Review
------
Praise for Ayiti:
“The themes explored in Gay’s nonfiction, such as the
transactional nature of violence and the ways in which
stereotypes of poverty add another layer of dehumanization, are
just as potent here. Even her more lyrical mode is filtered
through a keen sense of the lost promise of one country and the
blinkered privilege of the other. It’s Gay’s unflinching
directness―the sense that her characters are in the room with
you, telling it like it is―that makes her irresistible.”―Vogue
“Highly dimensioned characters and unforgettable moments . . .
Dismantling the glib misconceptions of her complex ancestral
home, Gay cuts and thrills. Readers will find her powerful first
book difficult to put down.”―Booklist
“A set of brief, tart stories mostly set amid the
Haitian-American community and circling around themes of
violation, abuse, and heartbreak . . . This book set the tone
that still characterizes much of Gay’s writing: clean,
unaffected, allowing the (often furious) emotions to rise
naturally out of calm, declarative sentences. That gives her
briefest stories a punch even when they come in at two pages or
fewer, sketching out the challenges of assimilation in terms of
accents, meals, or ‘What You Need to Know About a Haitian Woman.’
. . . This debut amply contains the righteous energy that drives
all her work.”―Kirkus Reviews
“There is a chance that Roxane Gay has published something great
every day for the last few years. That’s why it’s shocking
that―although this will change in 2014, when she has two books
slated for publication―this incredible little collection is her
only proper book to date. When we make a new version of this list
in five years, we imagine it will include several of her
works.”―Flavorwire
“Haiti has long been the most interesting country in the
Americas. Its [Haiti’s] better scribes, among them Edwidge
Danticat, Franketienne, Madison Smartt Bell, Lyonel Trouillot,
and Marie Vieux Chauvet, have produced some of the best
literature in the world. Add to their ranks Roxane Gay, a bright
and shining star. Ayiti is an exciting new chapter in an old and
beautiful story.”―Kyle Minor, author of In the Devil’s Territory
“Gay. . . rests her stories between worlds, where the unrefined
meet the formal, where the beauty of poetic language is never
fully swept away from the dirt and grit of honest and genuine
moments . . . A debut that feels more like a
veteran.”―Monkeybicycle
“Gay’s characters demand respect, for themselves and for
Haiti.”―Necessary Fiction
“These are powerful stories written with verve and there’s this
great sense at the collection’s close that nothing will stop the
Haitian people, the human spirit, or Roxane Gay.”―Ethel Rohan,
author of Cut Through the
Read more ( javascript:void(0) )
About the Author
----------------
Roxane Gay is also the New York Times bestselling
author of the memoir Hunger; the story collection Difficult
Women; the novel An Untamed State, which was a finalist for the
Dayton Literary Peace Prize; the essay collection Bad Feminist;
and several comic books in Marvel’s Black Panther: World of
Wakanda series. She divides her time between Indiana and Los
Angeles.
Read more ( javascript:void(0) )