In Darkness Analysis

Get ready to board the Tardis, because we time travel a lot in this novel. We go back and forth between two events: Shorty's life in the modern-day slums of Haiti and the Haitian Revolution, one of...

One of the cool things about reading Shorty's story is that we feel like we're right there with him. Okay, okay, we don't actually want to be stuck under a pile of debris after an earthquake—we j...

The story might be the stuff of fiction, but it's based on real events. In fact, the Haitian Revolution really took place back at the end of the 18th century. Other stuff that really went down? T...

You might be wondering how something can be gloomy and hopeful at the same time. Leave it to Shorty to be both. Most of the time, he's pretty melancholy, telling us things like, "I am a killer and...

There's this little thing English profs like to call "stream of consciousness." Basically, it's when a narrator tells us what's going on in his or her head and all around, minute-by-minute. Think o...

We hope you're not afraid of the dark, because there's a lot of it in this book. We're guessing the title, In Darkness, could have told you that. We're pretty sure the literal meaning of the title...

At the beginning of the troubles in Haiti, I felt that I was destined to great things. When I received this divine intimation I was four-and-fifty years of age; I could neither read nor write. Tous...

Bust out the tissues, because the end is a tearjerker. After days of awaiting rescue, Shorty gives up hope and almost dies, only to be found at the last possible moment. Hooray. He gets out of the...

We're not going to lie: This one is a little rocky at first. For one thing, we have two stories going on at once. The story goes back and forth between our favorite gangster, Shorty, and the boldes...

Shaky Ground After an earthquake, Shorty is trapped underneath debris and can't get out. What better time to tell us a story? He's not going anywhere, after all. We're calling the earthquake our ex...

The book might seem dark and twisted, but the author actually wanted to represent a story of hope with the novel. (Source.) Even though he likes writing, Nick Lake prefers being an editor. (Source...

Violence, revolution, and gangs don't exactly go hand-in-hand with steamy date nights, so it's no surprise that we don't get much boom-boom in the novel. Sure, there are a couple references to baby...

William Wordsworth (Epi.2)Jesus Christ (20.42) Alphonse de Lamartine (22.3)Toussaint l'OuvertureChristopher Columbus (1.85)Jean-Jacques Rousseau (2.17)Guillaume Thomas Raynal (2.18)Napoleon Bonapar...