The White Man in the Tree

"The White Man in the Tree" is a comedy of cultural misunderstandings set in the Caribbean, New York, and Paris, a novella and eight stories about people who, because of their differences, misjudge each other. Whether it is a sophisticated European filmmaker, an ambitious young black Haitian woman, a promising politician obsessed with women's feet, or a fish-out-of-water rabbi in search of a kosher chicken in Curaao, each of Kurlansky's characters engages us with impulses and interactions that are by turns comic, insightful, and poignant. "The White Man in the Tree" is an affectionate portrait of a unique society, where Europe, America, Africa, and Asia meet Latin America.