Zo

June 1, 2020
Miller’s resonant debut is a coming-of-age romance set in the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where Zo, an orphan and the “poorest man in the western world” grows up in a tiny fishing village and proves to be adept at the art of seduction. While working as a laborer mixing and hauling cement, Zo’s life is transformed after a chance meeting with aspiring nurse Anaya Leconte, the well-heeled 20-year-old daughter (and descendent of Haitian president Cincinnatus Leconte) of a wealthy doctor who also happens to be Zo’s boss, and Zo instantly falls for her. Anaya and Zo become secret lovers in defiance of the marriage Leconte has planned for Anaya. The two flee to Port-au-Prince and elope to the hills above the city—only to become separated during the 2010 earthquake. Each believing the other dead, Zo and Anaya nonetheless remain devoted to their love as they navigate the changed island in all its disarray. Miller traveled to Haiti after 2010 as an EMT and admits in a note that, as an American, “he is an unlikely choice” to set a story there. Though Miller relies on tropes of Haitian history to move the story along, he does justice to his belief that Haitians have survived by saving themselves, not through outside intervention. While other writers better describe Haiti, the love story of Zo and Anaya tugs the heartstrings.

June 1, 2020
A picaresque romance set in contemporary Haiti. Zo is a child when a professor tells him that, as a penniless orphan in the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, he might be "the poorest man in the Western world." Zo is certainly poor, but he is enterprising, willing to do any work that pays. Eventually, he discovers that his capacity to divine what women need is, perhaps, his truest vocation. He's working a construction job when he gets his first glimpse of his employer's daughter. What follows is a story of star-crossed romance threatened by class and--eventually--the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010. Miller's writing is vivid and engaging, filled with richly imagined scenes and fully formed characters. Zo is an easy protagonist to root for, and Anaya makes for a pleasingly complex foil and partner. She is a real, contemporary woman while Zo--a poor orphan who grows into a man of prodigious strength and sexual prowess--is like a figure from legend. The knowledge that Miller is a white man from the United States writing about black people in Haiti may affect how some readers react to this novel. The depiction of Zo as a spectacular physical specimen--an indefatigable lover and superhuman laborer--becomes complicated when framed within the history of white people talking about black bodies. In a lengthy author's note, Miller explains that he became acquainted with Haiti when he traveled there to work as an EMT in the aftermath of the earthquake he writes about. He thanks numerous Haitians he got to know at that time. He asserts that he "is not a Haiti expert" while praising Haitian authors. The fact remains that Miller is a white man from the United States writing about black people in Haiti at a moment when authors, readers, publishers, and critics are talking about who should tell whose stories--and, just as importantly, who gets generous advances and the prestige of publishing with legacy houses. To the extent that this novel gains critical and popular attention, this is almost certainly going to be a factor in its reception. This beautifully written debut lands in the middle of a debate about representation in American literature.

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July 1, 2020
As a boy, Zwazo Delalun was told by a teacher that he was possibly the poorest boy in the Western hemisphere. An orphan from a poor fishing village in Haiti, Zo had no other option but to fight his way to a better life by travelling the island to work in the cane fields, almond orchards, and at sea. In a job hauling cement under the burning Haitian sun, he meets a young trainee nurse, Anaya, who uses her medical training to cure him of a bout of malaria that has plagued him for months, and her beauty and character capture his heart. Despite her father's stern disapproval, she leaves her familial comforts to make a life with Zo. Then the 2010 earthquake hits. Miller's debut is a provocative modern rendition of the Romeo and Juliet story. Set against the backdrop of a country ravaged by nature, and written in raw and affecting prose, Zo's story takes the reader to the very limits of what a person will do for love.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

February 1, 2016

An orphan in a Haitian fishing village, the brave, handsome, and independent-minded Zwazo Delalun (called Zo) passionately loves Anaya--and he would seem like ideal son-in-law material. But Anaya's wealthy father wants her to marry the doctor he's handpicked for her. Then comes the terrible 2010 earthquake, which Miller saw firsthand as a volunteer EMT. A big first printing is expected.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.