In Darkness

In Darkness is an ambitious and powerful novel of Haiti's troubled past and present. Lake alternates the life story of fifteen year old Shorty, trapped under rubble after the 2010 earthquake, with the history of Touissaint L’Ouverture, a man who led the country in a revolution. Lake explores the darkness within, both characters whose lives have strong parallels despite the pair being separated by centuries.

I was immediately drawn in by the spectacularly moving opening of the story. Shorty, is buried under tons of rubble when the hospital collapses in an earthquake. In the pitch black, surrounded by the dead, desperately thirsty Shorty recalls the poverty, violence and deprivation of his childhood in the slums of Haiti. Delving into his memories is a painful and confronting experience, irrevocably altered by witnessing the brutal slaying of his father, and the loss of his twin sister, Shorty's brief life has been unimaginably hard. In the encampment, which the author assures us is an accurate depiction of the environment, death is a constant presence and now facing his own mortality entombed by cement and darkness Shorty has the time to reflect on his circumstance and the choices he has made.

As Shorty drifts in darkness, his plea to the voodoo guides results in his essence being entertwined with that of Touissaint L’Ouverture, a creole salve who led a rebellion in the late 1700's. I have to admit that I did not find this narrative as compelling as Shorty's. It is a crucial element of the story but it lacks the immediacy of Shorty's plight. The connections between Shorty and Touissaint slowly become more tangible with comparisons between the social, cultural, and political of Haiti in both the past and the present. While Shorty has become mired in the disadvantages of his life, Touissaint's story shows how one can overcome, and it is his story that lends Shorty strength even as he is convinced he will die amongst the wreckage.

A powerful and moving story there is a disturbing amount of truth in this fiction. In Darkness is a startlingly original novel but it is not an easy read. It is an intense, brutally honest story that reveals a country and people caught in a vicious cycle of prejudice and poverty.