Skip to main content

Haitian Book Club: The Gift of Misfortune by Joseph P. Policape


The Gift of Misfortune by Joseph P. Policape is today’s Haitian Book Club selection.

Armand and Deborah Etienne had it all in Haiti.

The Etienne siblings lived a comfortable lifestyle in Port-au-Prince, and had all the perks of the good life—except piece of mind. Deborah refuses to date the son of an official. This probably would have resulted into a bruised ego, and nothing else in any other place in time, but Deborah Etienne is living in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in the 1980s, when the spurned advances of a powerful official, can lead to disaster.

So this little incident, coupled with the general restlessness of that era, prompts Armand and Deborah to leave Haiti for New York to join their sisters who left some years back.

The bulk of the novel deals with the Etienne siblings assimilation in America, and Armand’s chaotic love life. After getting a huge chunk of the educational part of the American Dream, Armand marries Monica. This relationship is frowned upon by Armand’s entourage even before it makes it to the altar, but Armand doesn’t listen to anyone admonishments, not even partially.

From this point The Gift of Misfortune becomes a melodrama, but not a melodrama without substance. The central theme of it all is how immigrants often adopt new customs not their own, that can lead to their unraveling.

Books, Book, Club, Gift, Haitian, Joseph, Misfortune, Policape
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 Questions With Singer-Songwriter Mikaelle Cartright

Mikaelle Cartright has a voice that’s like tropical silk. The New York-born, singer-songwriter has a jazzy style that recalls the styles of singers like Anita Baker with a little hint of Shirley Bassey. How did she develop her jazzy style? What role do her parents play in her support system as a singer-songwriter? Read on to find out. Kreyolicious: Your name is Mikaelle, no doubt stemming from the name Michael, which means Who Can Be Like God ? What is the most extraordinary thing that’s happened to your life that has had you saying the same phrase? Mikaelle Cartright: Correct, my name means “Who is like God”. My existence causes me to ask that constantly. My birth was a miracle. My mother almost lost me. She was placed on bed rest somewhere around the fourth month. The muscles of her uterus were giving out and the doctor said I was going to just fall out. The medication, some hormone treatment, was barely available and when Baby Doc fell, it was chaos. My mother was, thank God, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Haiti’s First Lady of Rap, and Hip Hop Kreyol?

Eunide Edouarin—the Haiti-based rapper more popularly known as Princess Eud —doesn’t like to do interviews. “When I’m being interviewed,” the raptress contends, “I have so many things going on my head at the same time that I sometimes answer questions they never asked me, and I’m kinda shy.” Yet shyness is a quality that very few would identity with Edouarin. Take a performance for example in which the self-described homebody held her own alongside CaRiMi , one of the most popular Haitian pop bands on the market, during one of her first big performances in New York. Slithering sexily onstage, the singer-rapper rapped effortlessly on the band’s hit “Fanm Nan Move”, before dissolving into a verse of her own song “Hey” . It’s utter confidence and bravado that shines through; no signs of timidity. Edouarin is a self-proclaimed traditional girl, but her start in the Haitian rap music game was far from conventional. While hanging at a local radio station in Port-au-Prince, she was invite...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kreyolicious Interview: Mia Lopez, Publicist/Entrepreneur

Mia Lopez is the CEO and President of M.I.A. Media, Inc, a public relations firm based in Miami that caters to the Haitian entertainment industry. Lopez is a low-key person, but among her peers and industry insiders, her work doesn’t go unnoticed. Of her, Patrick Desvarieux, the founder of Kompa Magazine, said: “She is a natural. A people’s person. One of the best at what she does. A master of her craft.” Nick Jean of KalePwa.com calls her a pioneer. “She helped take the Haitian Community into modern times [in terms of her public relations work],” he contends. After being in the mainstream music industry, singer-songwriter Mickael Music wanted to enter the Haitian music market with her Bel Project, but wanted to go about it the right way. She recalls, “I asked around, ‘Who is the best PR marketing person in the Haitian music industry’? For the people that even knew what that meant all said, “Mia Lopez”, as if she [had] created the title in the Haitian music industry. When I say “ev...
Post a Comment
Read more