterfly of this cover through one of the stories, as well as about the lives of the women that fit the archetype of my alternative cover that the digitized edition does not currently show. A portrait of the author, perhaps? Certainly not of the intended readership. She, with locs and bronze all woven through, is not the socioeconomic poster child of the marketer's design.The majority of lauded books are written for a mere ten percent of the population of the globe, and the biggest con of capitalism and cultural domination was to call such tomes universal.

To subvert such persistent gall requires continual regrounding of what is the usual, what is granted, what is the destiny and what is the choice. No, accommodated reader, you are not white. No, communicated reader, you are not male. No, handheld reader, your world is not of free suburbia but of heritage, revolution on one side and massacre on the other, tales on the kitchen stove and Icarus in the shanty, where liberty and death become far more complicated when the fire has been rising for nine hundred ninety-nine generations and counting. Women come and women go, and there is no telling in this shifting scape of love and loss when a turn around the corner will bring to life a familiar face, when looking back requires a loss forever.It's easy enough to look Haiti up in the history books and Danticat up in the halls of literary excellence and mix the two together to get a prelude of what is to come from a writer who concerns herself with the death of infants in her homeland and all lost in transit so that they may live. She is not that lazily thrown about enforcement of 'universal', nor can that term be applied to any work in this era of broadcasting the tippy top to the world and calling it the modern normality.

She is, however, to those sick of tailor-made literary expectations and open to theories of literature forever on the knife edge of then and now and what is to come, worth reading. Blog review:I really liked this! It was the perfect summer read, especially since most of the short stories in this collection take place in Haiti - the island with the indigo blue skies and the sandy beaches. It is very evident that Danticat wrote this from her heart and I felt her love for her island in every story. My fave stories were: Children of the Sea (tender tale of two lovers separated by political violence and the sea); Between the Pool an!!!

Blog review:I really liked this! It was the perfect summer read, especially since most of the short stories in this collection take place in Haiti - the island with the indigo blue skies and the sandy beaches. It is very evident that Danticat wrote this from her heart and I felt her love for her island in every story. My fave stories were: Children of the Sea (tender tale of two lovers separated by political violence and the sea); Between the Pool and the Gardenias (crazy story! I was shocked while reading this!

Loved it); The Missing Peace (I always love a story with a precocious, brave girl in it); Caroline's Wedding (This was interesting.I adored the sisterhood between Caroline and Gracina. The mother in the story irked me- she was such a debbie-downer, but I understand why); Epilogue: Women Like Us (Great ending.

I'm guessing this is a true 'story' on the struggle Danticat went through with convincing her family that she wanted to become a writer instead of the stereotypical role of a great housewife or cook which women in her family prided themselves with).I like that I learned a bit about Haiti and the hardships it has faced and how it has affected its citizens. I'm definitely going to google some stuff from the book to learn more - like the coup d'etat it faced, Papa Doc Duvalier (ex-president Francois Duvalier) etc. I hope to read more Danticat in the future!MORE ON THE BOOK BLOG SOON.

I remember when I was in high school, Edwidge Danticat was one of the new rising literary stars who was getting a lot of attention. It's nice to come back to this collection of short stories and realize that it was completely justified.

Is that rare collection which feels like a novel in its own right - each story is not only a perfect gem on its own, but connects thematically to the rest of the stories to create a greater whole. The stories are linked by a network of metaphors an g I remember when I was in high school, Edwidge Danticat was one of the new rising literary stars who was getting a lot of attention. It's nice to come back to this collection of short stories and realize that it was completely justified.

Is that rare collection which feels like a novel in its own right - each story is not only a perfect gem on its own, but connects thematically to the rest of the stories to create a greater whole. The stories are linked by a network of metaphors an grounded in two geographic locations-Ville Rose in Haiti and New York in America.Some stories focus on figures who are sickeningly familiar in their rages and frustrations in the midst of violence and poverty. These stories tend to work with less conventional storytelling techniques which help keep the tension alive in the story. Other stories are gloriously original, and offer voices that are perhaps finding their way into print for the first time ever. Throughout the collection, Haitian culture is the centerpiece, with stories that focus on intracultural relations as well as those that investigate how Haitian perspectives interact with European or American ones. Beautifully written stories, featuring women in difficult lives.

