Breath, Eyes, Memory
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Average rating3.7
The 20th anniversary edition of Edwidge Danticat's groundbreaking debut, now an established classic--revised and with a new introduction by the author, and including extensive bonus materials At the age of twelve, Sophie Caco is sent from her impoverished Haitian village to New York to be reunited with a mother she barely remembers. There she discovers secrets that no child should ever know, and a legacy of shame that can be healed only when she returns to Haiti—to the women who first reared her. What ensues is a passionate journey through a landscape charged with the supernatural and scarred by political violence. In her stunning literary debut, Danticat evokes the wonder, terror, and heartache of her native Haiti—and the enduring strength of Haiti’s women—with vibrant imagery and narrative grace that bear witness to her people’s suffering and courage.
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Suffering begets suffering; ignorance compounds it. There is a whole lot of both in this book: the all-encompassing kind, where they're as much a part of the environment as air and sunlight, and, like most assumptions, just as difficult to put ourselves in a place where we actually see them. If we've never seen anything different, how can we know a different world exists? How can we act and be better?
This is what Danticat chronicles: multiple generations of women immersed in an atmosphere of misogyny, ignorance, and pain; all of them finding their own ways to cope. There is growth and transformation, although not necessarily what the reader hopes for. There are refreshing breaths of decency and compassion. So stick with it: the second half is rewarding despite the relative dreariness of the first. Just be prepared for a lot of discomfort, and don't expect a happy ending.
(Quick note: this is early Danticat, so the impassive distance in her voice might come off as cold and uncaring. I don't think it is; I think Danticat has a huge heart, and her objectivity is a powerful way to convey emotion without appearing preachy).
