Book Review: ‘We’re Alone’ by Haitian American writer Edwidge Danticat weaves personal and political Haitian American writer Edwidge Danticat explores family, homeland and her literary heroes in “We’re Alone,” a new volume of essays that include personal narratives of her early years as child immigrant in Brooklyn to reportage of recent events like the assassination of a president back in her native county. In the essay collection, the author of the celebrated memoir “Brother, I’m Dying,” and novels like “Breath, Eyes, Memory” and “Claire of the Sea Light,” moves from her native Port-au-Prince to the New York of her childhood and finally to the adopted hometown of Miami, where she lives as an adult with a family of her own.

This essay, titled “The Memory of the Body,” explores the ways in which memory, both personal and collective, shapes our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Danticat’s exploration of memory in this essay is not merely a personal reflection. It is a broader examination of how memory, in its various forms, shapes the lives of individuals and communities.

Lorde’s words resonated with Danticat, who felt a deep connection to the island’s history and the complexities of its present. She saw the island as a microcosm of the larger global struggle for liberation and justice. Danticat’s journey to Grenada is not just a physical one; it’s also a journey of self-discovery.

___ AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews