American Street by Ibi Zoboi

American Street by Ibi Zoboi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This story of Fabiola, who immigrates back to America (Detroit) after living most of her 17 years of life in Haiti, is culturally captivating. I enjoyed every bit of Haitian culture, including the interesting insights into voodoo.

At it's heart, this is a story of family and poverty. Fabiola's extended family is not particularly nice, but they are multifaceted, which I appreciate. Let it be noted that this is a heavy, often depressing read, full of characters who make difficult and often poor decisions.

I do not love the plot, nor do I love anything about the conclusion to the story, and that has nothing to do with the fates of the characters. I guess that I hoped to see more growth in some of the characters than what I got, and that made the conclusion frustrating, unnecessarily tragic, and somewhat lacking, for me.

However, there's a sweet romance, that is both awkward and real, so bonus points for that.

Pages: 336

Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende

I've enjoyed several books by this author focused on life in the Americas.  This one follows Zarite, known as Tete, the daughter of an African mother she never knew, and a white sailor, as she grows up in slavery in Saint-Domingue in the 1770s.  She is purchased by Toulouse Valmorain, to serve in his house and later as his concubine.  The book conveys well the horrid conditions of slavery in the sugar cane plantations that leads to a slave revolt.  When the Valmorain family escapes to Cuba, and later New Orleans, Tete accompanies the family and eventually gains her freedom.  Characters are connected in surprising ways, in some cases in ways that stretch credulity, but the overall picture of the time is very colorful, and you have to root for Tete to pull through.  Translated from the Spanish.  457 pages.