Haiti Noir 2: The Classics
A worthy sequel that skillfully uses a popular genre to help us better understand an often frustratingly complex and indecipherable society.
--Miami Herald
There is danger and regret and fear in these stories, as characters try to negotiate a complex and often confounding land.
--Miami Herald, Feature on Haiti Noir 2 Miami launch
Presents an excellent array of writers, primarily Haitian, whose graphic descriptions portray a country ravaged by corruption, crime, and mystery....This selection of Haitian classics is a must read for everyone.
--The Caribbean Writer
Just when you thought you have read it all and have experienced the best of literary brilliance, there comes along an unrivaled work of narrative intensity, penned with a spellbinding authenticity. Haiti Noir 2 is just that work of art....A rare gem.
--Kaieteur News Online
Quite a collection...a multi-generational tour of Haiti's literature...It makes you feel as if some things out to have Part twos.
--Kreyolicious
This is a great collection of stories set in Haiti.
--Book Nerd
Praise for the original Haiti Noir:
Danticat has succeeded in assembling a group portrait of Haitian culture and resilience that is cause for celebration.
--Publishers Weekly
This anthology will give American readers a complex and nuanced portrait of the real Haiti not seen on the evening news and introduce them to some original and wonderful writers.
--Library Journal
While the publisher defines the term 'noir' broadly--requiring sinister tales or crime stories that evoke a strong sense of place and do not have happy endings--the Haiti book offers its own spin with plenty of grisly crime, dire poverty, and references to magic and religion. There is also some tenderness.
--New York Times
Launched with the summer '04 award-winning best seller Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.
Classic stories by: Danielle Legros Georges, Jacques Roumain, Ida Faubert, Jacques-Stephen Alexis, Jan J. Dominique, Paulette Poujol Oriol, Lyonel Trouillot, Emmelie Prophète, Ben Fountain, Dany Laferrière, Georges Anglade, Edwidge Danticat, Michèle Voltaire Marcelin, Èzili Dantò, Marie-Hélène Laforest, Nick Stone, Marilène Phipps-Kettlewell, Myriam J.A. Chancey, and Roxane Gay.
From the introduction by Edwidge Danticat:
How often are you asked to put together an amazing literary party? In my case, a mind-blowing two times. The lit party of my dreams has been Haiti Noir, and lo and behold, I get asked to do it again...After the first Haiti Noir was published, people kept asking if I wasn't contributing to a negative image of the country by editing a book filled with so many 'dark' stories about Haiti. My answer was, and remains, that showing the brilliance of our writers and their ability to address Haiti's difficulties through their art can only contribute to a more nuanced and complex presentation of Haitian lives. After all, the writers here are not Haiti virgins, to paraphrase from 'Heading South, ' Dany Laferrière's story, included here, of sex tourism gone wrong. They are all old hats, either by blood or their deep love for Haiti...This is not just a party, folks, but also a costume party, a noir party. The author of each story, poem, or novel excerpt has shed his or her skin and has sunk into the deepest and most revealing places of the human heart.