How to Escape from a Leper Colony: A Novella and Stories

by Tiphanie Yanique

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.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Magical Realism, Short Story Collection, Fantasy, Literary Fiction, Speculative Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 2010

About the author

Tiphanie Yanique is the author of How to Escape from a Leper Colony. She has won the Boston Review Prize in Fiction, a Pushcart Prize a Fulbright in Creative Writing and an Academy of American Poet's Prize. Her work has also appeared in Callaloo, Transition Magazine, American Short Fiction, & the London Magazine. She is an assistant professor of creative writing & Caribbean Literature at Drew University. The Boston Globe listed her as one of sixteen cultural figures to watch out for in 2010."

Reviews

[luce (cry bebè's back from hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

❀ blog ❀ thestorygraph ❀ letterboxd ❀ tumblr ❀ ko-fi ❀

3 ¼ stars

“Who wants to be the one in the Bible always getting cured? We want to be the heroes, too. We want to be like Jesus. Or like Shiva. Or like whomever you pray to.”

How to Escape from a Leper Colony presents readers with a collection of interconnected tales that are a blend between the fantastic and the prosaic. Tiphanie Yanique’s prose is striking: her style carries playful, fabulist almost, undertones that perfectly complement the dreamlike quality of her narratives. This sense of surreality is further intensified by the use of repetition and recurring motifs. The characters populating these stories are often at a crossroads, caught between who they want to be and what others (or themselves) think they should be. The choices they make are not always for the best, and they often experience heartbreak, loss, desire, and shame. Yanique explores familial relationships, in particular the fraught bonds between children and their parents. Religion too plays a role in these stories, but each character has a unique relationship to their faith. Many of the stories revolve around characters who are attempting to find out a place where they belong. Death too is a recurring theme, particularly in those stories centred on a funerary home. While the setting remains unnamed and is only referred to as a Caribbean island (presumably Saint Thomas?), Yanique is still able to evoke a strong sense of place and there are some truly vibrant descriptions of the landscapes surrounding these characters. The dialogues too convey a strong sense of place as Yanique is able to capture different lilts and vernaculars.
The only reason why I am not giving this a higher rating is that I believe this is the kind of collection that is meant to be re-read in order to be truly appreciated. I sometimes felt a bit disorientated by the way these stories were interconnected.
My favourite stories were the titular 'How to Escape from a Leper Colony' and 'The International Shop of Coffins'. I loved how within these stories Yanique strikes a perfect balance between melancholy and humor. The unresolved nature of these narratives also added to the collections' overarching magical realist tone.
How to Escape from a Leper Colony is a promising collection that will definitely appeal to fans of Edwidge Danticat and Mia Alvar. I definitely plan on reading more by Yanique!

[BookOfCinz · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is no secret Tiphanie Yanique can write and she showcases this in this collection. I absolutely loved the story that was the title of the book- How to Escape from a Leper Colony . It is not every day I pick up a book that gives a historical look about Chacachare in Trinidad. I thoroughly enjoyed what life could have looked like back then.

What I found interesting is how the author took a slice of Caribbean life and made an entire narrative around it was really great to read. If you are looking for a great Caribbean read, this is it!

[Shivanee Ramlochan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excerpted from the full review:

"I loathe exaggeration, especially when it comes to enthusiasm. I prefer my praise to be as precise as possible. Sadly, this means that much of my best loved phrases must languish, unused, waiting for true beauty to capture them. One such is borrowed from a film – to feel something “like a riot in the heart, and nothing to be done, come ruin or rapture.”

Tiphanie Yanique’s premiere publication is impressive. A collection of short fiction and a novella, ‘How to Escape from a Leper Colony’ is remarkable in that it feels neither solely craft nor character-driven, yet reads as a spellbinding marriage of both. Here is short fiction to get you excited about the genre entire. Here is a novella you will want to reread until the people in it are achingly familiar to you, a novella which shows its full lustre in its unabridged format, as opposed to the more dim showing it made in Akashic Books’ 2008 anthology, ‘Trinidad Noir’. At a handful of pages shy of the two hundred mark, Yanique’s prose begs to be read in one sitting. I read it cover to cover in bed, bleary-eyed with intensity, and when I reached the last line of the last story, ‘Kill the Rabbits’, (which I would have loved to see further fleshed out into novella form) I felt that I had not had enough."
You can continue reading my full review of 'How to Escape from a Leper Colony' at Novel Niche! :)

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew that the Caribbean Sea could heal many things. If you have a cold, go bathe in the sea. If you are melancholy, go bathe in the sea. If you are a leper, go bathe in the sea -but on the leper's side.

