Maps Are Lines We Draw by Allison Coffelt was an interesting read. I enjoyed the fact that it was based on a true story.

I've read a number of books on current-day Haiti, and this one just didn't make the cut for me. The narrator is too naive to provide the kind of analysis and background this topic deserves.

As a blans—not just white, but an outsider—Coffelt does her best to balance her ability to give to a population “there” with an awareness of Haiti’s historical perspective of her “here.” At the risk of symbolizing “the great white hope,” she spends three weeks following Dr. Jean Gardy Marius, founder of OSAPO, Organizasyon Sante Popile (Public Health Organization), plucking gently at the web of (in-)humanity that has created the Haiti of today.

Respectful and enlightening, perhaps filling in details of what the average Westerner knows of Haiti, Coffelt intersperses history and cultural influences with her travels and philosophical insight, even as she refuses to give her watch to a random Haitian woman who demands it. It’s a vivid scene indicative of the distance between “here” and “there.” However, with nary a transitional segue, the disparate parts of this memoir feel cut and pasted instead of interweaving Coffelt’s experience into the story of a country she fell in love with before she visited. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting read and worth it if only for her effort to shine her light upon Haiti. I was fortunate to receive a copy of this book through NetGalley.

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I really wanted to love this book. I see a lot of Coffelt in myself, the spinning the globe and big dreams about that being "home". I enjoyed her look at Haiti's history through the eyes of the people she met there, without falling too victim to the "white knight" all too common in aid work. However, I didn't care much for her style of writing. I found myself wishing for better demarcation between her travels around the island and reminiscences of her childhood, flipping back and forth was confusing. Still, an OK read.

The descriptive writing in Maps are Lines We Draw is superb, however, the narrative is a bit choppy. Coffelt, also, flirts with some deeper ideas that could have been explored in more depth. At 144 pages, this book had room to grow. Would love to see more from this author.

Disclosure: I received a digital ARC of this book in exchange for honest feedback.
#MapsareLinesWeDraw #NetGalley

I can tell that the author was deeply affected by her time in Haiti and desires the reading audience to be affected too. However, the writing of this travel memoir constantly distracted me and even though I finished it, I cannot get over the fact that it was too disjointed for me to thoroughly enjoy.

Through this memoir, Allison chronicles her three-week road trip through Haiti with the guidance of Haitian Dr Gardy founder of non-profit OSAPO: Organizasyon Sante Popilé or Public Health Organisation. Like many young people who desire to work in development realm, she was inspired by her high school public health teacher and the book Mountains beyond Mountains to make a difference in the world..starting with Haiti.

Coffelt's quick-witted and yet accommodating tone tells her story through a mix of flashbacks, historical facts and definitions which her own commentary which she justifies by saying "Vocabulary is based in history". She is an example of those authors who do a wonderful job of showing and not telling through her prose.

This book will remind the reader that human beings are prisoners of geography (another book on my TBR shelf )-lines are drawn people who are not even alive to see the implications of their power-sharing agreements.

Maps are lines we draw poignantly highlights historical injustices committed against the Haiti,  trade imbalances associated, health issues as well as environmental issues. She acknowledges the great divide that is associated with the labels which she consistently circles back to with phrases like here versus there.

"In his historical analysis of travel writing, James Buzard highlights a pattern of the self-interrupting form. It is part of a larger distinction between the traveler and the tourist, a label difference that hinges largely on perceived authenticity."

Apparently, "it became an expected feature" for travel writers to separate themselves from "tourist-serving institutions...by self-consciously demonstrating independence from them."

The desire to separate is not a new one

Most people tend to think of travelling to developing countries in order to make a difference and to some extent ease their consciences about making the world a better especially in the form of voluntourism. It is human.  However, she subtly cautions that good intentions are not enough to make a difference:

"The word travel comes travail, as in "bodily or mental labor or toil, especially of a painful or oppressive nature." In other words: work, for both mind and  body."

I was immediately drawn to this book on Netgalley because of its title. I have never been to Haiti and was definitely curious about it. Unfortunately, I have only heard about it in negative contexts such as the 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew in late 2016.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in developing countries and some of the issues that plague them especially with regard to international aid. Subtly  Coffelt cautions that good intentions are not enough to make a difference. that while travelling is an opportunity.

You can sample an excerpt from her book through the essay Bodies of Water recently adapted for Still Harbor

Overall, I appreciated the thought provoking history of Haiti. While I knew some of this, the author presents a different perspective on the island and in the way humanitarian efforts effect it's people. I found the writing to be very fragmented. I understood the effort to breakup the history with personal stories, but this could have been done more smoothly.

This short travel memoir can be summed up by a Haitian maxim that the author cites quite early on in the text: "The rock in the water does not know the pain of the rock in the sun."

Coffelt offers a good introduction to Haitian history and culture through the eyes of a visitor. The almost vignette style of writing works in many chapters, though there are some moments that are a bit choppy because the author is sharing so much information about development issues and working in Haiti while also attempting to describe the beauty of the landscape and the stories of different people who cross her path. I nevertheless enjoyed this little book, though I felt that the author's continuous references to otherness and the whole spatial "here and there" theme were heavy-handed. The most thought-provoking section for me focused on the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake and more specifically about UN ineptitude and the ensuing cholera outbreak. Coffelt does an excellent job of concisely framing a number of issues and I was surprised at how moved I felt while reading about her time in Haiti.

Maps are Lines We Draw is Allison Coffelt's travel memoir. The book that is actually a novella, deciphers the culture of Haiti. I picked this book because of the cover and the title mainly. They both compliment each other and is a good attraction. Little did I know of Allison's writing style at that time.



The blurb of the book describes author's visit to the beautiful island, where beautiful means beautiful for the people of Haiti, as she recalls in the starting pages of her memoir. She is accompanied by a local doctor Jean Gardy Marius is the founder of a public health organization OSAPO. She tries to explore the island itself and everything it constitutes of, the people, their culture, recalls in between which I found very helpful as I was unfamiliar with the tumultuous history. Along being the ordinary travel memoir, it also spotlights the reality in which how aid organizations are trying to help the local economy. This makes this book unique and interesting.

What more unique I found in this book is Allison, the author's writing style. The way she spread words for the reader has lasting charm. It is because of her writing style I could not put this book down and had to read it in one go. In the end, it left me a feeling that I can best describe as a longing for a travel and weave my own memories.

4 out of 5

Although I managed to finish this it felt very disjointed.
Jumping from one point to another.