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God Loves Haiti: A Novel Kindle Edition

3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 92 ratings

A native of Haiti, Dimitry Elias Léger makes his remarkable debut with this story of romance, politics, and religion that traces the fates of three lovers in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and the challenges they face readjusting to life after an earthquake devastates their city.

Reflecting the chaos of disaster and its aftermath, God Loves Haiti switches between time periods and locations, yet always moves closer to solving the driving mystery at its center: Will the artist Natasha Robert reunite with her one true love, the injured Alain Destiné, and live happily ever after? Warm and constantly surprising, told in the incandescent style of José Saramago and Roberto Bolaño, and reminiscent of Gabriel García Márquez’s hauntingly beautiful Love in The Time of Cholera, God Loves Haiti is an homage to a lost time and city, and the people who embody it.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“So powerful as to be mesmerizing. I don’t think I’ve seen the Haitian earthquake of 2010 represented with such compassion and insight. One of those books that leave you wishing the author could produce a tome every month.” — Gary Shteyngart

“A fully mature novel in scope and perspective, as rich in ideas as in humanity. Funny, street-smart, and keenly observed, God Loves Haiti establishes Léger as one of contemporary fiction’s most distinctive and irresistible new voices.” — Edwidge Danticat

“The Port-au-Prince earthquake of 2010 may seem like an odd setting for a romantic comedy, but then Haiti really is an amazing place! Dimitry Elias Léger has brought it off, with a smile, a tear, and a peppery dash of satire as a lagniappe.” — Madison Smartt Bell

“A luminous debut . . . Léger writes beautifully and with an immense humanity. . . . He renders [Haiti] in all of its stupendous beautiful tortured complexity. A stand-out novel.” — Junot Diaz

“A work of fiction that combines breathless narrative movement with memorable writing and unabashed Big Ideas. [An] impressive debut novel.” — Andrea Lee

“The heat, the horror, the taste of ashes: Reading this vivid debut novel about the Port-au-Prince earthquake of 2010-and the risky love triangle that survives it-is jolting and exhilarating.” — More magazine

“With empathy and wit, Léger captures the intricacies of a country that is at once beautiful and tortured….There is no doubt that God Loves Haiti will leave readers wanting more from this talented author.” — M&V Magazine

[God Loves Haiti] shows undeniable strength and a powerful message about creating something new out of such devastation. — Publishers Weekly

“[Léger ]deftly sketches his country’s postcolonial struggles as well as its faith, resilience and promise….his Haiti-in-crisis, richly seen and unforgettable, is all too real.” — New York Times Book Review

“Léger’s use of imagery when describing the aftermath of the earthquake is remarkable and unparalleled; it offers a refreshing perspective. God Loves Haiti is a detailed and gripping account of the tragic events that occurred, infused with a story of romance, courage and change.” — AfroPunk

From the Back Cover

“Léger deftly sketches his country’s postcolonial struggles as well as its faith, resilience, and promise.”—The New York Times Book Review

In thirty-five seconds, more than 200,000 people on the island of Haiti are killed and 1.3 million are left homeless. An earthquake has struck, ravaging a land that is plagued by poverty and poor infrastructure. Yet the amazing characters in God Loves Haiti are never simply victims.

At the heart of the novel are the connected but divergent fates of its President, his wife, and her lover. The world has fallen down around them, laying bare remorse, pain, isolation, and unalloyed grief now devastatingly realized, and irrevocably altering all their lives.

Anchoring this poignant and constantly surprising story is an affectionate portrait of Haiti, in all its complexity—its proud past as the first nation established by a successful slave revolt, its entangled politics with France and the United States, and its efforts to rise from the ruins to build anew.

“A luminous debut. . . . Léger writes beautifully and with an immense humanity. A standout novel.”—Junot Díaz

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00L19WPPC
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Amistad; Reprint edition (January 6, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 6, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1287 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 277 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 92 ratings

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Dimitry Elias Léger
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Customer reviews

3.8 out of 5 stars
3.8 out of 5
92 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2016
Debut novel, based on fact (the devastating earthquake in Haiti; the names of the past presidents; events after the quake; geographical accuracy), this story of the star-crossed lives of 3 people (the president, his wife, and her lover) is followed in minute detail.
The whole story leads up to the central issue: will Natasha stay with her husband or seek out/find/reunite w her lover. The answer is unexpected.
Exquisite writing with many moments of levity, probably mirroring the attitude of the Haitian people throughout time, as well as during the immediate aftermath of the quake that reduced the capital city and much of the surrounding parts of the island with such devastation that the dead numbered around 200,000 and were carried to mass burials in dump trucks and bucket loaders.
While the book is not magical realism, there is something in the style of writing and the weaving in and out of time that reminds me of some of the best of that genre.
Incandescent writing.
Many unforgettable characters.
Enchanting epilogue.
I would even read this book again.
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2015
it was a very good read. It also gave the word I was looking for goudou goudou. I enjou dimitryy's first novel. Hope there are more to come.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2015
The tempo is deliberately cautious, oozing and shaky but while you sense the immediate drama and urgency of the situation..... the real life reality seems to function and float just above reality..... There was areal disconnect between the two......
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Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2016
How could a book about the terrible earthquake in Haiti be luminous? Especially if its themes are political corruption, betrayal, and the sad fate of the arts in a poor country? Well, this novel is. I couldn't stop reading it. It's a fascinating look into both Haitian culture, and the human heart, with all of their idiosynchrasies and confusion.

"Haitian women and their steel decisiveness mystified me like no other in much the same way they mystified my father... We men, we debate. Women, they act. We sing. They make the drums. We dither, lord, we dither. They build. My father did tell me that if I got more than second breath of chaleur from one, I should grab on to her mighty hips and never let go or bruise them. And my father was right."

Great writing. Great plot. Highly recommended.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2020
This is a novel that will leave you wrestling with questions that have, and continue to, intrigue mankind: The definition of love - and how to navigate it. The question of God - and whether or not to accept or deny Him or She. (to name a few....) If good literature is suppose to evoke feelings and push questions and discussions forward, then this quick easy read has done its job, well.
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2015
good fast service
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2015
disappointing
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2015
I followed the relief work in Haiti after the earthquake because my son was on the tarmac two days after the earthquake, coordinating relief which include medical, food, and housing assistance. I know the tremendous work that was done from his point of view.

Leger gives the reader the point of view of survivors and the tensions between commitment to the greater good and commitment to self. His organization/text structure is unique as through the organization of chapters dug deep into the characters and their conflicts at the time of the earthquake, just before the earthquake, and after the earthquake. Through this structure, he was able to develop the characters and demonstrate their growth and change.

Top reviews from other countries

Mark Turner
5.0 out of 5 stars A nighttime swim through the warm bath of a Caribbean apocalypse
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 23, 2015
An embracing sleepwalk through post-quake Haiti's glutinous dreamscape. A love triangle that envelops the reader in the fever that followed the great goudou-goudou, and hits like a Hollywood baseball bat. A read-in-one wallow that asks the eternal question of an illusory God: why would he? Highly recommended.
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