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An almost mellow, distanced telling of the life and times of Ti Noël in the late 18th early 19th century Haiti, during slavery, revolts, exile and always oppression. A few others individuals are briefly in focus, but while sad the book is remarkably unbitter on the failures of revolution. ( )

This was an important book. The structure of it was beautiful, gracefully capturing dozens of years in a relatively short novel. The content was far from graceful: it was raw without gore; it resonated as true without being clogged with facts. It was deeply uncomfortable, at times, but that felt good and necessary, and I was willing to go almost anywhere with Carpentier. The prose was deft and concise. Though the cover heralds it as magical realism, that element plays a minor role in the plot. Carpentier's sparse and factual tone, however, lends strength and continuity to this technique. Hope to reread at some point, though; the pacing and perhaps the circumstances of reading this book led me to take it faster than I would have liked. ( )

This is a modern classic by Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier about the revolution in Haiti. First published in 1949, this is not a book that would be written today; it's overwhelmingly male-oriented, with women existing mainly as objects of lust, prostitutes or to rape. And there's some interesting phrasing around issues of race. But setting that aside, this is an interesting look a the first successful slave rebellion in the western world.

The novel is told primarily through the eyes of an enslaved Black man named Ti Noel, who witnesses the first attempts to break free, lives through the successful revolt, accompanies the man who enslaved him to Cuba and finally returns to Haiti, where he lives through the oppressive reign of Henri Christophe and long after, always just trying to live free in that corner of Haiti he considers home. This is a slender novel that packs a lot in, provides a lot of information while being full of action, magic realism and life. ( )

Historical fiction meets magical realism in this short novel about the 1803 Slave uprising in Haiti and the rulers that followed. Sad story but since it's told from the point of view of a slave of that time period it's sprinkled with magical voodoo and naive hope. The writing style reminded me of reading Greek and Roman mythology. ( )