Tonight, by Sea

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, though Taste of Salt was much better
Review: I purchased "Tonight, by Sea" hoping for the same experience I got from reading "Taste of Salt", Temple's other novel about Haiti, but this one just didn't have the power to transport me to beloved Haiti as the other did. However, it's not a bad read and does tell quite honestly of the horror that caused the exodus from Haiti by "boat people" in the 90's and that still lingers today, albeit in a more "underground" form.

Rating:
Summary: Dying to be free
Review: Tonight by Sea may have grammatical and orthographical errors such as "Belle Fleuve" for either "Beau Fleuve" (in French) or "Bèl Flèv" (in Creole) or stylistic inconsistencies and incongruities as in the speech pattern of the character Sadrak who is a teacher but sometimes speaks like an uneducated person. But Frances Temple's novel for young adults succeeds in capturing the atmosphere that lead hundreds of Haitian people to risk their lives in rickety boats to "Chache lavi," Seek Life in the U.S. As the story evolves, the reader is treated to an overview of Haitian History and culture and, at the same time, comes to realize that, put in the same situation, he or she might have done the same.

A story about the will to survive. A story that rehabilitates the image of the Haitian Boat People. Tonight by Sea is a story that needed to be told.