Thank you very much NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. As well as the author, Yanique Beliard-Michel.
The only thing I can say about this book is that i did not finish it (DNF). I really tried to read through this one but I was not following the story as it was going on. I was not able to see to figure out if we were in the past or present at time. Sorry. I tried to get through this one.

Yanique Beliard-Michel’s memoir Unique in America is a recently published memoir about growing up in Haiti and emigrating to the U.S. Her story is extremely important when it comes to the canon of (Haitian) immigrant literature and experiences of Haitian immigrants in America. Haiti, like many colonised places in the world can be forgotten when it comes to history and literature and memoir’s like Beliard-Michel’s remind the literary world of the countries importance and unique culture.

The story is an intergenerational tale that looks at Beliard-Michel’s life and her unique household where grandmother and mother reign supreme. Her father is out of the picture and the social and cultural implications of being a husband-less “manman pitit” household are echoed throughout the memoir. However this does not stop her entrepreneurial mother or grandmother from running a successful fabric and sewing business.

Haiti, like many places that experiences civil unrest, dictatorships, and corrupt militia, has a painful history under dangerous rulers. People go missing, loyalties are questions, and everyone is on edge. However, this does not seem to touch Beliard-Michel’s family too directly.

The hopes and dreams of a new life in America are bittersweet and Beliard-Michel becomes a “manman pitit” by force when her husband passes away from cancer. Struggling with a new life in America and learning her place in a new country is something that resonates through all immigrant experiences.

Despite the great potential of this story, the writing style is disjointed at times and it felt more like a school report than a story. In my opinion, great creative nonfiction stories still have to have an element of fiction in the way the stories are crafted and told and this memoir fell flat. In saying that, I hope to see many more stories for Haiti, fiction and nonfiction, and I loved Beliard-Michel’s use of Haitian Creole and French.

NOTE: This novel was was accessed through Netgalley and Trafford Publishing for review purposes.

I was really confused by the timeline in this book, I couldn't figure out where we were in the story. I didn't find it compelling. I couldn't finish it.

Unique in America is a refugee story of a husband and wife, fleeing Haiti for better opportunities. I found this book difficult to read because it was choppy and the grammar was unfinished. It was heavy on the political history of Haiti and what they were leaving behind. I enjoyed this but I know it is not for everyone looking for a memoir.

First of all, I wanted to say that I love the play on words for the title with the author’s name.

This is the story of Yanique, a woman born & raised in Haiti who moves to America illegally with her husband to escape the dictatorship,

I was close to tears in many parts of this memoir as I recognised the harsh injustices that she had to face because of the colour of her skin & for ‘daring’ to work for a better life.

In Haiti, Yanique & her husband were doctors but in America they were forced to take on menial jobs and were looked down upon by those who were less skilled & less educated who wanted to flaunt their superiority as they had been born in the country.

It shows the struggles of a hard working family who will do anything to give their children a better life. Even though these events happened in the 80s & 90s, many families face the same prejudices & struggles now and I think a lot of people will relate to it. I also think it is a good reminder & insight that people who are in a privileged position need to be more compassionate to everyone who is trying to better themselves & to give them encouragement instead of making things harder.

This was really poignant. 5 stars..

I really struggled with reading this book, and my issues may be a result of reading an unedited proof. But the formatting, and lack of spacing between words, and pacing of the book made it near impossible for me to finish.

There was a lot of bouncing around within chapters, and sometimes even within paragraphs. Which made it really hard to follow the story and the sequence of events.

I found the story content to be so interesting, so I really wanted to enjoy this book. But I wouldn't recommend it. I may give it another try when the final (edited) version is released this spring.

It hasn't been easy, not all sweetness and light, spending the past few days with Haitian-American Yanique; while I thank her for sharing her story, I wish I could tell her to not be so hard on herself, but I understand that's who she is, by nature and nurture. Yanique is fierce in her convictions, motivated to be a strong woman, justifiably proud of her matrilinear line, and bound and determined to raise strong daughters of her own. Her story doesn't begin with her own childhood in Cap-Haitian, but with her grandmother's childhood and that of her mother's, and of ingrained apprehensions about <i>manman pitit</i> single motherhood, brought on like a tragic self-fulfilling prophesy of irony.

I loved learning about the political situation Yanique left behind, Papa Doc and Baby Doc Duvalier, and then the coup that brought down President Jean-Bertrand Aristide; my heart broke a little at her remembered hopes and dreams invested in America's election process and freedom for all. Throughout everything, Yanique points out inequity where ever she senses it. Yet for all her best laid plans for a career in the medical field as a livelihood where she could protect herself, it was so painful to bear witness to the difficulties, setbacks and outrages she was subjected to. At points it was almost as if she were ruminating over her choices and fate, effort and results, her grandmother's experiences, her mother's and her own, struggles, riches, and opportunities.