Stephanie Jane reviewed Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat
A strong short story collection
4 stars
Everything Inside is a collection of eight short stories, each one centred on members of the Haitian diaspora in the USA and Haiti itself. Perhaps unsurprisingly most are tales of misfortune, but they explore more than specifically Haitian issues so one story shows the aftermath of marital infidelity and another is about how a grandmother's dementia colours her experience of her grandson's christening. A powerful thread of the importance of community and friendship runs through the whole collection providing a positive note to counter the sad circumstances in which our protagonists find themselves. My favourite stories were Dosas, Sunrise Sunset, and Without Inspection, all of which I felt had particularly memorable narratives and characters. Without Inspection even nearly had me tears. I would have liked a stronger sense of place in some of the tales, but Danticat has a deep understanding of her characters and what drives them. I loved …
Everything Inside is a collection of eight short stories, each one centred on members of the Haitian diaspora in the USA and Haiti itself. Perhaps unsurprisingly most are tales of misfortune, but they explore more than specifically Haitian issues so one story shows the aftermath of marital infidelity and another is about how a grandmother's dementia colours her experience of her grandson's christening. A powerful thread of the importance of community and friendship runs through the whole collection providing a positive note to counter the sad circumstances in which our protagonists find themselves. My favourite stories were Dosas, Sunrise Sunset, and Without Inspection, all of which I felt had particularly memorable narratives and characters. Without Inspection even nearly had me tears. I would have liked a stronger sense of place in some of the tales, but Danticat has a deep understanding of her characters and what drives them. I loved spotting and translating the phonetically written Haitian-French. This is a strong collection which has left me keen to read Danticat's longer works on the strength of the talent she shows in Everything Inside.
