Everything Inside

This was such a wonderful and poignant collection of short stories.
In a interview on LitHub Edwige Danticat said that one of the reasons why she loves the short story form is that it allows her “to magnify smaller moments and to linger on these small epiphanies in the smaller interactions that mean so much”, and indeed each one of her stories seems to prolong a particular moment in her characters' lives.
Given the brevity of her stories Danticat doesn't wast any words. And yet, while her writing could be described as both economic and simple, her prose also demonstrated a richness of expression that resonated with the feelings and scenarios experienced by her characters.

Through the wide range of her narratives Danticat examines similar themes in very different ways. Within her stories Danticat navigates the way in which bonds are tested, broken, or strengthened in times of crisis. Most of Danticat's narratives are concerned in particular with the diasporic experiences of Haitians in America, and she emphasises the feelings of longing, loneliness, and disconnect faced by those who are seen as 'other' in a poignant yet matter of fact way. They are never reduced to the status of 'outsider', nor are they completely united by their heritage, as each one of them has a distinctive voice and a particular relationships with the countries they inhabit.
With seeming ease Danticat imbues her characters with their own history and personality, so that within a few pages we would feel as if we'd know them personally, so much so that to define them as characters seems almost an injustice.
Within these narratives the ordinary moments that make up everyday life can carry both enlightening and tragic overtones. These stories centre on the characters' anxieties, hopes, and fears they may harbour for themselves or their loved ones.
In “Dosas” Elsie, a nurse’s assistant, is betrayed by her husband and her own best friend. Months later her now ex-husband calls her and begs her to help pay the ransom for his kidnapped girlfriend, who happens to be Elsie's former friend. His increasingly desperate calls threaten to disrupt the course of her life.
In “The Port-au-Prince Marriage Special” a woman who has returned to Haiti to run a hotel with her husband is confronted with her own privilege when her young nanny is diagnosed with AIDS; the woman has to reconcile herself with her own misjudgement regarding her nanny's mother and with her preference for a white doctor over a local one.
In “Hot-Air Balloons” we observe the bond between two young women, one of which has started to work for Leve a women's organisation in which she witnesses the most brutal aspects of humanity. Still, even when we are presented with these stark accounts of abuse or suffering the story maintains a sense of hope in the genuine relationship between these two women.
Another story that examines the bond between two women is “Seven Stories”. After publishing a short story a writer is contacted by her childhood friend Callie, the daughter of the prime minister of an unnamed island. After her father's assassination Callie was forced to flee from the island and years later our narrator is invited by her friend who has by now married the island’s new prime minister.

The characters in Danticat's stories are often confronted with impossible choices. Within their realities they are forced to contend against betrayal, illnesses, the devastating earthquake of 2010, medical malpractice, kidnappings, and the risks that come with being 'undocumented'. They are made vulnerable by their status or haunted by the knowledge that the world can be a terrible place. Still, while there were many moments of unease, the stories always maintain a vibrancy that made them hard to put down. Her characters demonstrated empathy, love, and compassion so that her stories never felt bleak or hopeless.

I can't recommend this collection enough. These stories were both upsetting and moving, and within each narrative we follow how a certain 'change' forces each character to reassess their own existence. The crisis they experience are depicted with subtlety and consideration. Danticat interrogates serious themes (identity, mortality, grief) whilst focusing on ordinary moments. Phone conversations and dinners become the backdrop for larger debates. Her narratives illuminate the complexities faced by those who are born, or raised, in a country that is now in crisis.
A heart-rendering collection of stories that provided me with a lot food for thought and which I will be definitely reading again.

Oh how I loved these stories. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy.

I've always been an Edwidge Danticat fan but hadn't read her in years. This story collection reaffirmed my love for her writing and for the endlessly fascinating subject that is post-colonial literature by Afro-Caribbean women: a fountain of depth, beauty, struggle, pain, oppression, resistance and survival. A true gem that will touch your heart and keep you wanting more from each story, from each character, from this fabulous author!

This is an outstanding collection of 8 beautifully constructed short stories from Edwidge Danticat, wide ranging in scope, superb in their exploration of the intricate and complex nature of relationships, familial, personal and friendships, of love, loss, grief, trauma and heartbreak. At the heart of the stories are primarily Haitians, in Little Haiti in Florida and in Haiti itself, capturing the nature of being a migrant, the precarious and dangerous position of being part of the boat people, forming the diaspora, connections with Haiti, some yearning to return, and the impact of natural disasters such as earthquakes in the home country. There are marriages, some of which are detours in life, others that are more dispassionate affairs, an ex-husband wanting money from his ex-wife, Elsie, to pay the ransom for his abducted wife, Olivia.

