We discussed the behaviours of the slave owners noting that his master actually cares for Toussaint but ultimately is a man of his time who cannot go against the status quo. This led on to a discussion about the issue of slavery and how Lake cleverly explains the financial benefit of slavery to the French economy. Reading aloud the passages where Toussaint remembers the killing of the newborn and the whippings and beatings of the slaves was very successful in one year 10 history class who are studying rights, freedoms and slavery. It was noted that in year 9 history at one school they study colonisation and slavery so it was suggested that teachers could read excerpts from this novel. We recognised that we actually knew very little about the history or geography of Haiti, and even its location, and welcomed learning about the historical struggle of slavery in this part of the world. We thought that the historical sections from Toussaint’s point of view were very well written and some of us enjoyed those more because of our historical interest. Weaving the two sections of the modern story with the historical narrative was well done and became much easier to read after the initial chapters. It was thought perhaps that this was because the beginning is lacking action and we are only exposed to Shorty’s thoughts as he is trapped in the rubble. It took us some time to get used to the narrator’s voice and the Kréyol language. Most of us found the beginning chapter very difficult when the varied characters with their unusual nicknames are introduced. In Darkness, by Nick Lake, was a challenging read.

May Discussion – In Darkness by Nick Lake

In darkness by nick lake