Haitian American author Edwidge Danticat (The Art of Death, Claire of the Sea Light) opens up the complexity of immigrant lives in her finely tuned and penetrating story collection Everything Inside.
The eight stories consider emigration from Haiti and immigration to the United States. The emotional tenor that binds them is one of estrangement, of immigrants torn between the old country and the new, between the promise of a new life and the reality of America. These stories also focus on family and how immigration affects subsequent generations, examining the distance between first-generation immigrants and their children. Though the characters in each story are different and not linked, Danticat follows similar themes, unearthing common experiences and crafting a mosaic of hope, regret and perseverance. The title is apt, referring to all that these characters carry inside them as they migrate from one life to the next.
"This country makes you do bad things," the narrator's immigrant friend says about the U.S. in "Dosas," the first story of the collection. The story reveals deep alienation and loneliness as a tight group of Haitian Americans finally breaks apart. "In the Old Days" features a young narrator, the daughter of immigrants, meeting her father for the first time, a man who returned to Haiti after the dictatorship fell. It explores how marriages are affected by the split loyalties of diaspora, with some choosing to stay in the new country and others feeling obligated to return. "Without Inspection" focuses on the harrowing journey migrants make from impoverished Haiti and Cuba to the glittering towers of Miami. Falling to his death, the main character of the story recalls his journey at sea and others who perished. Soon to become a ghost, he considers how his presence in the U.S. as an undocumented worker was already ghost-like. The story is tragic yet tinged with wistfulness, as though the man's longing will survive death and help others on their journey.
The most powerful story in the collection is "Sunrise, Sunset," which centers on an elderly Haitian American woman suffering from dementia. Her memories and emotions are confused, but she's cognizant enough to notice that her daughter is lacking as a mother to her newborn son. The old woman still remembers the dictatorship in Haiti and feels her daughter, safe in the U.S., doesn't know true suffering. Here Danticat examines first-world obliviousness and the resentment those who have fled violence and poverty sometimes feel toward their more fortunate children and friends. But it's also a story about the strength of family, how each generation is bound together, even in the face of mental decline. Danticat captures dementia perfectly and provides an emotionally charged climax that's hard to forget.
Everything Inside thrums with humanity. Danticat is a master of mood and subtlety. As quiet and understated as these stories are, the reader will come away with a deeper, richer view of immigrant communities. --Scott Neuffer, writer, poet, editor of trampset
Shelf Talker: Acclaimed author Edwidge Danticat delivers a moving story collection about Haitian American immigrants.