Erzulie's Skirt

As for content, Erzulie's Skirt is all about women supporting women and finding power in the women of their family histories. One main character has African-Haitian slave roots, as probably does the authoress. The character's female partner is whiter but equally humble. Most of the scenes are among the poorest residents of the Dominican Republic, where the authoress was born and where I lived better than 15 years. Several chapters depict a horrifying diversion of the main characters: As boat-people illegal immigrants, they plunge into modern sex slavery in Puerto Rico. As literature, this story is a great read. It is a captivating weave of Caribbean reality with a voodoo-type mysticism that is amazingly well researched and written. The title is a voodoo reference elaborated early in the text. Sex scenes are sketched with the subtle artistry of that spirit-filled world. Its forgivable flaws, because it is a first book for the authoress, include some huge time-space jumps without much transition and also a thinly justified ending. Among its successes, a universally recognizable, regardless of historic or geographic setting, depiction of the determinant dynamics of family and poverty that mold a woman's lot it life. The novel is dark because it is true to the dark reality that its protagonists overcome. More than dark, however, the novel is hopeful because it recounts their survival, their overcoming, and the passing on of their love-based power to the next generation's women. I've already sent Erzulie's Skirt to my daughter who lives an alternative lifestyle. I feel that I understand her and I know myself better for having read it.