I particularly enjoyed the epilogue, 'Women Like Us,' that has a sense of a recited poem to it.I had selected a pile of books set in various Caribbean places to read when I was in the Caribbean, so it was interesting to end up reading Krik? While I was in the Bahamas. A recurring theme throughout these stories is how Bahamians treat Haitians cruelly. Just a few islands away!' They treat Haitians like dogs in the Bahamas, a wom Beautifully written stories, featuring women in difficult lives. I particularly enjoyed the epilogue, 'Women Like Us,' that has a sense of a recited poem to it.I had selected a pile of books set in various Caribbean places to read when I was in the Caribbean, so it was interesting to end up reading Krik? While I was in the Bahamas.

A recurring theme throughout these stories is how Bahamians treat Haitians cruelly. Just a few islands away!'

They treat Haitians like dogs in the Bahamas, a woman says. To them, we are not human. Even though our music sounds like ours.

Their people look like ours. Even though we had the same African fathers who probably crossed these same seas together.'

'We know people by their stories.' This is true. I'd like to read more of Danticat, particularly post-earthquake.' Are there women who both cook and write?

Kitchen poets, they call them. They slip phrases into their stew and wrap meaning around their pork before frying it. They make narrative dumplings and stuff their daughter's mouths so they say nothing more.' April 2018This was an interesting re-read for me because based on the review below, I didn't enjoy it too much the first time.

Eight years later, I enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would. I love how each story reads like a book and how engaging the characters are. Some of my favorite stories were:Children of the SeaA Wall of Fire RisingBetween the Pool and the GardeniasSeeing things SimplyNew York Day WomenCaroline WeddingWomen Like UsFirst book by Danticat and I am intrigued.

I liked April 2018This was an interesting re-read for me because based on the review below, I didn't enjoy it too much the first time. Eight years later, I enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would. I love how each story reads like a book and how engaging the characters are.

Some of my favorite stories were:Children of the SeaA Wall of Fire RisingBetween the Pool and the GardeniasSeeing things SimplyNew York Day WomenCaroline WeddingWomen Like UsFirst book by Danticat and I am intrigued. I liked the book but I didn’t love it, even though it had all the elements of a great book. It was set in the Caribbean, written by a Caribbean author and mostly women were at the center piece of the stories. I liked the very first story, because it gave the Krik Krak appeal, where there were two narrators telling two stories, I thought it would be like that throughout the book, it wasn’t.Aside from that, a good read. 'The Groom's Still Waiting at the Alter' is one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs, but it's on one of his worst albums.

So I rarely recommend it. Nevertheless, it's a great single and it can exist independently of the album ( Shot of Love) on greatest hits albums, live albums, and even as a single song downloaded from iTunes, Amazon, or a Torrent. You could probably find it on youtube.If only short stories had it so easy.

They don't even get radio play, for one thing, and few make it to anthologies, 'The Groom's Still Waiting at the Alter' is one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs, but it's on one of his worst albums. So I rarely recommend it.

Nevertheless, it's a great single and it can exist independently of the album ( Shot of Love) on greatest hits albums, live albums, and even as a single song downloaded from iTunes, Amazon, or a Torrent. You could probably find it on youtube.If only short stories had it so easy. They don't even get radio play, for one thing, and few make it to anthologies, let alone 'greatest hits' collections.Danticat could use a model like that. Krak!, she tells stories centered around life in Haiti and life for Haitians that live in America.

There's a lack of consistency that we can complain about in this collection, but there are some amazing singles.The best story is almost certainly the opening, 'Children of the Sea.' The voice alone is enough for readers to drown in, and the story is even better. There are two perspectives. The first is a man on a ship that we later learn is sinking. The second is his lover, left behind to face violent civil unrest in Haiti. This is compelling reading.In another story, a man realizes that there is no hope for his life.

He will never do anything in Haiti other than waiting in line for a job cleaning toilets. However, he thinks that he could fly a hot air balloon. Sadly, it's easier to take off than it is to land and his solution makes for a powerful ending.Unfortunately, I was otherwise disappointed with many of these stories. Perhaps Danticat should have arranged the story order differently. I found that my expectations were set incredibly high after reading 'Children of the Sea' and the rest of the collection just couldn't keep up.But as a single, what a success 'Children of the Sea' would have been. Danticat offers a beautiful rendering of Haitian life, in a novel that utterly evokes the many shades of suffering. Tears, the author demonstrates, are life.

