Krik? Krak!, originally released in 1996 following the publication of Edwidge Danticat''s extraordinary Breath, Eyes, Memory (abacus, 1996) confirms her as a remarkably gifted writer. Examining the lives of ordinary Haitians, particularly those struggling to survive under the brutal Duvalier regime, Danticat illuminates the distance between people''s desires and the stifling reality of their lives. These short stories inform and enrich one another, as the female characters reveal a common ancestry and ties to the fictional Ville Rose.