SOURCE: "A Testament to Survival," in Quarterly Black Review, June, 1995, p. 6.

In the following review, Hébert applauds Krik? Krak! for its stories about Haitians and their lives in Haiti, but notes that Danticat never fully examines the complicated relationship between Haitian-Americans and America.

And over the years when you have needed us, you have always cried "Krik?" and we have answered "Krak!" and it has shown us that you have not forgotten us.

Edwidge Danticat's powerful collection of short stories, Krik? Krak! is a complicated, yet connected, chorus of Haitian voices affirming survival. Each one explores how memories of Haiti are passed on from one generation to the next—how Haiti will live on in the children of exiles in the United States, in the children of those who survived.

We know people by their stories.

Born in 1969 during the dictatorial regime of Papa Doc Duvalier, Danticat...