Mouths Don’t Speak — A Voice To Be Heard [Review and Giveaway]
Katia D. Ulysse’s sophomore novel, Mouths Don’t Speak, is a heartbreaking symphony of place, time, relationships and messy drama. The story follows Jacqueline — a daughter of suspiciously wealthy Haitian parents — after the Haitian earthquake of 2010. To say the earthquake “rips her family apart” is a bit dishonest because they were never really together.
The complexity of the different relationships in this novel is what will draw readers to keep turning each page. From living with a husband she doesn’t really seem to like who suffers from PTSD, her infatuation with her blue-eyed language teacher and her repulsively pretentious parents. Though the novel follows Jacqueline, we often get to see the perspectives of different characters and it’s admirable at how smoothly the author makes these transitions. Each character has an interesting worldview, particularly her husband and mother who I found easy to pity and sometimes hate.
The pacing of the book was largely enjoyable. Even when Jacqueline spent a long time focused on her memories the plot never felt like it had to slow down. Sadly, while the novel was entertaining, a lot of the drama was reserved for the last quarter of the book. There is an unexpected twist and many deep revelations towards the end that I only wished the author would’ve spent more time on.
This is the first Katia D. Ulysse novel I’ve read and I’m definitely interested in picking up her debut novel, Drifting, which also sounds like it’ll have all the messy drama I enjoyed in Mouths Don’t Speak.
If you’re looking for a novel that is so interesting you can read it in a day, this should be on the top of your list. To win a copy of this novel from Rebel Women Lit, follow us on twitter and retweet this tweet by January 3rd to win.
If you don’t want to take any chances and miss out on amazing story order it here (release January 2nd)
Thank you to Akashic Books for an advanced readers copy of in exchange for an honest review.
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