The first book I’ve finished this year is Nalo Hopkinson‘s The Salt Roads. It was labeled (in some descriptions) as fantasy, but I would describe it more as historical and/or speculative fiction.

A friend whom I admire greatly is a fan of Hopkinson’s, which is what led me to pick up this book. In the end, I appreciated it, but I can’t say that I loved it. The book is structured around three distinct narratives, in three distinct time periods and locations, connected by the ‘fantasy’ aspect, the voice of a goddess. I certainly didn’t dislike it, however I didn’t find any of the three main narratives compelling. I did become more engaged toward the end of the novel, when the linking narrative of the goddess builds to a tension point. In the end, though, the book simply ends, with very little to indicate why these people or these portions of life narrative were made to constitute the story. This element is why I would classify this book more as historical fiction: the selection of the characters seems to have been made along lines of historical interest, and the characters themselves never come fully alive in their own right. So, it is interesting in the abstract to read of Baudelaire’s mistress, a slave midwife in the prelude to the Haitian uprisings, and the myth of an Egyptian saint in the 4th century, but I struggled to move beyond an historical interest in their futures.

Nalo Hopkinson is compared to Edwidge Danticat, who writes historical fiction of Haiti as well, and to Toni Morrison. Personally, I greatly prefer Danticat’s historical fiction set in Haiti; I find it much more alive, and Krik? Krak! is one of my favorite short story collections. In fact, I can credit that book with opening me up to the possibility of enjoying short story collections in general.

I’ll certainly read more of Hopkinson, though; perhaps one of her earlier books will grab me more. This particular one I’d give a 7/10.