RaveThe Buenos Aires ReviewWhile Danticat declares that the earthquake has changed Haiti—as well as reading and writing about Haiti—irrevocably, more than half the essays that appear in Create Dangerously were actually written well before it happened, and only the first and last deal with it at any length. The author devotes many of the remaining essays to providing portraits of other Haitians who might serve as public figures for the country beyond its borders ... What comes forth in Danticat’s portrayals is a struggle between telling a true, compelling story and letting her subjects take shelter from the scrutiny of her writing and its readers ... It is in these intimate moments that Danticat’s writing is at its most engaging, when her public mission becomes a private burden. Empathy for Danticat’s vulnerability makes the reader, too, vulnerable to being drawn into her literary world ... Danticat creates most dangerously, deftly gaining our sympathy and leaving us exposed to our own complicity and complacency, and so shifting some of the burden onto us.
