Book description
Lyrical, lush and haunting, the prose shimmers in this nuanced debut, set primarily in the US Virgin Islands. Part oral history, part postcolonial narrative, How to Escape from a Leper Colony is ultimately a lovely portrait of a wholly unique place. Like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Edwidge Danticat and Maryse Cond…
Why read it?
1 author picked How to Escape from a Leper Colony as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I love the unexpected beauty and horror of this book which is a collection of stories and a novella. The title also made me wonder, how do you escape a leper colony? Author Tiphanie Yanique is a Caribbean writer whose stunningly poetic voice haunted me long after I finished reading her book. As I read it, I imagined the narrator's Caribbean accent soaking into every syllable. In the key short story, Yanique sets us down in a leper colony on a deserted island for the dying and yet manages to leave room for the miraculous as well. Describing one leper…
From Dwight's list on The best weird and wonderful books to read in one weekend.
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