Create Dangerously

The Immigrant Artist at Work

By: Edwidge Danticat

Narrated by: Kristin Kalbli

In this deeply personal book, the celebrated Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat reflects on art and exile. Inspired by Albert Camus and adapted from her own lectures for Princeton University’s Toni Morrison Lecture Series, here Danticat tells stories of artists who create despite (or because of) the horrors that drove them from their homelands. Combining memoir and essay, these moving and eloquent pieces examine what it means to be an artist from a country in crisis.

©2010 Princeton University Press (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

A Very Sobering Reflection On Art

This collection of essays really provided an interesting take on the role of art, how it effects society, and it's importance in times of crisis. When people talk about the crucial role art has in times of collective hardship and grief, I believe it, but with limited evidence. What Edwidge Danticat manages to do—in an incredibly non-confrontational, yet entirely convincing manner—is make a case for this importance. She manages to show real instances that art serves its function to help us process difficult situations like immigration, domestic disputes, or even national emergencies. It is masterfully written.

A very important book.

Danticat’s book is a critically important and relevant read. I implore all who can hear, to listen carefully to what she has to say.

I’m sorry to say the narration is incredibly lackluster, I was convinced it was a computer until halfway through the second chapter.

Danticat’s writing is extremely sensitive and discusses incredibly complicated elements of the human experience, and I found the narrator to have utterly failed at rising to the challenge of bringing her work to life. What is perhaps one of the most important books of our time, is diminished by a mundane and emotionless narration.

Please buy the book and read it for yourself, as listening to this narrator will drain the life from Danticat’s incredibly valuable work.

A high rating is for Edwidge Danticat alone.

I would have rated nothing for the narration.

Create Dangerously

The story is both captivating and informational as a nonfiction work. I found the narration particularly compatible with the tone of the book and it was pleasing to listen to while easy to follow.

The Narrator Does Not Do This Justice

What did you love best about Create Dangerously?

Really beautiful essays. Danticat is a wonderful author.

Would you be willing to try another one of Kristin Kalbli’s performances?

No! She reads every sentence with the exact same intonation and lilt in her voice, she sounds like a machine, like Siri.

Painful audio, disservice to story

Would you listen to Create Dangerously again? Why?

Definitely, I would listen to it if someone else read it. I enjoy Danticat's work, but listening to this reader is like listening to the computer voice on my GPS read a story (sorry Ms. Kalbli).

What did you like best about this story?

The story itself and Danticat's manner of telling it.

Would you be willing to try another one of Kristin Kalbli’s performances?

No. I'm sorry, it's like listening to my GPS read me a story. Too little variation in tone for such an important story.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. I like to listen in 1 hour segments.

Any additional comments?

I feel badly for the reader of the story, but after several listening attempts, the reader's voice was so monotone I actually had to turn my iPod off as I couldn't stand the reading voice.

Wasn't anyone listening?

The work, as all of Danticat's work, is excellent. But it seems the producers of the audiobook let a narrator loose with it who wasn't up to the task. This work contains words, names, and phrases in several languages, including French, Creole, and German, all of which the narrator struggled with. But then, she also mispronounced words in English.... Seriously, was no one listening who could have said, "Perhaps we should do a second take...."?