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5th out of 227 books
—
60 voters
Krik? Krak!
When Haitians tell a story, they say "Krik?" and the eager listeners answer "Krak!" In Krik? Krak! In her second novel, Edwidge Danticat establishes herself as the latest heir to that narrative tradition with nine stories that encompass both the cruelties and the high ideals of Haitian life. They tell of women who continue loving behind prison walls and in the face of unfa...more
Paperback, 240 pages
Published
April 2nd 1996
by Vintage
(first published 1995)
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I remember when I was in high school, Edwidge Danticat was one of the new rising literary stars who was getting a lot of attention. It's nice to come back to this collection of short stories and realize that it was completely justified. Krik? Krak! is that rare collection which feels like a novel in its own right -- each story is not only a perfect gem on its own, but connects thematically to the rest of the stories to create a greater whole. The stories are linked by a network of metaphors an g...more
This book about Haiti broke my heart! Though the common theme throughout the stories is surely that of "hope," I have to warn prospective readers that quite often, hope is crushed - cruelly, and sometimes violently. Still, the author has quite a talent for storytelling in the tradition of Haitian women with a poignancy and appeal that keeps you reading, and perhaps crying.
Krik? Krak! is a gripping, yet disturbing look into the lives of several Haitian women connected along a generational line. I found the language of the work to be very eloquent despite its dismal content. The novel is full of phrases that immediately grab the reader's attention and make a deep imprint in the mind. It is a truly shocking novel, and is clearly very reflective of the country of Haiti and some of its serious problems. The various stories told show the great multitude of examples of...more
For me, Krik? Krak! served as a challenging, engrossing, rare, and beautifully honest insight to life. I mean this to say that Danticat's unique, and in my opinion effective, style of literary storytelling serves to transcend, or destroy entirely, the barriers of culture, language, history, and context in order to present her story, which is consequently not only the story but also the life of her friends, her family, her neighbors, her countrymen. Even if not focusing on the power of her storyt...more
Krik? Krak! By Edwidge Danticat. (pronounced at least by the narrator as “creek crock”.
This is a series of short stories written by the author. Publisher’s note:
American Book Award-winning author Edwidge Danticat earned a National Book Award nomination for this brilliant collection of stories, which includes the
Pushcart Prize-winner "Between the Pool and the Gardenias". A remarkably gifted writer, Danticat examines the brutality of her native Haiti, particularly
as it affects women, in tales tha...more
This is a series of short stories written by the author. Publisher’s note:
American Book Award-winning author Edwidge Danticat earned a National Book Award nomination for this brilliant collection of stories, which includes the
Pushcart Prize-winner "Between the Pool and the Gardenias". A remarkably gifted writer, Danticat examines the brutality of her native Haiti, particularly
as it affects women, in tales tha...more
There is no question that Krik? Krak!’s short stories are gritty. Danticat doesn’t hold back any punches as she gives us a glimpse into the reality of Haitian life through the nine short stories included here. Her prose is both beautiful and simple—it’s part of the genius of her work. The clarity and subtlety of her writing stands in stark contrast to the heaviness of what her stories share. Rarely can an author translate such depths of emotion and paint such lasting images, much less in the spa...more
Krik? Krak! Vintage Contemporaries, 1996, 223 pp, $12.95 US/ $17.95 CAN
Edwidge Danticat ISBN- 0-679-76657-x
There are 9 different stories in Krik?Krak! by Edwidge Danticat that don’t overlap. The stories take place in Haiti, or New York, Ville Rose or Port-au-Prince. All the stories are all about Haitian women trying to understand their relationships to their families and to Haiti.
The first story “Children of The Sea,” are two nameless characters who are in love and writes letters to each other...more
Edwidge Danticat ISBN- 0-679-76657-x
There are 9 different stories in Krik?Krak! by Edwidge Danticat that don’t overlap. The stories take place in Haiti, or New York, Ville Rose or Port-au-Prince. All the stories are all about Haitian women trying to understand their relationships to their families and to Haiti.