25 year old Nadia arrives on a plane with the intention of meeting her dying father for the first time, a tale referencing Albert Camus's The Stranger, finding herself involved in the funeral rites. A young nanny with AIDS works in a hotel, naive enough to believe in the Port-au-Prince marriage special, with her love me and leave me ring. Anika Thomas is meeting her married lover for the first time in 7 months, luring him with the promise of a gift, mourning her spirit child, sketching birds, her lover a scarred and changed man after being struck by tragedy and mental health issues. Two women, students from widely different social and economic backgrounds form a close relationship, one with a tattoo on her chest that looks like two hot air balloons. Carole, suffering from dementia, has little truck with a daughter experiencing problems after giving birth to her son, all of which culminates with its echoes of childhood games such as peekaboo, sunrise and sunset, a hello and goodbye.

At the age of 7, two small girls forge a unforgettable connection in Brooklyn, New York, never to see each other again, until as adults, Callie, now the Prime Minister's wife, invites Kimberly to the island after reading her short story, a friendship arising from devastating trauma. A man's life flashes in front of him as he plummets from the top of a building on a construction site to his death as he lands in the cement mixer. A period which illuminates his relationship with Darline and his son, Paris, of being saved after the terrors and dangers of being one of the boat people. Danticat's use of the short story format is extraordinarily expert in encapsulating emotional depth, subtle and nuanced depictions of humanity and its myriad of relationships. A truly memorable collection of short stories that I recommend highly. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

This book of short stories really astounded me with its emotional weight. I expected it to be an immersive read, but each of the tales in Everything Inside surprised me by creating an overwhelmingly beautiful montage of sadness, faith and hope.

The highlight of the stories is the complexities of the characters and the way the author portrays their anxieties, confidences, and qualms. Danticat's writing is so introspective it’s very easy to be drawn into the lives played out on the pages. Each story covers themes of poverty, culture, immigration, family and courage, and link to Haiti, the birthplace of the author. I love that the book’s heavier topics are explored with a vulnerability that helps the reader understand the pain of the women in each scene.

Overall, Everything Inside is (without a doubt) a five-star read. As with most short story collections, there are some that stand out more than others, but together they are an art form with enriching writing and a melodious pace. The hardships the characters face are both disconcerting and electrifying. And the well-written accounts gripped me from start to finish.

The eight stories all feel as if they were perfectly crafted to build a poignant collection. Danticat skilfully structures her simple prose to demonstrate a wealth of emotion with ease. Subtly, the history and foundation of each story comes together, to fill out the dynamically haunting narrative. The stories never felt too short, but no word felt wasted. It’s easily one of the best fictional collections I’ve read, and an astonishing piece of Caribbean literature.

This collection of deftly written short stories reveal the artistic ability, observational skills, depth of insight and sensitivity of their author. The characters are beautifully human, relatable and flawed, as subject to the vagaries of love and loss as we all are.

This colourful cast of varied characters come alive on the page and are fleshed out with masterly aplomb. It’s as if Danticat gets under their skin and gains entry to the psyche, with its attendant joys and anxieties, as she perfectly depicts what makes them tick.

These short stories excel as miniature novels in themselves, replete with messy beginnings and loose endings. Each one is a vignette snapshot of life, an intimate glimpse into a moment or a potted history sometimes.

Though I enjoyed them all, my favourites are Sunrise Sunset and The Port-au-Prince Marriage Special. This is a skilful writer with a strong finger on the pulse of her own cultural history and identity, who draws us in with every line she writes.

Few have happy endings, but they all share traces of joy, coupled with poignancy, and a sense of wanting to make the most of the moments because they vanish all too soon. And there is hope, threading through them all like a golden cord. Grateful thanks to Quercus books/riverrun and NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved this book. All life is here. The characters leapt off the page into my mind and have stayed there. Powerful writing, emotional writing. Eight stories, each with their own slice of life. An evocative painting of Haiti and Miami, drawn together, torn apart. I can't praise this book too highly.