Tears are words. Tears heal the pains of the past. Stylistically, I feel that Danticat implemented a structure that absolutely suits her writing-there are separate strands of stories, implying the individuality of angst and emotion; yet these parts are unified by being braided together by the commonality of vibrant Haitian culture and beli Danticat offers a beautiful rendering of Haitian life, in a novel that utterly evokes the many shades of suffering. Tears, the author demonstrates, are life. Tears are words.

Tears heal the pains of the past. Stylistically, I feel that Danticat implemented a structure that absolutely suits her writing-there are separate strands of stories, implying the individuality of angst and emotion; yet these parts are unified by being braided together by the commonality of vibrant Haitian culture and beliefs.The language Danticat employs is stirring, moving, and highly effective in conveying Haitian culture and ideals. Her striking diction invited me to intimately experience the texturally rich and nuanced Haiti through this nation's effects upon each character.What made this book so resounding, to me, was the sincerity and the clear genuine nature of Danticat's writing.

I felt that 'Krik? Expressed the author's soul, without artifice or distance.

It was raw, and therefore honest and alive.I hope to derive inspiration from 'Krik? And apply it to my writing. Danticat has shown me that there is power in culture, as long as it is voiced.

Is a collection of stories that mainly highlights the negative consequences of Haiti’s complicated history of violence and power struggles through the stories of lives of ordinary Haitians. All the characters that are given shape in this book suffer in some ways directly from the complicated politics within Haiti that has led to mass murdering and countless sufferings. On a deeper level, Krik?

Also underscores the important question imposed on citizens of all developing countri Krik? Is a collection of stories that mainly highlights the negative consequences of Haiti’s complicated history of violence and power struggles through the stories of lives of ordinary Haitians.

All the characters that are given shape in this book suffer in some ways directly from the complicated politics within Haiti that has led to mass murdering and countless sufferings. On a deeper level, Krik? Also underscores the important question imposed on citizens of all developing countries that is, whether it is betrayal to leave behind one’s motherland in search of happiness and better opportunities outside? Many characters within the story face with the similar dilemma of loving Haiti because it’s their motherland and hating it because of its never ending troubles and its brutality.

Also highlights the cost of political uncertainty through the pain and suffering it brings to one’s loved ones. Through personalized stories of characters and how they suffer from the tough conditions within Haiti, the author provides a visceral experience of such pain to the readers. Apart from the well-crafted political plotlines, Danticat’s brilliant writing ability to portray her characters, the victims of Haitian political upheaval, in such a way that their pain is closely felt by the readers themselves is very impressive. The scenes she develops in the story, whether be of a lover writing a letter to his love whom he may never see again or a mother who prostitutes herself away while her son sleeps in the corner of the same room, seems so visceral while reading that it feels as if the readers are present in the scene themselves. “My son's bed stays nestled against the corner, far from the peeking jalousies. Furthermore, her unique perspective of being a Haitian woman herself shines in the genuine characters and the plausible plots she develops.

All in all, it is one of those few books that really made me feel the emotions that the writer was attempting to express through her beautiful words. She then gave me the pillow, my mother's pillow. It was open, half-filled with my mother's hair. Each time they shaved her head, my mother had kept the hair for her pillow. I hugged the pillow against my chest, feeling some of the hair rising in clouds of dark dust into my nostrils.48She nearly didn't marry him because it was said that people with angular hairlines often have very troubled lives.65He always slaps the mosquitoes dead on his face without even waking. In the morning, he will ha She then gave me the pillow, my mother's pillow.

It was open, half-filled with my mother's hair. Each time they shaved her head, my mother had kept the hair for her pillow. I hugged the pillow against my chest, feeling some of the hair rising in clouds of dark dust into my nostrils.48She nearly didn't marry him because it was said that people with angular hairlines often have very troubled lives.65He always slaps the mosquitoes dead on his face without even waking.

In the morning, he will have tiny blood spots of his forehead, as though he had spent the whole night kissing a woman with wide-open flesh wounds of her face.84You have to save every piece of flesh and give it a name and bury it near the roots of a tree so that the world won't fall apart.93It's so easy to love somebody, I tell you, when there's nothing else around.96Most of the women in your life had their heads down. They would wake up in the morning to find their panties gone.

