Krik? Krak! is a collection of 9 short stories written by Haitian author Edwidge Danticat. It was published in 1995 and was a finalist for the National Book Award. The stories are all about different characters, but each of them is about the relationship women have with their families. The stories are set in Port-au-Prince, Ville Rose (a fictional town), and New York City. The title of the text is a Haitian call-and-response phrase. When a storyteller wants to start a story, he says “Krik?” and the audience replies “Krak!” It is a way to start a story not unlike “Once upon a time,” but with the classic African call-and-response tradition.
In many of the stories, the characters are...