The first story “Children of The Sea,” are two nameless characters who are in love and writes letters to each other...more
"Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat is comprised of various short stories of Haitian women and the challenges they face. Danticat eloquently describes, in full detail, the conditions they had to live in and how their living environment shaped their daily lives. Most of their struggles revolve around poverty, maintaing marriages or family relationships and how they cope with difficult circumstances. Haitian culture and tradition is also heavily incorporated into each story and magical realism is ut...more
The novel Krik Krak written by Edwidge Danticat vividly illustrates the struggles of the Haitian community through the perspective and voices of Haitian women. Their perspectives have been silenced and ignored by society, but thanks to Danticat we are able to learn about them. All of the women in the book experience different struggles, but they have something in common—they use their imagination to create worlds parallel to their realties as a defense mechanism to survive their struggling situa...more
Krik? Krak! is a collection of stories that mainly highlights the negative consequences of Haiti’s complicated history of violence and power struggles through the stories of lives of ordinary Haitians. All the characters that are given shape in this book suffer in some ways directly from the complicated politics within Haiti that has led to mass murdering and countless sufferings. On a deeper level, Krik? Krak! also underscores the important question imposed on citizens of all developing countri...more
Krik? Krak! is a stunning collection of short stories that describe the experience of Haitian women during the political turmoil and chaos of Haiti in the twentieth century. At times I found the book difficult to read because the stories were so graphically brutal and painful, but I believe it is a must read for anyone who would like to better understand the complexities of Haitian historical memory. I thought it was especially interesting that Danticat included the stories of women who live in...more
Danticat offers a beautiful rendering of Haitian life, in a novel that utterly evokes the many shades of suffering. Tears, the author demonstrates, are life. Tears are words. Tears heal the pains of the past. Stylistically, I feel that Danticat implemented a structure that absolutely suits her writing--there are separate strands of stories, implying the individuality of angst and emotion; yet these parts are unified by being braided together by the commonality of vibrant Haitian culture and beli...more
If I were to describe this novel, I would say it's like looking at an emotional spectra that emphasizes strongly the melancholic range. It's a moving book. The different stories in this novel help the reader understand how a life of pain and hopelessness can convert into a marker of identity and allow the character to derive strength out of weakness. After every tear the reader may have to wipe away followed by a turn of a page, the reader realizes that struggle is not a mere fight for a better...more
This book was really a mixed bag for me. Some of the short stories are really engrossing, interesting, and meaningful, while others were vague, puzzling, and dull. If you are from Haiti, or are studying that country, then this book will be a lot more useful and enlightening for you than it was for me, but a lot of the historical aspects of the book were really lacking in context for the average American reader.If you come to this book with no knowledge of the country, then most of this is puzzli...more
The Dangerous Power of Hope
Hope has the power to give people strength in times of suffering, but it also threatens to blind them to reality. Most of the characters in Krik? Krak! hold on to hope in order to keep themselves alive. In “Night Women,” the narrator makes up stories about an angel coming to rescue her and her son in order to hide the truth from him, but she also uses these stories to escape the harsh reality of her life. Similarly, in “Seeing Things Simple,” Princesse avoids the world...more
Hope has the power to give people strength in times of suffering, but it also threatens to blind them to reality. Most of the characters in Krik? Krak! hold on to hope in order to keep themselves alive. In “Night Women,” the narrator makes up stories about an angel coming to rescue her and her son in order to hide the truth from him, but she also uses these stories to escape the harsh reality of her life. Similarly, in “Seeing Things Simple,” Princesse avoids the world...more
Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat followed the lives of 3 generations of Hatian women both in Haiti and in the United States. Danticat's relaxed style of writing is extremely easy to follow and it allowed me to continue reading the novel when i found particular parts boring/slow. Danticat was also extremely effective at revealing the ordeals and struggles that Hatian women were forced to confront: poverty, childbirth/rearing, rape, marraiage, sexism, etc.... Krik? Krak! also chronichled the politi...more
The Kingdom of this World was my first introduction to Haitian history and literature, and now with Krik? Krak! I feel as if I have a much broader more comprehensive understanding of this culture. Although the topics that Danticat writes about in this book of short stories are not pleasant or easy to digest they are in their own ways beautiful. She writes about the pain and hardship that her culture has endured, and from that adversity it becomes easier to understand Haitian adversity. Before I...more
Mar 12, 2010
Sarah
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Sarah by:
Washington and Lee University, LACS 256
Edwidge Danticat’s novel "Krik? Krak!" opens with a poem by Sal Scalora. Entitled “White Darkness/Black Dreamings,” it reads, “We tell the stories so that the young ones/will know what came before them. They ask Krik? we say Krak!/Our stories are kept in our hearts.”
