This story set in the reign of terror of Papa Doc Duvalier, give the reader the sense of injustice and brutality of a dictatorship and how the locals and expatriates try to find love and happiness in spite of the horrors they see daily.

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"The Comedians" is a darkly ironic look at life in Haiti under the Duvalier regime, through the lives of visitors to the country: a British hoteliere, a well-intentioned but naive American couple who want to bring a gospel of vegetarianism to Haiti, a purported arms dealer, and the wife of a South American ambassador to the country. The group are the titular comedians because of the farce between what they present themselves as and what they truly are.

It was eerie reading the book, which is fictional. I recognized several of the places and even some of the dynamics he described, even though I lived in Haiti well after the time period the book was set in.

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