Book Review: ‘We’re Alone’ by Haitian American writer Edwidge Danticat weaves personal and political View Photo 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 multifaceted. She delves into the ways memory can be both a source of comfort and a source of pain.

Lorde’s words resonate with Danticat’s own experiences as a Black woman navigating the complexities of her identity and the challenges of being a Caribbean woman in a globalized world. Danticat’s journey to Grenada is not just a physical one, but also a metaphorical one. She is seeking to understand the complexities of her identity and the impact of colonialism on her ancestors.

___ AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews By ANITA SNOW Associated Press