So it is after reading this poem, Danticat’s readers are transported from the present to the ‘storytelling place,’ prepared to absorb the stories of Haitian daughters and sons who are now identified as great-great- grandmothers and...more
So it is after reading this poem, Danticat’s readers are transported from the present to the ‘storytelling place,’ prepared to absorb the stories of Haitian daughters and sons who are now identified as great-great- grandmothers and...more
Edwidge Danticat's "Krik? Krak!" is an emotional journey through the lives of multiple generations of Haitian women from the time of extreme oppression in Haiti to modern "free" America. It is a story of assimilation without forgetting where you come from. Danticat very successfully utilizes the Haitian tradition of story-telling, Krik? Krak, as she weaves nine separate but subtly connected short stories into one powerful novel. In each of these stories, Danticat highlights the hardships and str...more
Edwidge Danticat presents her readers with a look at cross-generational linkage throughout Krik? Krak! The various stories capture an essence of nostalgia as the author attempts to unfold the traumatic events many women have endured. From unread love letters of longing across the ocean to simple marriages in modern New York City, the reader cannot help but be transfixed with the relationships these characters explore. Danticat successfully finds a way to create a novel out of numerous short stor...more
Mar 07, 2010
Smatarese
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Kids who grew up in NYC, LACS majors, anyone interested in cultural and intergenerational change
Recommended to Smatarese by:
W&L LACS 256 Winter 2010
Rather than focusing on one aspect or facet of Haiti’s history or culture, Edwidge Danticate’s Krik? Krak! weaves nine distinct stories into one novel that addresses “Haitian life” as a whole. Stories of love and loss, war and exile, as well as assimilation and acculturation, pervade the nine vignettes that make up the book, creating an emotionally turbulent yet extremely poignant and enjoyable novel.
The first and last chapters of the novel—which relate two entirely different stories—bookend t...more
The first and last chapters of the novel—which relate two entirely different stories—bookend t...more
"Krik Krak” is by far one of the best novels I have read in a long time. Edwidge Danticat encourages her readers to partake in a Haitian tradition of story-telling with “Krik Krak.” Through her collection of short stories Danticat illustrates the violence, pain, horror and corruption that are commonplace in the lives of many Haitians. Danticat not only writes about Haiti’s history, but the same challenges face people today. Despite the gruesome truth that Danticat conveys, she manages to depict...more
Mar 04, 2010
Catherine Anderson
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
everyone
Recommended to Catherine by:
Washington & Lee University
Wow. Edwidge Danticat’s Krik? Krak! is inviting in its apparent simplicity, but gains relevance and worth as the reader discovers its many complex layers. Structured as a series of short stories, Krik? Krak! is able to cover a wide breadth of the struggles, traumas, and successes experienced by the people of Haiti. The characters and their tales are incredibly personal and emotionally poignant, cover topics such as long distance love, motherhood, art and education, and sisterly relationships. Ho...more
Krik? Krak! is a book of powerful vignettes that explores the Haitian identity within multiple contexts. The stories take place in various geographical locations such as on a boat heading for the United States, several cities within Haiti, and in New York City. In almost all the stories, the Haitian identity is solidified and/or clarified once a person leaves the island and establishes themselves somewhere else. This theme is illustrated by a common refrain in the novel (a lyric from Haiti's nat...more
Edwige Danticat’s Krik? Krak! is a book of interconnected stories that pull the reader into the small joys and sufferings of a group of women who have their origins in Ville Rose, Haiti. It is an excellent book that pulls the reader in and really makes him identify with events he has luckily never experienced. Danticat’s style of writing, in which she intends to explain intangible ideas, is especially effective when held up to the Haitian stories and traditions described in the book.
