Book Review by Carla M. Paton
Quake: Horror and Hope in Haiti Will Loiseau’s is an exceptional example of autobiographical fiction that works. I wasn’t sure what to think as the opening chapters are slow. We read mundane details of airport trips and other family interactions that generally don’t entice the reader to move on. And yet we all know what’s coming, so deliberate pacing and everyday life set the stage and provide a contrast.
And the contrast we get when Jean Carmelo finds a second calmly drinking a pineapple soda and the next in the epicenter of hell: the 2010 Haiti earthquake 7.0, where more than 200,000 people died.
“A menacing roar louder than dozens of high-speed engines came straight at them … from every possible direction. The building rocked rapidly and violently, knocking them to the ground like life-size dolls.”
From this moment on, the novel grows more and more as we move with Jean Carmelo from disbelief in what is happening to nascent horror as he walks through the devastated streets.
The beginning of the novel also serves to connect us with Jean Carmelo and his family. We care deeply for him, for Rose, his slightly unbalanced mother, and Jules, his father, who has advanced Alzheimer’s. We also get details about Haiti, like the Texaco station with its red letters missing from the sign as Jean Carmelo remembers it. And everywhere details of the overwhelming poverty before the earthquake:
“With so many people out of work and living in such an unstable environment, the big corporations saw no reason to stay. There was hardly a supermarket, fast food restaurant or movie theater in sight.”
While the post-earthquake theme is heartbreaking, it’s Loiseau’s ability to focus on petty human concerns that pulls him out of news reporting. For example, we see Jean Carmelo impatient and yet tenderly helping his father, who does not realize the dangers of aftershocks:
“The walls began to shake violently. All the glass and ceramic objects in the house sang their familiar roar. Jules, experiencing a premature memory lapse, remained seated, looking innocently into his son’s eyes.”
These little incidents and this human story are what the story becomes and it is a satisfaction, well crafted indeed.