Name: Moonbath
ISBN: 9781941920565

Yanick Lahens

An award-winning, lyrically written, beautifully haunting saga of a Haitian family's fight against a curse spanning four generations.

Moonbath

Alexia Cambaling

I actually have an e-arc from Edelweiss of this book, but the version I am reviewing is the finished copy on Scribd.

Moonbath tells the saga of a peasant family living in a village in Haiti. This story is interspersed with the story of Cetoute who we first meet as she lies dead after the storm. As she pieces together what happened to her and her memories, she also tells the story of the generations that came before her.

Right off the bat, I have to say that I love the writing. Moonbath is gorgeously written and the prose is absolutely excellent. There are a lot of Haitian and French words used, but you can understand them in context and there’s a glossary in the back which really helps. The writing style is very literary and I liked the play on perspectives. There’s several characters we follow in the book, but it never feels too confusing. At the same time, I don’t think this is for everybody and personally, I think I actually picked this up at a good time when I’m exploring my tastes in literature and trying to broaden my horizons. There are definitely some things I probably did not pick up the first time and I will probably end up re-reading at some point. I think that the translator’s style is great, although I do sometimes find myself wishing I could read French so I could read this in the original.

The primary forces in the book are power and patriarchy. It shows the violence that patriarchy imposes on women, and the seduction that power has which also ends up affecting the characters in this book. The way power is presented is that it’s this seductive force which can end up being the ruin of several people in the family. While this book primarily focuses on the family saga, there’s a lot of political stuff happening in the background, tied very much to Haitian history. As the political landscape shifts, the family is swept up in it and we see how they deal with it or how they’re caught up in it.

Decades of the family’s story were covered in less than three hundred pages and it actually works. Several generations of family history presented in a tight, concise manner. In those three hundred pages, we get a glimpse into the syncretic religion practiced by the family, as well as the shifts that happen in Haiti’s history. I liked how the history was woven through the book, it felt very natural and added to the experiences that this family encountered.

I titled this review “Memories of Family” because that’s how it feels like. The book is presented like the shared memories of this family, notwithstanding the narrator in the beginning. We see through her eyes the patriarchs and matriarchs who kept their family together, who ensured their survival, and who contributed to the branches of the family tree. There’s one prominent character, Olmene who I thought would have a bigger presence, but she didn’t after she left. She remained an important character and her presence could be felt in her family’s thoughts and recollections. Still, there are a lot more characters to follow and I really liked how the multi-generational story was presented.

Overall, I enjoyed Moonbath. It’s probably not for everybody, but if you’re into literary styles of writing and family sagas, I can recommend this book. It is excellent, although sometimes harrowing so please mind the content warnings.

Moonbath

Reviews

Highlights