New Yorker Briefly Noted Reviews Novels by Edwidge Danticat and Paul Yoon, Obituary Study by Sam Roberts
In the Briefly Noted section of The New Yorker, four recent publications are examined. Edwidge Danticat’s Dèy (Knopf) tells the story of Magnolia, a Haitian American mother residing in Miami, who survives a mall shooting but is hesitant to share her experience. The plot also weaves in her efforts to plan her daughter’s birthday while caring for her elderly parents in Haiti amid ongoing violence. Danticat raises the question of whether gun violence continues to warrant media attention. Paul Yoon’s Etna (Scribner) is narrated from the perspective of a combat-trained dog searching for a place to belong after war. Sam Roberts’s Are They Dead Yet? (Bloomsbury) looks into the evolution of obituary writing and its emotional intricacies. Lastly, Catherine Jagoe’s Unbelonging (Wisconsin) delves into the concept of home across different settings.
Key facts
- The New Yorker's Briefly Noted column reviews four books: Dèy, Etna, Are They Dead Yet?, and Unbelonging.
- Dèy is by Edwidge Danticat and published by Knopf.
- Dèy's protagonist, Magnolia, is a Haitian American mother in Miami who survives a mall mass shooting and keeps it secret.
- Danticat cites that approximately seven per cent of American adults have been at the scene of a mass shooting.
- Etna is by Paul Yoon and published by Scribner; its narrator is a dog trained by American soldiers as a combat dog.
- Are They Dead Yet? is by Sam Roberts, published by Bloomsbury, and traces obituary writing to ancient Rome and the eighteenth-century modern newspaper obituary.
- Roberts has written more than sixteen hundred obituaries and notes over 150,000 people die each day worldwide.
- Unbelonging is an essay collection by translator Catherine Jagoe, published by Wisconsin, about the nature of home.
Entities
Artists
- Edwidge Danticat
- Paul Yoon
- Sam Roberts
- Catherine Jagoe
Institutions
- The New Yorker
- Knopf
- Scribner
- Bloomsbury
- Wisconsin
Locations
- Miami
- United States
- Haiti
- Madrid
- Spain
- Nigeria
- Wisconsin
- England
- Rome
- Italy