Let's start with the opening story, 'Children of the Sea.' Imbued with dread, but with the sort of irrational hope that characterizes all wanderers and exiles, it's something of a wonder. If only the remainder of the book followed up on this promise. The rest of the stories struck me as merely OK, and all too often fell into the oft-repeated, thoroughly marketable tropes of 'immigrant family fiction,' (the Rebellious American Daughter, the Betrayal of Communitarian Tradition, etc. If you' Let's start with the opening story, 'Children of the Sea.' Imbued with dread, but with the sort of irrational hope that characterizes all wanderers and exiles, it's something of a wonder.

If only the remainder of the book followed up on this promise. The rest of the stories struck me as merely OK, and all too often fell into the oft-repeated, thoroughly marketable tropes of 'immigrant family fiction,' (the Rebellious American Daughter, the Betrayal of Communitarian Tradition, etc.

If you're Jhumpa Lahiri, you can get away with this because you're a fucking genius. If you're Edwidge Danticat, and you're merely a perfectly good writer, you need to try a bit harder.

I bought this book way back in January and I wasn't planning on reading it any time soon. I think the cover always made me want to avoid reading it for some reason but I picked it up a few days ago and I couldn't put it down. The stories really were captivating and I'm not a huge fan of books with short stories so I was surprised by how much I loved it. I also loved how some stories tied in with others. Some of these stories will make you ponder life and others leave you gasping for air. Overall I bought this book way back in January and I wasn't planning on reading it any time soon. I think the cover always made me want to avoid reading it for some reason but I picked it up a few days ago and I couldn't put it down.

The stories really were captivating and I'm not a huge fan of books with short stories so I was surprised by how much I loved it. I also loved how some stories tied in with others. Some of these stories will make you ponder life and others leave you gasping for air. Overall, it's a beautiful collection and it's definitely worth reading.Ps the first story in the book is one my favorites! In addition to 2017's Book Riot challenge, I have a soft goal of working on my existing list. This is my choice for Haiti.Each story left me wanting to know more; each was connected by the bones of one another, through families and history and blood.

The first story was my favorite, if not the most arresting (that way lies with Between the Pool and the Gardenias, a dead baby and a delusional woman). Children of the Sea is a back and forth story between a young man and woma In addition to 2017's Book Riot challenge, I have a soft goal of working on my existing list.

This is my choice for Haiti.Each story left me wanting to know more; each was connected by the bones of one another, through families and history and blood. The first story was my favorite, if not the most arresting (that way lies with Between the Pool and the Gardenias, a dead baby and a delusional woman). Children of the Sea is a back and forth story between a young man and woman, in love and separated. He is fleeing across the ocean into exile from President Duvalier's personal paramilitary force (Tonton Macoute) while she is left behind with her family. They write to each other with no way to send the letters and the story that unfolds is beautiful as it is tragic.Hers is the more overtly horrifying, expounding on the variety of ways the Macoute terrify the country ('they have this thing now that they do. If they come into a house and there is a son and a mother there, they hold a gun to their heads.

They make the son sleep with his mother. If there is a daughter and father, they do the same thing.' ) His is dreamy, filled with the razor-sharp dangers of long, unprepared voyages at sea.

('Since there are no mirrors, we look at each other's faces to see how frail and sick we are starting to look.' )We hear of them later, in passing, in other stories.

It is not a happy ending.This was a gorgeous collection, filled with love and pain and tragedy and what it means, for Danticat at the very least, to be Haitian. Edwidge Danticat’s Krik? Is inviting in its apparent simplicity, but gains relevance and worth as the reader discovers its many complex layers. Structured as a series of short stories, Krik? Is able to cover a wide breadth of the struggles, traumas, and successes experienced by the people of Haiti. The characters and their tales are incredibly personal and emotionally poignant, cover topics such as long distance love, motherhood, art and education, and sisterly relationships.

Edwidge Danticat’s Krik? Is inviting in its apparent simplicity, but gains relevance and worth as the reader discovers its many complex layers. Structured as a series of short stories, Krik? Is able to cover a wide breadth of the struggles, traumas, and successes experienced by the people of Haiti. The characters and their tales are incredibly personal and emotionally poignant, cover topics such as long distance love, motherhood, art and education, and sisterly relationships. However, overarching themes such as violence, political strife, immigration, and citizenship, tie the short pieces together and depict some of the major themes affecting people in Haiti (and throughout the world) both historically and currently. Perhaps what makes Danticat’s novel seems so brilliant is the fact that this broken up structure allows her to not only tell touching stories about serious subjects but to also depict the storytelling tradition that exists in Haitian culture by actually acting upon it and inviting the reader to experience it firsthand.I would highly recommend this book to any readers.