I could simp...more
I could simp...more
She then gave me the pillow, my mother's pillow. It was open, half-filled with my mother's hair. Each time they shaved her head, my mother had kept the hair for her pillow. I hugged the pillow against my chest, feeling some of the hair rising in clouds of dark dust into my nostrils. -48
She nearly didn't marry him because it was said that people with angular hairlines often have very troubled lives. -65
He always slaps the mosquitoes dead on his face without even waking. In the morning, he will ha...more
She nearly didn't marry him because it was said that people with angular hairlines often have very troubled lives. -65
He always slaps the mosquitoes dead on his face without even waking. In the morning, he will ha...more
Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat is a collection of short stories that detail the Haitian experience. A combination of reflection, storytelling, history, and memories each story brings to light different aspects of Haitian culture, while reinforcing the commonalities between the Haitian people. As a whole, Krik? Krak! is an emotional whirlwind. Danticat brings forth the raw emotions felt by the characters and exposes the reader to those same feelings of love, kinship, grief, and pride. In attempt...more
Mar 10, 2010
Michelle Hirschfeld
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Michelle by:
Washington and Lee University
Danticat's Krik? Krak! is a fascinating collection of short stories about several generations of women of a Haitian family. The stories often deal with the painful realities of Haitian life, including rape, false imprisonment and extreme poverty. Daticat's writing style is fairly easy to read, but full of complexity and deeply affecting. Each story had its memorable and affecting parts but the opening story, Children of the Sea. It is told in the unique style of two lovers writing letters to eac...more
Krik? Krak! is a great novel written by a Haitian writer named Edwidge Danticat. She moved to the United States when she was twelve years old and experienced a process of cultural assimilation. Edwidge Danticat, as she has stated in various books and interviews, has the need to be the voice of her people. By belonging to a country that “had suffered too much […] they have endured slavery, hunger, disease, oppression, corruption, violence… all in excess” (Claudine Michel) Danticat has such a stro...more
My good friend Mark tried to get me to read this book a long time ago and so he bought it for me. I could not appreciate it then...but after he passed away I was drawn to it and understood why he wanted me to read it. It's about strength, and softness...about doing what you have to do to satisfy that ache in your heart even if it means dying...several stories that make no sense alone but together speak volumes..
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| Mrs. Munkwitz's W...: Week 2 Readings | 1 | 1 | Aug 16, 2012 07:18am | |
| Mrs. Munkwitz's W...: Week 1 Readings | 2 | 1 | Aug 16, 2012 07:17am | |
| Mrs. Munkwitz's W...: Week 4 Readings | 1 | 1 | Aug 13, 2012 12:36pm | |
| Mrs. Munkwitz's W...: Week 3 Readings | 1 | 1 | Aug 13, 2012 12:35pm |
Edwidge Danticat was born in Haiti and moved to the United States when she was twelve. She is the author of several books, including Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection; Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist; and The Farming of Bones, an American Book Award winner. She is also the editor of The Butterfly's Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States and The Beac...more
More about Edwidge Danticat...
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“No, women like you don't write. They carve onion sculptures and potato statues. They sit in dark corners and braid their hair in new shapes and twists in order to control the stiffness, the unruliness, the rebelliousness.”
—
57 people liked it
“I also know there are timeless waters, endless seas, and lots of people in this world whose names don't matter to anyone but themselves. I look up at the sky and I see you there.”
—
11 people liked it
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