The Truth About Awiti by CP Patrick

Synopsis: A novel about an immortal spirit seeking revenge for the tragedies  her family and people experienced.

Writing Style: Very unique composition made up of letters, diaries, court transcripts and short stories interchangeably written in first and third person.

Pacing: Fast.

Premise: A pervasive lore behind destructive tropical storms traveling from the West coast of Africa and voyaging across the Atlantic to North American coastal islands and states... the same path kidnapped Africans suffered unspeakable horrors.

Personal Highlights: A very well-written rendering of historical storytelling that none-the-less was a hard, but gravitating read due to the pronounced suffering throughout. The story begins with Awiti’s birth and picks up after she is separated from her parents in 1693… where avenge in the forms of ghosts, storms, and similar chaos traverses a path both seeking to reunite Awiti with her family and punish those (in this wake) responsible for her suffering, and the suffering of others. From Le Cap, St. Domingue 1794, continuing up to the Ninth Ward, New Orleans, LA 2005 this unrested, angered spirit travels through Awiti’s voice, and those such as the Watcher and Oranyan and others that try to reason with the spirit, or beguiled to follow it, doubling its strength and energy.

Seraphina’s attempt to explain “the process” of life via the Great One resonated best, and I found some comfort reading the chapters Black River, Jamaica 1912, New York, NY 1957 and Waveland, Mississippi 1969.

Overall, a very quiet novel hauntingly omniscient of these great storms described.