Thursday, May 16, 2013

Top 10 books about Haiti

Ben Fountain is the author of a short story collection, Brief Encounters with Che Guevara, and a novel, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.

At the Guardian, Fountain named his top ten books about Haiti. One title on the list:
Hadriana of All My Dreams by René Depestre

A delirious, brilliant novel by the Haitian-born Depestre, who should be on every shortlist for the Nobel prize in literature. The story of young, precociously horny Patrick's love for the beautiful Hadriana is a blast of high-octane language, headlong storytelling, and weirdly plausible implausibility. Alas, poor Patrick's chance at love is thwarted by Hadriana's untimely death. Or is it? Depestre's narrative unfolds like an MC Escher-designed hall of mirrors.
Read about another book on the list.

Also see: Amy Wilentz's ten best books on Haiti.

--Marshal Zeringue