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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “What a beautiful and gut wrenching little book. The main character has to endure being uprooted from her home, political unheaval, and person tragedy, but she somehow survives in her soul. Try reading with In the Time of Butterflies.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “I was not impressed.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Oprah Book Club® Selection, May 1998: "I come from a place where breath, eyes and memory are one, a place from which you carry your past like the hair on your head. Where women return to their children as butterflies or as tears in the eyes of the statues that their daughters pray to." The place is Haiti and the speaker is Sophie, the heroine of Edwidge Danticat's novel, "Breath, Eyes, Memory." Like her protagonist, Danticat is also Haitian; like her, she was raised in Haiti by an aunt until she came to the United States at age 12. Indeed, in her short stories, Danticat has often drawn on her background to fund her fiction, and she continues to do so in her debut novel.
North Shore Country Day School English-10 wrote this review 6 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The story begins in Haiti, on Mother's Day, when young Sophie discovers that she is about to leave the only home she has ever known with her Tante Atie in Croix-des-Rosets, Haiti, to go live with her mother in New York City. These early chapters in Haiti are lovely, subtly evoking the tender, painful relationship between the motherless child and the childless woman who feels honor bound to guard the natural mother's rights to the girl's affections above her own. Presented with a Mother's Day card, Tante Atie responds: "'It is for a mother, your mother.' She motioned me away with a wave of her hand. 'When it is Aunt's Day, you can make me one.'" Danticat also uses these pages to limn a vibrant portrait of life in Haiti from the cups of ginger tea and baskets of cassava bread served at community potlucks to the folk tales of a "people in Guinea who carry the sky on their heads."
With Sophie's transition from a fairly happy existence with her aunt and grandmother in rural Haiti to life in New York with a mother she has never seen, Danticat's roots as a short-story writer become more evident; "Breath, Eyes, Memory" begins to read more like a collection of connected stories than a seamlessly evolved novel. In a couple of short chapters, Sophie arrives in New York, meets her mother, makes the acquaintance of her mother's new boyfriend, Marc, and discovers that she was the product of a rape when her mother was a teenager in Haiti. The novel then jumps several years ahead to Sophie's graduation from high school and her infatuation with an older man who lives next door. Unfortunately, this is also the point in the novel where Danticat begins to lay her themes on with a trowel instead of a brush: Sophie's mother becomes obsessed with protecting her daughter's virginity, going so far as to administer physical "tests" on a regular basis--testing which leads eventually to a rift in their relationship and to Sophie's struggle with her own sexuality. Soon the litany of victimization is flying thick and fast: female genital mutilation, incest, rape, frigidity, breast cancer, and abortion are the issues that arise in the final third of the novel, eventually drowning both fine writing and perceptive characterization under a deluge of angst.
Still, there is much to admire about "Breath, Eyes, Memory," and if at times the plot becomes overheated, Danticat's lyrical, vivid prose offers some real delight. If nothing else, this novel is sure to entice readers to look for Danticat's short stories--and possibly to sample other fiction from the West Indies as well. --Alix Wilber ”
“The author has written a novel with sensitive insight into Haitian culture and a young girl's coming of age under difficult circumstances. The novel was a simple read and kept me turning pages to see if the main character, Sophie could assimilate to American culture or would chose to return to Haiti. ”
Jen R wrote this review 13 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This will be a fast read for me....I'm loving it. Love the mother / daughter theme, as I am a mother, it always catches me. I love to read about other cultures and didn't know much about Haiti. The women seem so very strong, and also like the rituals of life give them their backbone. Loved the lyrical prose.”
Kathryn H wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A powerful tale that spotlights the injury inflicted on young girls in the name of cultural traditions.”
Readingrat wrote this review Tuesday, October 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This is the story about generations of Haitian women haunted by a chain of ongoing abuse and sexual secrets. When a mother and daughter move to America, their ghosts follow. It is only by returning to the source, to Haiti and to the earlier generations of women in their family, that the past can be confronted and healing can begin.
ghost of a rose wrote this review Wednesday, August 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The novel opens with a potluck, and food - especially Haitian food - is a constant theme. It is fitting that the daughter's distress plays out in her relationship with food, as an eating disorder.
Much of the book has a dreamy, tropical kind of feel. The most horrifying facts are told in the simplest and loveliest of language, leaving to reader to feel the emotions rather than having them described. It makes the intensity of the ending all the more shocking.
But the most important thing the reader is ultimately left with, is the love between the generations of women. Their love survives the abuse, the hardships, the leavings, and finally it survives life itself. And that is the thing that allows the healing to begin.
(An Oprah's Book Club pick)
(234 pages)
Quotes from Breath, Eyes, Memory:
"Meeting for the first time again is not such a hard concept."
"There is always a place where women live near trees that, blowing in the wind, sound like music. These women tell stories to their children both to frighten and delight them. These women, they are fluttering lanterns on the hills, the fireflies in the night, the faces that loom over you and recreate the same unspeakable acts that they themselves lived through. There is always a place where nightmares are passed on through generations like heirlooms. Where women like cardinal birds return to look at their own faces in stagnant bodies of water.
I come from a place where breath, eyes, and memory are one, a place from which you carry your past like the hair on your head. Where women return to their children as butterflies or as tears in the eyes of the statues that their daughters pray to. My mother was as brave as stars at dawn. She too was from this place."
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“This young Haitian author writes about Haiti. I have read this book and her earlier stories, "The Dew Breaker". The stories are all loosely related and one story will answer a question that was left open in another story. Read them in order.”
Cynthia C wrote this review Tuesday, August 18 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A young Haitian girl leaves her home to live with her mother in New York, but she & her mother have to deal with nightmares not of their own creation. It is a story of passion, love, redemption, and memory, where these women must look at their past to live in the present. An emotional book where the reader aches for the characters' emotional & physical struggles. ”
Sandra B wrote this review Tuesday, August 18 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“My friend has been to Haiti several times. Her stories are fascinating. I understand that the author of this book will be speaking in my area this year, so hope to also go hear her. I lovied the book. Written from the eyes of a 12yr. old girl to start. Then jumps to 18 yr. etc. I was very moved by this story. It is about sexual trauma and women's relationships in a family. She writes about difficult material with a great deal of sensitivity. It is a story that is heart breaking and heart warming of three generations of women. I will definitely read another by this author. ”
Marcia H wrote this review Friday, August 14 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I was not impressed. ”
Althea H wrote this review Thursday, August 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
