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Ayiti (2011)

by Roxane Gay(Favorite Author)

4.28 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

145077671X (ISBN13: 9781450776714)

languge

English

genre

Poetry

publisher

Artistically Declined Press

review 1: There are some really wonderful pieces in this collection. "Things I Know About Fairy Tales is beautifully structured while telling the harrowing story of abduction and rape. The juxtaposition of fairy tales and the narrator's abduction illustrates the subtext present (and often time buried) in so many childhood stories. The idea of a princess needing to be rescued in many fairy tales fails to acknowledge the reality of being ripped from the familiar, the pain and despair of captivity, and the cruelty and, quite often, misogyny perpetrated by her captor. The "Things I know..." takes us on a Once Upon A Time that does not end happily ever after while raising the question of values - in every sense of the way. "In the Manor of Water or Light" tells the story of three generat... moreions of women and the ties that both bind and unbinds them. At the center of those ties is Haiti in all its complexities. Ms. Gay examines both the beauty and rich history of Haiti, as well as the pain and despair at the hands of poverty and abandonment. Abandonment is another theme woven throughout the collection - but the central question is; who, actually, is doing the abandoning?. Ayiti also examines the "outsider's gaze"as seen in "The Harder They Come", "The Dirt We Do Not Eat", and "All Things Being Relative" - "We are defined by what we are not and what we do not have." Ms. Gay also examines the idea of a better life as fairy tales, myths, but mostly hope. The last story, "A Cool Dry Place" beautifully symbolizes new beginnings, the start of a new life, the awakening of the spirit and soul. Ms. Gay does a wonderful job blending beauty with pain while exploring Haiti - "the island of contradictions."
review 2: i've been a follower of gay's non-fiction web presence for probably about a year and a half now (her entries for HTMLgiant help air out some of the sites more unsufferable MFA-dude-dom), so it was nice to finally read something more "literary" from her. this book capitalizes on things i like about her writing already (lists, plot-summaries that double as ways of starting dialogues), and it was exciting to see her write about issues (life in haiti, etc.) that i'm not already familiar with, via pop culture. the book feels a bit like a sketch for a larger project, but it's an interesting sketch. i'm pretty excited to see where she goes next. less

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