Krik? Krak!- Children of the Sea Reading Notes

a) There are two narrators in the story of " Children of the Seat". The light colored part is written from the perspective of a boy. He is a member of the "radio six", a youth federation group that Haiti government sees as its enemy. He studied at a university. Now, he is on a boat with 31 other Haitians. They are sailing away from Haiti. It seems like the destination is Miami. The other part is printed in a darker ink. This part is written from the perspective of the lover of that boy. She studied at the university too. However, she had to quit school because "all the schools were shouted down after the army took over". She lives in fort-au-prince with her mother and her father. The girl and the boy promised to keep writing about what happened to them while they are apart. That's why they started their journal.

b) From the boy's perspective: He got on the boat, fining out there are 31 others with him. Most of the people on board are much older than him, except for a pregnant girl who looks like the same age as him. As the boat sails, people start to have vomiting. They start to smell bad too. At one night, where the pregnant girl found a crack on the boat. People start to worry if the boat will sink and they will all die. The boy dreamed about going to heaven. But instead of way up in the sky, the heaven he went to was under the sea, with mermaids and sea stars.  After a few days, people start to tell stories to each other to comfort the vomiting. The boy heard lots of stories from them. The pregnant girl gave birth. However, her baby didn't cry. There are more cracks on the boat. People started to throw things out of the boat, everything. They even ask the pregnant girl to throw her baby out. The boy asks about the baby's father. That was a tragedy... Baby's mother threw her baby into the sea. Shortly after she did so, she threw herself in there as well. People have found the notebook. They ask the boy to throw it out. He wrote his last sentence and ended his journal there.

From the girl's perspective: She was in college with the boy. After the government "shout down" the lives of "radio six" members, they shout down the school as well. Her neighbor, madam roger, had a son who's part of the "radio six" as well. After the soldiers killed madam rogers son, they returned his body to madam roger. Or at least, part of his body. When madam roger comes back, she came back with her son's head. Yes, only the head. The girl didn't know what to say. She feels scared. The cruel government and the brutal soldiers bring her nightmares. Her father told to throw away all the things that belonged to the boy because he's afraid if the soldiers find these things, the girl will be killed too. After her father found out the tapes that she hid, he is so angry and he says that the girl is a whore. The girl was so mad at him and even stopped talking to him. She knows the father is waiting for gasoline. Once they get the gasoline, the father will drive the whole family to Vielle Rose. They will have a better life there. However, before she leaves, she's scared every day. The soldiers might come into the house anytime and force people to do things that are inhuman. For that reason, the father wouldn't even sleep in his own house. The day before she left fort-au-prince, soldiers come to madam roger's house. They ask if her son was a member of the youth federation. Madam roger yells at them and creams. The soldiers beat her down. The girl doesn't know what happened to madam roger next. They hear a rumor that the old president is coming back. They decide not to go to the airport to welcome him but to drive to Vielle Rose. And the girl finds out. It was a rumor after all. People who go to the airport are mostly killed. She's scared. The soldiers are coming to her. Even after father paid all that he had to them, they wouldn't let go of the girl. She doesn't know what is going to happen next and ended her journal there.

c) I was confused at first. I didn't know there were two perspectives in the book until I have read about 3 pages of it. The experience was very... I don't know how to describe it. It feels like I was reading two stories at the same time, and I was indeed. However, I feel the connection between the two stories as I was reading them as well. There was no communication between these two people, but their words just as alive as sentences.
This type of story is definitely powerful. I know this is a novel. But after searching about Heidi history, I dare to think any bit of it was fake. These are the things that had happened. These are the things that people had been through. The cruelness expressed in the story will never be more than but far less than what people actually went through. I like to read out loud as I read books. I found my voice shivers as I was reading about the pregnant girl When I was reading her story and the way she ended both her and the baby's lives, I had to stop few times to accept someone in the world was treated like this, not because what she had done to others, not because what her families had done, just because she was born to living under the control of such a government.
I felt heavy and I had to sit for a while after I finished this story.