book review: How to Escape from a Leper Colony by Tiphanie Yanique
The backstory: How to Escape from a Leper Colony was one of the 5 Under 35 selections from the National Book Foundation this year. My thoughts: This book is dubbed a novella and stories, but I would classify it as including two novellas. As always with collections, however, it's difficult to describe. The common themes among the stories are their Virgin Islands setting and ideas on colonialism. I found overtones of ideas from Monique Roffey's White Woman on a Green Bicycle ( my review ), which looked at an ex-patriot British couple living in Trinidad. I don't mean to equate colonial literature about two different countries, but there were some thematic similarities. Regular readers know I am not a huge fan of short story collections, but I do often enjoy them. I adored Tiphanie Yanique's writing, and she skillfully evoked strong characters and a setting, which was especially impressive in the shorter stories. "Movies are like so much art. They can start a ...