While reading, I kept convincing myself that I had time for “just one more chapter,” and at the end I wanted more. I feel that it is valuable both in terms of its depiction of Haitian history and culture and through its ability to portray human emotions with agonizing accuracy. I will not forget this novel. Is a book of powerful vignettes that explores the Haitian identity within multiple contexts.

The stories take place in various geographical locations such as on a boat heading for the United States, several cities within Haiti, and in New York City. In almost all the stories, the Haitian identity is solidified and/or clarified once a person leaves the island and establishes themselves somewhere else. This theme is illustrated by a common refrain in the novel (a lyric from Haiti's nat Krik? Is a book of powerful vignettes that explores the Haitian identity within multiple contexts. The stories take place in various geographical locations such as on a boat heading for the United States, several cities within Haiti, and in New York City. In almost all the stories, the Haitian identity is solidified and/or clarified once a person leaves the island and establishes themselves somewhere else.

This theme is illustrated by a common refrain in the novel (a lyric from Haiti's national anthem): 'Beloved Haiti, there is no place like you. I had to leave you before I could understand you.' I certainly feel like I have a better understanding of present-day Haiti now that I have read this book. I can sympathize with the shared desire to leave the country, but I also understand the desire to continue retain their Haitian identity once one has left. Danticat has shown her readers that one of the most effective ways to do this is to tell stories. Even the title of the novel 'Krik?

Is associated with this storytelling tradition, which is a tradition that simultaneously connects all Haitians and ensures the continuance of their unique culture. This is an unforgettable work and I look forward to reading more of her novels in the future. For me, Krik?

Served as a challenging, engrossing, rare, and beautifully honest insight to life. I mean this to say that Danticat's unique, and in my opinion effective, style of literary storytelling serves to transcend, or destroy entirely, the barriers of culture, language, history, and context in order to present her story, which is consequently not only the story but also the life of her friends, her family, her neighbors, her countrymen.

Woman Like Us Danticat Movie

Even if not focusing on the power of her storyt For me, Krik? Served as a challenging, engrossing, rare, and beautifully honest insight to life.

I mean this to say that Danticat's unique, and in my opinion effective, style of literary storytelling serves to transcend, or destroy entirely, the barriers of culture, language, history, and context in order to present her story, which is consequently not only the story but also the life of her friends, her family, her neighbors, her countrymen. Even if not focusing on the power of her storytelling, the personable presentation of the stories and characters provides an all too rare glimpse at Haiti. I would liken her to a mechanic who has intimate knowledge of the machine of Haiti which she utilizes to show how the cogs of family, tradition, violence, generations, love, and power all inter-relate and play off of each other and how this interface propels Haiti through history.favorite quotes: 'Under God's sky, you do this to people. How can that be nothing?' Page 44'They say the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. I have never been given very much. What was there to take away?'

Edwidge Danticat successfully defines Haitian identity through various young women in different short stories by telling of their hardships and struggles. This novel is harrowing and at the same time uplifting because reading of these women's lives is humbling to anyone who has only ever known freedom, yet their strength and determination to attain true freedom lifts the reader up. Embodies the strength of the Haitian identity through women. Cold reality told with styl in Krik? Edwidge Danticat successfully defines Haitian identity through various young women in different short stories by telling of their hardships and struggles. This novel is harrowing and at the same time uplifting because reading of these women's lives is humbling to anyone who has only ever known freedom, yet their strength and determination to attain true freedom lifts the reader up. Embodies the strength of the Haitian identity through women.

Cold reality told with stylistically engaging, captivating language makes this text beautiful in terms of literary value as well as cultural value. An award winning author, Danticat's Krik? Is revolutionary to its time as well as its region.For me, Krik?

Was a novel that I could not stop reading. Danticat ties all of her short stories together by reusing traditional Haitian names as well as emphasizing certain similarities native to the Haitian identity that span between several characters. Is a good read for anyone looking to read something that will radically change the way they view the region as well as his or her own life. This book was really a mixed bag for me.

