I’d been hearing a lot of talk about Ibi Zoboi’s American Street, and I finally, after waiting for months, got it off the hold shelf in our library.
All that talk was true: American Street is a truly spectacular book that will entrance you, bring you to tears, and lift you to a higher place than where you started. At its heart, it’s a book about Haitian culture, drug life, and bravery.
Here are three things I liked best about it:
- The Haitian culture. I absolutely loved how main character Fabiola brought the Haitian culture into everything and how voudou, her faith, was the source of her strength.
- Strong women. Fabiola and her cousins were strong women who solved their own problems, even though they didn’t always make the right decisions or even honorable ones. I also really loved the insight into Detroit culture that Zoboi provided; it was an eye-opening peek into the truth of street life, particularly for young women.
- The mystical quality of everything. Because voudou, which is the Haitian religion, was so important to Fabiola, it seemed like everything in her life was infused with the mystical and the magical. I found that really intriguing. And inspired a look at my own everyday magic.
Here’s an example of how Fabiola infuses her everyday actions with the mystical:
“When I get a better look at his face, my stomach sinks. He’s definitely the one who punched Bad Leg. He looks younger up close, but older than me—maybe Chantal’s age. There is a black patch over his left eye and his face is a series of sharp lines—a tight jaw, a straight nose, and a hard smile. Even if I hadn’t seen him do that to the poor old man, something about the way he grins and that eye patch makes him look like he’s been to the underworld and back.”
This was a superb book (I feel like I keep saying that, but it’s true): a well written, gripping story about what it takes to live a life as an immigrant, coming to a broken place in America that may not be as safe as even your dangerous homeland. I can’t wait to read more from Zoboi.
The above is an affiliate link. I only recommend books that I personally enjoy. I actually don’t even talk about the books I don’t enjoy, because I’d rather forget I ever wasted time reading them. But if you’re ever curious whether I’ve read a book and whether I liked or disliked it, don’t hesitate to ask.
