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This book grabbed my emotions so deeply that I could not stop thinking about it when I was doing other things. It was recommended to me by a Haitian-American friend who had studied it as part of her English/French PhD studies. It was read by the African Women’s Book Club (at her recommendation) and I suggested it to my local book club on the mistaken assumption that the first novella “Love” would be a romantic one. To my defence, after reading it, it is of love, but of a toxic and stagnant one. *shudders*
Each of the three novellas is set in an oppressive 1950s-1960s Haiti. I had heard of Papa Doc and Baby Doc and I knew that Haiti had a tyrannous past but I had little knowledge of the magnitude and complexity of this oppression, this struggle of class and race, and these successive regimes that transformed neighbours into enemies, spies, traitors, and victims. I still don’t have a good grasp of Haitian history or even Duvalierism but it appears the effect was to turn the old social order topsy turvy by arming “the wretched” in order to punish the minority bourgeoisie/aristocrats who just so happened to be various tiers of mulatto compared to the majority dark skinned blacks but in so doing terrorized everybody else leaving Haiti in a state of horror and misery.
The book was originally written in French in 1968 but it almost immediately forced the author, herself of the aristocratic class, into exile for its scathing commentary on her homeland. She requested that the publisher withdraw it and her family bought as many copies as they could to destroy them. However, the few that made it out made this book an underground classic. It was authoritatively republished in French in 2005 and the first English translation was published just last year.
One of the older ladies in my local book club stated that she had to put it down every few pages because it was so full of evil and hatred that it pulled at her heart strings. It stimulated discussion as to the extent to which the United States interfered in Haiti, the majority not knowing that the US was there in the first place. There goes American education for you. It also shone to light for those of us ignorant of Haiti’s history how the earthquake earlier this year could have been as bad as it was.
In “Love,” Claire is the eldest of three sisters who occupy a single house. Her dark skin and unmarried status make her a virtual servant to the rest of the family. Consumed by an intense passion for her brother-in-law, she finds redemption in a criminal act of rebellion.
In “Anger,” a middle-class family is ripped apart when twenty-year-old Rose is forced to sleep with a repulsive soldier in order to prevent a government takeover of her father’s land.
And in “Madness,” René, a young poet, finds himself trapped in a house for days without food, obsessed with the souls of the dead, dreading the invasion of local military thugs, and steeling himself for one final stand against authority.
I truly enjoyed the writing in this English translation and am envious of those who can read French well enough to read it the way the author meant it to be read. Amour, colere et folie. This is a lyrical, raw, heart-wrenching, non sugar-coated, intense piece of work. I swear I was becoming angry by the second reading “Anger” and feverish reading “Madness” and now when I hear Tonton macoute, a cold shiver comes across me. This is a masterpiece waiting for the world to discover it.
A lover of mangoes. A woman - smart, without pretense, lefthanded, Afropolitan - navigating this thing called life. An unapologetic believer in social justice and karma. Choosing to radiate positive energy and be true to myself. Here, my musings.
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