Amazon’s book of March 27, Retrospectives, true stories and notes is available in paperback ($10) and e-book (($2.99 til May 20 for promotional purposes).
The book recounts using various genres – that of the personal story, annotations of political themes, short essays and poetry, the writer’s life episodes and preoccupations. Together, these different writing genres make a coherent whole, combining harmoniously the different parts, to make a good book.
When she is caught in a fire on the 5th floor of her building, the author uses the event to express in writing her feelings about this moment of her life. Using vivid descriptions, she describes with emotion her stay in the hospital and at her sister’s in Philadelphia where she spends some time to recover from the wounds to her feet and “soul”.
Then comes a story about the author’s favorite theme of ‘friendship and loss’: “The Disappearance of Mrs. Greene”. This time it’s a relationship that ends before it even begins. “It’s the story about racism in the hospital’s research department” leaving us with the feeling that the author continues to long for permanent love and attachment; for, “human beings are herd animals with a strong drive to bond”.
The political themes she considers are Capitalism, Socialism or Social Democracy, Communism… She presents them briefly from a historical perspective and with specific reference to Haiti, her native country.
I let you to discover the short essays and the “poems” published at the end of the book which is an autobiographical account of the author’s life moments.
Maryse Roumain.
Maryse Noël Roumain 