Fai clic su di un'immagine per andare a Google Ricerca Libri.
Sto caricando le informazioni... The Company of Heaven: Stories from Haiti (Iowa Short Fiction Award)di Marilene Phipps-Kettlewell
Nessuno Sto caricando le informazioni...
Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing. With the earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, Haiti has been in the world's focus. With Marilene Phipps-Kettlewell's collection of short stories, we can get some insight into the country that has drawn our attention.The book is refreshing, giving us a view at Haitian culture beyond voodoo and extreme poverty. Phipps-Kettlewell reveals a diverse nation in its class and economic strata and its religions. Voudoun is present in some of the stories, but it is fairly portrayed as an important belief alongside Catholicism. There are elements of magical realism (another stereotype First World nations tend to dump on the literature of Latin American and Caribbean countries), but most of the stories reveal their wonder through the author's poetic writing. Some stories will stand out more than others, but there are no mediocre works in this collection. I hope it can open a door not only for Phipps-Kettlewell's growing career but also for other Haitian and Caribbean writers. Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing. A loosely connected collection of short stories set in Haiti, The Company of Heaven paints a series of images of Haitian life. Most of the stories present different perspectives on a particular family; other stories seem related to the others only by the inclusion of similar creatures (doves, pigeons, dogs, chickens, and goats), plants (guavas, bayawonn trees), and/or structures (iron gates).I very much wanted to like this collection. Indeed, my copy is marked with flags indicating particularly beautiful language; some passages actually took my breath away. The author's experience as a poet and painter definitely come through at times. Unfortunately, there were too many passages that I wanted to hack up with my editor's pen (e.g., whole sections with sentence constructions of "x is y" or sentences similar to "The painting was painted . . ."). Perhaps the corrected page proofs will have undergone some careful editing to make the writing more even. One thing I appreciated about the writing, though it was confusing at first, was the use of changes in perspective/point of view. The long central story, River Valley Rooms, worked particularly well in this regard, as did the story, The Chapel, written from the point of view of a chapel. Despite some misgivings, I would still recommend this book to someone who already has some interest in Haiti and has read other Haitian writers (though probably not as an introduction to Haiti and Haitian life.) Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing. This collection of short stories about the lives of contemporary Haitians was awarded the 2010 Iowa Short Fiction Award. Several of the stories are good, especially "Dogs", in which an elderly woman keeps an unruly group of wild dogs who she favors over humans, and "Marie-Ange's Ginnen", an account of a woman who is tricked, along with several of her neighbors, into taking a boat that will supposedly take them to Miami but runs out of fuel soon after it leaves the coast. The writing in these stories is lyrical; however, I found it difficult to engage with the characters and their stories, and I became increasingly uninterested in the book after its promising beginning. Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing. An evocative and often lyrical collection of short stories set in Marilène Phipps-Kettlewell's native Haiti. The author is also a painter and a poet, and these pursuits definitely influence her short story writing. Some of the stories loosely interconnect, with characters and places brushing against one another. The themes of family, community, and leaving (and returning to) home, stretch out across the collection.[full review here: http://spacebeer.blogspot.com/2010/08/company-of-heaven-stories-from-haiti-by.ht... ] nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Premi e riconoscimenti
Marilène Phipps-Kettlewell's award-winning stories transport you to Haiti-to a lush, lyrical, flamboyant, and spirit-filled Haiti where palm trees shine wet with moonlight and the sky paints a yellow screen over your head and the ocean sparkles with thousands of golden eyes-and keep you there forever. Her singular characters mysteriously address the deeper meanings of human existence. They also dream of escape, whether from themselves, from family, from Vodou, from financial and cultural difficulties and the politicians that create them, or from the country itself, but Haiti will forever remai Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
Già recensito in anteprima su LibraryThingIl libro di Marilene Phipps-Kettlewell The Company of Heaven: Stories from Haiti è stato disponibile in LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Discussioni correntiNessuno
Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Classificazione LCVotoMedia:
Sei tu?Diventa un autore di LibraryThing. |
The stories offer a variety of themes, several of which have common denominators, such as the subject of dark magic, or "vodou"; a widespread practice and belief in Haiti. I found this subject to be particularly fascinating. Sometimes, in these narratives, we find that the rich fall further than the poor, and ultimately suffer more that those surrounding them in dire poverty.
The writing is very good and flows smoothly from page to page. Oftentimes, I forgot it was fiction I was reading and felt I had been transported to Haiti itself. I was sorry when the book ended. ( )