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How to Escape from a Leper Colony: A Novella and Stories Paperback – March 2, 2010

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 49 ratings

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An enthralling debut collection from a singular Caribbean voice

For a leper, many things are impossible, and many other things are easily done. Babalao Chuck said he could fly to the other side of the island and peek at the nuns bathing. And when a man with no hands claims that he can fly, you listen.

The inhabitants of an island walk into the sea. A man passes a jail cell's window, shouldering a wooden cross. And in the international shop of coffins, a story repeats itself, pointing toward an inevitable tragedy. If the facts of these stories are sometimes fantastical, the situations they describe are complex and all too real.

Lyrical, lush, and haunting, the prose shimmers in this nuanced debut, set mostly in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Part oral history, part postcolonial narrative,
How to Escape from a Leper Colony is ultimately a loving portrait of a wholly unique place. Like Gabriel García Márquez, Edwidge Danticat, and Maryse Condé before her, Tiphanie Yanique has crafted a book that is heartbreaking, hilarious, magical, and mesmerizing. An unforgettable collection.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The effects of colonialism throb in Yanique's vivid debut collection. The chilling title story is set in 1939, when the Trinidadian island of Chacachacare was still used as a leper colony; the narrator, a 14-year-old orphan with leprosy, befriends a curious boy her age, Lazaro, whose mother was murdered there when he was a baby, and whose troubled relationship with the nuns leads him to a terrible retribution. The Bridge Stories are elucidating snapshots of islanders struggling to carve out lives for themselves on St. Thomas and elsewhere amid an exploitative tourist economy. Yanique frequently dips into rich, fanciful vernacular, such as in Street Man, a beautiful, sad glimpse at a doomed love affair between a college student and a St. Croix local. In the affecting novella, International Shop of Coffins, Yanique depicts characters of mixed African/Creole/Indian descent torn between the white and island worlds in all their complexity and conflictedness. A smattering of dark humor leavens the tense narratives as Yanique penetrates the perils and pleasures of lives lived outside resort walls. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

In her debut short-story collection, Yanique, a native of the Virgin Islands, offers magical and mysterious tales about how people seek to or fail to penetrate the hard and soft differences between themselves. In the title story, inhabitants of an island leper colony must bear their disease and its isolation but cannot bear sacrilege. Interwoven stories of a bridge between islands illustrate how casually lives cross, though few connections are made for a woman in a burka, a fisherman, and a beauty queen. A St. Croix drug dealer takes up with a college girl who spends more than half the year in the U.S. Two women play out the intergenerational and mixed-race tensions between their families. A Ghanaian boy grows up in Britain struggling to overcome an emotional sickness that lingers into adulthood. A coffin shop in the Virgin Islands offers imported wares that are often works of art, evocative of life back in Ghana for the Catholic priest who frequents the shop and is its greatest source of business on his recommendations. Lovers of the form will appreciate this collection. --Vanessa Bush

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Graywolf Press (March 2, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 184 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 155597550X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1555975500
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.65 x 0.55 x 8.95 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 49 ratings

About the author

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Tiphanie Yanique
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Tiphanie Yanique is from the Virgin Islands and is a professor at Emory University. She lives with her family in Atlanta. Her newest book is Monster in the Middle. It has been featured in the O. Henry Prize anthology, the Best American Short Stories, and as a BuzzBook Best of the year book. Yanique's essays, poems and fiction center around the theme of belonging and what it means to be an American; as well as how issues of race, gender and ethnicity impact belonging. Yanique's writing has been published in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Best African American Fiction, The Wall Street Journal, American Short Fiction and other places.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
49 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book easy to read and enjoyable. They enjoy the short stories that keep their attention during each reading. The stories are described as good, unexpected, and meaningful.

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7 customers mention "Readability"7 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's short stories. They find them enjoyable and captivating, keeping their attention throughout reading.

"Outstanding stories that kept my attention during each reading...." Read more

"This collection of short stories was absolutely sensational. An excellent read. I would suggest this debut compilation to anyone...." Read more

"I really like this writer's style. I sometimes enjoy reading short stories...." Read more

"A great book with some really unexpected stories. I really enjoyed reading this and enjoyed how well it was written...." Read more

6 customers mention "Story quality"6 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's stories. They find the stories engaging and meaningful, with unexpected twists.

"Outstanding stories that kept my attention during each reading...." Read more

"...at times, yet Tiphanie Yanique's efforts to say something true and meaningful, and her generous view of her characters and their struggles won me..." Read more

"...The stories have the usual points of interest but are tinged a the unique taste of humor. Spicy but not too hot. Great!" Read more

"A great book with some really unexpected stories. I really enjoyed reading this and enjoyed how well it was written...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2021
    Outstanding stories that kept my attention during each reading. I recommend this book to anyone that desires to take a trip to the islands and wonders what it is like to visit.
  • Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2010
    This collection of short stories was absolutely sensational. An excellent read. I would suggest this debut compilation to anyone. The perspectives of her characters has a tragic beauty which compels the reader to transcend their predispositions and judgments and attempt to understand a way of life so very unique to the Virgin Islands. Yanique's command of vernacular as a literary device is astounding in the short story "Streetman" as well as in her "Bridge Stories" and the "Saving Work".
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2015
    Puzzling at times, yet Tiphanie Yanique's efforts to say something true and meaningful, and her generous view of her characters and their struggles won me over.
    A relief to read this kind of thoughtful exploration of life in the Caribbean islands, especially St. Thomas.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2010
    I really like this writer's style. I sometimes enjoy reading short stories. This book was suggested via an interview with the writer on NPR some months ago.

    When I finally got around to getting it I was surprised and delighted by the freshness of the author's point of view. The stories have the usual points of interest but are tinged a the unique taste of humor. Spicy but not too hot. Great!
    5 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2015
    A great book with some really unexpected stories. I really enjoyed reading this and enjoyed how well it was written. Every story comes to life with characters and setting as you read.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2017
    Good stories. Gives a good idea of what life is like in the US Virgin Islands.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2016
    The ends are always so surprising. Oftentimes, they leave you with mixed emotions. Definitely a great read. Finished it in 2 days.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2011
    I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This author is excellent at her craft and I eagerly await her second novel. My favorites would have to be "The Bridge Stories" and "The International Shop of Coffins"
    3 people found this helpful
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