Hold Tight, Don’t Let Go by Laura Rose Wagner (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Hold Tight, Don’t Let Go by Laura Rose Wagner Elizabeth Bush Wagner, Laura Rose Hold Tight, Don’t Let Go. Amulet, 2015 263p ISBN 978-1-4197-1204-3 $17.95 R Gr. 8-12 Manman, Magdalie’s aunt, is the only mother fifteen-year-old Magdalie has ever really known, and cousin Nadou has been as close as a sister. Although the small family has lived in Port-au-Prince in what outsiders might consider poverty, Manman has funded the girls’ private-school education with her tireless labor as a domestic worker. All that changes in a flash when their world literally crumbles in the 2010 Haitian earthquake, Manman is crushed in the house collapse, and the girls’ uncle, Tonton Élie, steps in as guardian. For Nadou, better days are in store, as her father in the United States brings her to Florida, and she vows she’ll find a way to get Magdalie a visa to join them. Anyone with an inkling of the rustiness of America’s Golden Door, though, knows this is an illusion and that Magdalie needs to make other plans. Wagner paints a convincing picture of post-earthquake survival—with [End Page 374] makeshift communities, reliance on foreign aid, haves and have-nots, surprising touches of normalcy (think manicures), and desperate gambles (could sex work be the only option?). Fortunately, relatives in the countryside—and even a prospective lover—entice Magdalie to a different style of life away from the broken city. Life in the countryside is no idyll, though, and the tragedy of Magdalie’s situation is less about poverty and more about the soul-wrenching uncertainty over whether this is a hard transition to better times or a new normal with no future. Treatment of Haitian cultural traditions is fascinating and respectful, and a glossary with pronunciation guide is included, as well as a brief history of the nation of Haiti. Although Magdalie’s experiences are tied to the 2010 disaster, her trials as a person displaced within her own country shed light on adolescent refugees whose lives are on hold in other lands as well. Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois