Magic Orange Tree

Truth be told, I wasn't expecting a whole lot of sophistication from the uneducated peasant culture of overwhelmingly rural Haiti. Imagine my surprise, then, to discover that I was being treated to a marvelously tightly integrated ethnographic study-cum-anecdote chrestomathy. In addition to some uniquely Haitian elements, there are, of course, the to-be-expected plethora of archetypal folkloric motifs as catalogued by Aarne and Thomson. The stories were generally brief and worked quite well, and Wolkstein's detailed notes about the physical setting and orator of each tale make the reader feel as if he's actually taking part in a rural Haitian storytelling session under the full moon in the sweltering sugar cane fields. Bravo, Dr. Wolkstein!

The amazing thing about this collection is Wolkstein's introductions...she tells you about the teller and the setting in which each tale was collected...it is like taking a storytelling tour of Haiti. I require all of my storytelling students to read these intros to understand the variety of the storytelling tradition. Plus the stories are really great for telling. AND she includes the music! EVERY school and public library should own this!

By the author's own admission, these stories weren't necessarily the best-told she encountered while researching folk tales in Haiti. The flat page lacks the beauty of the oral tale, and some of these stories may have been a little weak in the telling; but on the page they reveal a great deal about Haiti, and are a fascinating read besides.Folk tales reveal a great deal about a culture-what it values, how members of the society relate, what their beliefs are. These tales do exactly that. While they aren't as clear-cut, with a defined beginning, middle, and end, as American readers have become accustomed to, they do give away a great detail about Haiti. Life is unfinished; hardship is to be embraced and studied; the spirit world is right here at hand, not a million miles away above the clouds.Even on their own, they stand as a monument to the creative act and the power of the human intellect. These stories will infect your head like a virus, spreading and replicating, until you have to pass them on. Read them casually, and you will be enlightened. Study them seriously, and you may be transformed.

If you're looking for stories with pat, solid endings, this is not the book for you. But, if you're looking for something that reflects the eccentricity and style of Haiti, then this is it. The stories are magical and you can almost see the people telling them for themselves! Kric?

I lived in a remote village in Haiti for five years and found this book while home in the USA for a visit. I found its stories unusual and charming -- and authentic! When I returned to Haiti I had a wonderful time with my Haitian friends as I related the stories I had read in this book and they would finish telling them with me and share how their mothers and fathers had shared these same stories with them.