Some of the short stories are really engrossing, interesting, and meaningful, while others were vague, puzzling, and dull. If you are from Haiti, or are studying that country, then this book will be a lot more useful and enlightening for you than it was for me, but a lot of the historical aspects of the book were really lacking in context for the average American reader.If you come to this book with no knowledge of the country, then most of this is puzzli This book was really a mixed bag for me.

Some of the short stories are really engrossing, interesting, and meaningful, while others were vague, puzzling, and dull. If you are from Haiti, or are studying that country, then this book will be a lot more useful and enlightening for you than it was for me, but a lot of the historical aspects of the book were really lacking in context for the average American reader.If you come to this book with no knowledge of the country, then most of this is puzzling. There are revolutions and wars and battles, and you don't really understand what any of it means or why it's happening. You get your senses dulled by various atrocities that take place, a lot of suffering and some rather dull and uninspired writing, and then BOOM! The book hits you with some very lovely prose out of nowhere, then goes right back to what it was doing. I really couldn't make heads or tails out of this one, but I see how, in many ways this book could have been much better while still retaining the flavor of what (I think) the author was trying to say. Is a stunning collection of short stories that describe the experience of Haitian women during the political turmoil and chaos of Haiti in the twentieth century.

At times I found the book difficult to read because the stories were so graphically brutal and painful, but I believe it is a must read for anyone who would like to better understand the complexities of Haitian historical memory. I thought it was especially interesting that Danticat included the stories of women who live in Krik? Is a stunning collection of short stories that describe the experience of Haitian women during the political turmoil and chaos of Haiti in the twentieth century. At times I found the book difficult to read because the stories were so graphically brutal and painful, but I believe it is a must read for anyone who would like to better understand the complexities of Haitian historical memory. I thought it was especially interesting that Danticat included the stories of women who live in the United States and struggle to reconcile their heritage of anguish with their new lives.Danticat did an excellent job of communicating the beauty and grace of Haitian women amongst so much pain and suffering. The poetic language and imagery are intense and I felt like they really transported me into the realm of the story. I would recommend this book to anyone, but especially those who are fascinated by the cycle of violence in Haiti and how Haitians cope with this legacy through storytelling.

Actually, I'd give this one 3 1/2 stars.She's a good writer, no doubt. She's been described as poetical and that fits. Her series of short stories, lightly linked, works well with her daughter-mother-grandmother-ancestors running theme.Her content- a tragic love affair, separation of a mother-daughter, surviving in some form from brutal injustice and violence- is very intense and at times, starkly grim. It's no doubt revealing what life in Haiti has been, and that's a real tragedy by itself.I t Actually, I'd give this one 3 1/2 stars.She's a good writer, no doubt.

She's been described as poetical and that fits. Her series of short stories, lightly linked, works well with her daughter-mother-grandmother-ancestors running theme.Her content- a tragic love affair, separation of a mother-daughter, surviving in some form from brutal injustice and violence- is very intense and at times, starkly grim.

It's no doubt revealing what life in Haiti has been, and that's a real tragedy by itself.I think her work resonates better with women but I don't mean that in a negative way. I certainly would mean that in a negative way if it was empty romance or shallow.I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, definitely, but that doesn't mean it isn't good quality literature.

Edwidge Danticat was born in Haiti and moved to the United States when she was twelve. She is the author of several books, including Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection; Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist; and The Farming of Bones, an American Book Award winner. She is also the editor of The Butterfly's Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States and The Beac Edwidge Danticat was born in Haiti and moved to the United States when she was twelve. She is the author of several books, including Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection; Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist; and The Farming of Bones, an American Book Award winner. She is also the editor of The Butterfly's Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States and The Beacon Best of 2000: Great Writing by Men and Women of All Colors and Cultures.Danticat earned a degree in French Literature from Barnard College, where she won the 1995 Woman of Achievement Award, and later an MFA from Brown University.

She lives in Miami with her husband and daughters.

Edwidge Danticat’s short story “Women Like Us,” English DiscussionIn Edwidge Danticat’s short story “Women Like Us,” Danticat makes particular use of the literary elements of point of view/perspective and symbolism to illustrate the significance of a moment between mother and daughter, in which the daughter shows her writing to her mother for the first time and divulges her dream of being a professional writer. How does Danticat use point of view/perspective and symbolism in this short story, and to what effect? What do you think Danticat is trying to convey through the choices of perspective she makes, and the symbols she uses in “Women Like Us”?