A wonderful collection of short stories with variegated experiences but with a common link in all of them: the Caribbean Sea and its islands with their mixture of races, cultures and religions.

[Maxwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This collection of short stories and two novellas revolves around characters in the U.S. Virgin Islands. What I enjoyed about these tales were how they were modern day stories that read like folklore. She is attentive to sights, sounds, and tastes of the islands as well. They were very rich, and the characters were complex.

The title story was a great way to start the collection. But my favorite story was "The Saving Work." It had a great contrast between mothers and their children, jumping between the U.S. and the Virgin Islands. There were interesting gender dynamic as well as age differences.

Many of these stories deal with love and romantic relationships. The final novella "Kill the Rabbits" did a great job of intertwining narratives and dealing with racial tensions. It really leaves an ambiguous feeling of how to solve issues between races. However, I felt like the whole islanders trope was a bit over the top and read more like a caricature than a genuine commentary.

Overall, nothing completely blew me away about these stories. I'm happy I read them, but only 1 or 2 really stick out to me. The rest are not totally memorable.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that this book has a hodgepodge of characters. With many of them being immigrants, or the children of immigrants to the Caribbean, they are exceptionally diverse in race and religious backgrounds. Observing how these individuals bond or separate based on these differences adds depth to the stories. Then there are moments you completely forget you are reading about people that have differences at all.

The originality in some of these stories was pleasantly surprising. As if the stories themselves weren’t captivating enough, I was enthralled by method she uses to tell the last two. The same setting is visited three times but from the point of view of three different characters.

I was familiar with this author because of Land Love and Drowning but decided to read this book first. If her second book can top this little short story collection, then she will certainly secure a place on my list of favorite authors.

A full review is over on the blog: http://www.readinghaspurpose.blogspot...

[Hyphenista · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a mystical quality to these stories that explores the identity of the islands and its inhabitants. The stories seem more like myths than literary fiction, which I liked. Street Man was my favorite.

[Cheryl Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know how everyone always says that small presses are publishing the most innovative and interesting work? (Well, if you hang out with the book nerds I hang out with, you do.) On bad days there's a small skeptical voice inside me that says, "Yeah? Are you sure they don't just get sloppy seconds?" Then I read a book like How to Escape from a Leper Colony and I'm like, "Hell yeah, small presses are where it's at."

The book is billed as "a novella and stories," but actually several of the stories read like novellas, with multiple POVs and sweeping arcs of time. Yet the narration is sharp enough that it would work for flash fiction too. Yanique's characters are a diverse collage of Caribbean island dwellers, from lovelorn prisoners to coffin makers to Carnival dancers. They are black, white, creole and Indian; Christian, Hindu and Muslim. They aren't prone to happy endings, but they seem to live in a world in which love is plentiful.

My favorite quote from the title story: "Christians love leprosy.... Jesus cured lepers. Leprosy gives the pious a chance to be Christ-like. Only lepers hate leprosy. Who wants to be the one in the Bible always getting cured? We want to be the heroes, too."

[Tenli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful writing from a writer who comes from somewhere I know very little about. Her stories capture a variety of points of view with simple yet lyrical prose, and the emotional tone is spot on. I especially loved the story about the Coffin Shop, which is told Rashomon-style, from multiple points of view. Thanks to my intern who introduced me to this writer. I am very excited to read her novel next.

[Malika · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was easily one of the best books that I read last year. Yanique is a superb short story writer. Her stories drawn on the realism and surrealism of Caribbean geography and language, with stories that are located both in the region and the diaspora. It shocks, surprises and delights. I would recommend that everyone reads this book

[Wilhelmina Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dazzling diversity of characters in stories set in numerous Caribbean locations. Beautifully written. As in any collection of stories, some are stronger than others, but the characters' voices are amazing.

