Welcome to Litsy!

This Edwidge Danticat, who I usually love, didn‘t work for me. The story is told in a way that you hardly get to know the characters and, as opposed to her other books, it could have been set in a lot of countries, it wasn‘t as Haitian as, for example, Everything Inside.

#52BookClub24 - Features the ocean.

#WeeklyForecast 23/24

I couldn‘t resist and bought the first Kim Stone book (looking at you @TrishB @MicheleinPhilly @squirrelbrain and some others!) Or actually the prequel to the series. We‘ll see! On audio and print I am reading The Spinoza Problem, which is fascinating. I also plan to read another Danticat, whose books I always love.

I found this novel wholly absorbing from the first chapter. It‘s paints a picture of a community in #Haiti and how the lives of a few within it intersect and collide with one another. Each chapter focuses on a different character, gradually building the story and pulling all the threads together. I thought this was terrific.

#ReadingAmericas2023

She could not be dyaspora. She liked her ghosts nearby. #foodandlit #haiti #foodandlit2022

The timeline jumps around, the narrative is subtle. The characters are complex and relatable. Interesting to read a story set in Haiti

When I decided to participate in #foodandlit2022 I also wanted to #ROOT. I found tittles in my tbr for 10 of the 12 countries, missing only Haiti and Kenya. I have a friend in Kenya I will be asking for recs. But I was so touched and excited that my husband researched, selected, and gave this title to me for Christmas to read together for Haiti! #texreader #butterfinger #catsandbooks

This book is so beautiful and complex, I‘m seized with the desire to read it again as soon as I have finished. Anyone familiar with Edwidge Danticat‘s books will not be surprised to learn that the writing is stellar, the characters vivid, the story nuanced and true in its exploration of what it means to be human. Set in Haiti among heartbreak and much joy as Claire‘s father gives her away so she can escape the misery of their impoverished life.

#currentlyreading

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The worst possible case of unrequited love, Jessamine told him, was feeling rejected by a parent. Was the second worst being rejected by your child?

This is definitely an island book. The people live their lives in tandem with the sea. It provides them with food and livelihoods but sometimes steals their lives. Claire of the Sea Light received her name from the sea but in a way, lost her mother to it. Interlocking lives and tragedies, this feels like a fairy tale but one with no resolution.

Each chapter in this one highlights a different character in a small town in Haiti. It‘s good, but I felt an emotional remove from all of the characters, I think I just didn‘t connect as well as I would have liked with the author‘s style.

The previous owner made some annotations, which were interesting to read.

She never disappoints ♥️

I was a little emotionally detached listening in the car. Admired from a distance. Several stories of different characters in a small Haitian seaside town all tie in together, generally to same point in time. That is it's all happening at once. Enjoyed Haiti, and the different view points, had some trouble with the narrative that seemed easily distracted, persistently wandering off on tangents just on the verge of some insight.

Random note to say I‘m really enjoying this. Took a little time. Today I figured out where I recognize the readers voice. Robin Miles also reads The Warmth of Other Suns (by Isabel Wilkerson), one of my favorite books and audiobooks ever. I think her voice puts me in a good mood by unconscious association.

Started this on audio yesterday. A little slow so far, not helped by dispassionate 3rd person voice, but intrigued by the look into a life in a small Haitian seaside town.

#2018Book38
I enjoyed most of this book. The various storylines come together slowly, giving the story a slight air of mystery as you try to figure out how all of these seemingly random people relate to each other. I was a little disappointed by the ending, though. It seemed way too abrupt, and I was positive that I was missing the last CD until the narrator said, "The End."

The book was like a blur to me. The stories were loosely connected and I had a very hard time to focus.

This was somewhere between a pick and so-so for me. The writing was exquisite. Danticat is extremely talented at creating atmosphere by describing her characters and how they are interacting with the world around them. I did feel, however, that it jumped perspective too many times and lost the narrative thread in a few sections. I think if I had read this all in one or two settings, it would have been a better reading experience.

Our Deep Cover book club is reading Claire of the Sea Light in October!

"There was something tragic about a generation whose hopes had been raised, then dashed over and over again. Had they been poisoned by disappointment? Their leaders and elders - including himself- had made them so many promises that they'd been, for whatever reason, unable to keep. Idealists had been killed to make room for gangsters."

This made my parenting paranoia spike. I do remember that feeling from when they were babies and when they first started day care. You start to relax of course, or you go mad. But sometimes parenting paranoia is justified, and that thought can still give me anxiety attacks. 😟

Anyone named Claire here? ❤️😁Your name has the power to make the sun rise.

"Then Limyè Lanmè. Claire of the Sea Light."

Just downloaded this month's New Yorker: Fiction podcast with Junot Diaz reading a story (not the book tagged) by Edwidge Danticat. This will be good listening for the drive to work and back tomorrow.

Such a beautiful book.

Pic: SBPR on Flickr

Well, this is as wonderful as everyone says.

#somethingforsept Set by the sea. The problem with my seaside books is that I don't actually own them. I loved Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat w tells the story of a fisherman's daughter. The Girl from the Coast by Pramoedya Ananta Toer has a young girl from a small fishing village who is betrothed to an aristocrat. This photo was taken at Drakes Beach at Point Reyes where despite being q far fr the nearest town has a little bookstore

On the eve of Claire's 7th birthday, she disappears. These interconnected stories about the residents of the fictional Ville Rose, Haiti are filled with so much humanity. The joy, magic and pain of ordinary life are all laid bare here as well as touching on issues of class, sexuality and politics. #somethingforsept