I’ve been slowly making my way through old award-winning young adult novels, and In Darkness, by Nick Lake, was next on my list. While it was somewhat long, I found it very interesting.
In Darkness is the story of a boy who is caught beneath some hospital ruins after an earthquake in Haiti. But what makes it so interesting is that it intersperses Haitian culture and folklore with chapters that tell the story of the main character, Shorty.
Here are three things I enjoyed most about In Darkness:
- The personality. Shorty was a very engaging narrator, and there was plenty in the first few pages to make you like him, even though he was a gangster and had killed people on the streets of Haiti. You understood his choices and why he did the things he did, and his voice and the way he told his story naturally endeared you to him. Although he was not necessarily an honorable character, you couldn’t help but care for him.
- The folklore. Each chapter that told Shorty’s story was followed by a chapter that told the story of Toussaint, the liberator of Haiti, who freed all the slaves (according to folklore and some historical proof) and became sort of a mythical legend in Haitian culture. The folklore elements were interesting asides that came together in a big way at the end.
- The window into the world of Haiti. You could tell that Lake had done his research into what it was like living on the streets of Haiti. You could see the slums take shape in your mind and the personality of the different gangs and the choices people made to survive them. It was magnificently done.
My favorite lines in the book were the opening ones:
“I am the voice in the dark, calling out for your help.
“I am the quiet voice that you hope will not turn to silence, the voice you want to keep hearing cos it means someone is still alive. I am the voice calling for you to come and dig me out. I am the voice in the dark, asking you to unbury me, to bring me from the grave out into the light, like a zombi.
“I am a killer and I have been killed, too, over and over; I am constantly being born. I have lost more things than I have found; I have destroyed more things than I have built. I have seen babies abandoned in the trash and I have seen the dead come back to life.
“I first shot a man when I was twelve years old.
“I have no name. There are no names in the darkness cos there is no one else, only me, and I already know who I am (I am the voice in the dark, calling out for your help), and I have no questions for myself and no need to call upon myself for anything, except to remember.
“I am alone.
“I am dying.”
Of course you have to keep reading. And you will.
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.