[Tayari Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an excellent book. Tiphanie Yanique has amazing rang. She inhabits so many voices and so many hearts.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these stories are absolutely brilliant.

[Ruby Jusoh · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Review) Tiphanie Yanique. Rating - 4/5. A collection of 8 intense short stories. Set in Carribean. The stories are amazing but I took my time reading them. Not sure why. The writing is amazing but I was neither addicted nor absorbed. However, some paragraphs are so so impactful.
.
The characters are the highlight. The themes of race, violence and inequality are strong. Blacks, Indians, Whites. We can get a glimpse into Carribean society. The islands are of small tight-knit communities. Everyone knows everyone. Yet, people seem to want to escape. To US. To UK. To India. To a bigger country.
.
Each story is good. The Leper Colony story feels almost like historic fiction. The last two stories - The International Shop of Coffins ans Kill The Rabbits - utilise multiple narratives. You get to read how the characters view each other and themselves in all its glory and flaws.
.
I am still not sure why I did not love this. I liked reading it, sure. But I was not obsessed. Perhaps because I was distracted by this super long Chinese drama I am watching entitled 'The Rebel Princes'. Haha.
.

[Jo Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An often painful, enlightening and thought-provoking book. I choose the books I read carefully and tend to avoid books that are painful, intense and depressing. This book contained all of those aspects but - given Tiphanie Yanique's masterful approach and the joy-filled, irrepressibly funny moments - I read the book from cover-to-cover in a single day (with frequent pauses to remind myself to *breathe*). I never, for a moment, considered setting it aside. 4*

[Monica Restrepo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had forgotten how amazing this book was. It's not often that you come across stories full of cultural reference, color, history and background. I loved each one because they transported me to a different place it made me feel like I lived them amongst the characters that were so unique yet so full of depth.

[Jenni · Rating 3 out of 5]

While these stories were not bad by any means, none of the stories really landed on me in a meaningful way. I did appreciate the themes of identity, home, and relationships, and I particularly enjoyed the stories that dealt with members of the Caribbean diaspora living abroad ("Where Tourists Don't Go" was probably my favorite of the collection).

[Damolami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this again for the 3rd time and since my memory sucks, it was like the first time. A collection of short stories mostly based out of the Caribbean. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And will be reading it yet again in 2 years.

[Rae the Reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this for my Creative Writing class and ended up really enjoying it. The stories were so riveting and I enjoyed the way that many of them were interconnected. The various themes were explored in such an interesting way and I learned a lot about writing through reading this.

[Eremite · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the novelty of listening to a collection of short stories from a different setting and culture. The readers did a great job adding a flavor of authenticity and there was enough vividness to tug at my imagination. But for my taste there was a bit too much realism and literary ambiguity.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful, blunt, easy readings. Felt warm and familiar, because I am also from St. Thomas but I feel the same alienation and non-belonging as some of the character’s in this book. She’s an excellent writer and I’m looking forward to her other works.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow.

[James Hauenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Written so you can visualize.

[Andrea]

I couldn’t finish. As painfully ambiguous as the islands themselves, both spectacularly beautiful and horribly victimized. The prose is beautiful, the true stories it tells too hard to bear.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting stories, and I'd definitely recommend an audio version so you can hear the readers impart the island lilt to the tale telling :-)

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

LOVED the title story, and Street Man.

[J E R S O N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Writing style, funny and evocative - or maybe too painful for characters's fate but I enjoyed any page discovering new horizons within the author's eyes/experience 👏👏

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 I enjoyed the last two, longer stories with the shifting character focus more than the shorter stories in the first half of the book.

[MariaR · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last two stories dragged, I flipped through most or those. I think they were fillers that could have been left out. Also everybody dies in this book, there was not one happy ending.

[Cassie Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the writing of this book and though i don’t think a couple of these stories quite interested me, most of them did and even those that weren’t to my taste were still extremely well written.