Book Review

 

Le désespoir des anges, the first novel by the Haitian writer Henry Kénol, was initially published by a Haitian editor Atelier Jeudi soir in 2009, and then reedited by the French editor Actes Sud in 2014. It is a realistic novel-- that is to say, the author’s main objective was to describe faithfully the setting, events, and characters without idealizing them.

 

The narrator is interior to the story. Working in a hotel, trying to give a new direction to her life and forget her troubles, a young woman broke some glasses and found herself, certain that she would be fired immediately, in the office of her employer to try to justify her clumsiness. While her employer is scolding her sharply, the images of her terrible past are suddenly recalled to her mind. Through her conversation with her employer, a woman from a different social condition, the young woman perceives an invitation to help and an opportunity for a closer relationship.

 

The main character of this story is the young woman whose name the author never mentions. As a child, her primary goal was to become a physician. After being the victim of a collective rape, she became the concubine of a gang leader, Mario. However, the power of her man did not last for a long time. She went from being the queen of the cité to being a fugitive as she was pursued by the new leader. She came out of the cité thanks to Soledad, an associate of her late concubine, Mario, to work in a whorehouse. In spite of the fact that her life had changed for the worst, the young woman retained her inner strength. Not once did she try to end her life.

 

Henry Kénol declared that he was motivated to write this novel by two realities that Haitian Literature has so far shown little interest for. First, the invasion of the inner city slums, also known as cités, by armed groups in the early 2000s. He did not want this dark period of our history to fall into oblivion. He wanted to be the spokesperson for the people struck or sickened by the violence that prevailed at that time. Second, he wished to denounce male domination of women. The two women, the protagonist and her employer, bore the physical and mental scars of the violence to which they had been subjected by men. This interesting and original novel is addressed to those who did not understand the complexity of these two painful realities, and to those who ignored them or pretended to.

The plot gripped me and kept me turning pages.

 

The author painted these realities while alternating between the present and the past, the dream and what was real. The book is hard, grasping, brutal, crude, and may offend sensitive readers. Just a few pages in the reading and we are already witnessing a gang rape scene which will change the life of the victim who is also the main character. The young woman who reflects back on her life in the cité is only twenty-eight years old, but she has the feeling of being much older. The mental and physical marks left by her past life are like tattoos on her body, something that cannot be erased. The story shows the dark aspect of lost illusions, of despair, of trampled dreams. Henry Kénol described without compromise collective rapes, prostitution, the executions and tortures inflicted on the inhabitants of the slums by armed groups. He did not soften his language. He did not omit any detail due to modesty or respect for any moral rule. He said it all. He declared that it was the only way he could contribute to a change in his country by not allowing us to forget our past mistakes.

 

My favorite character is the young woman. Despite all her mishaps and troubles, she retained her identity and an extraordinary inner strength. She spent her entire life surviving rather than living without ever complaining. Sometimes, I wonder if I could do that. From her story, I learned to keep moving forward no matter what obstacles may come in my way and to fight to preserve my dreams.

 

Le désespoir des anges is an excellent novel and I highly recommend it to others. After a first reading, one may dislike it, but it is worth a second try. I am confident he/she will grow to appreciate it. Of all the chapters, my favorite is the last one. In this chapter, the author portrays two women from two different backgrounds, the young woman and her employer, one in front of the other. Two women who may, in the end, find some harmony in their respective sufferings.

 

Kenny L. Nelson, C.C.F., Terminale