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Breath, Eyes, Memory

edwidge danticat

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At the age of twelve, Sophie Caco is sent from her impoverished village of Croix-des-Rosets 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 a novel that bears witness to the traditions, suffering, and wisdom of an entire people.

At an astonishingly young age, Edwidge Danticat has become one of our most celebrated new novelists, a writer who evokes the wonder, terror, and heartache of her native Haiti--and the enduring strength of Haiti's women--with a vibrant imagery and narrative grace that bear witness to her people's suffering and courage.

234 pages, Paperback

First published April 1,1994
Places
haiti, new york (state), 

This edition

Format
234 pages, Paperback
Published
May 31, 1998 by Vintage
ISBN
9780375705045
ASIN
037570504X
Language
English

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About the author

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edwidge danticat

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Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian American novelist and short story writer. Her first novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory, was published in 1994 and went on to become an Oprah's Book Club selection. Danticat has since written or edited several books and has been the recipient of many awards and honors. Her work has dealt with themes of national identity, mother-daughter relationships, and diasporic politics. In 2023, she was named the Wun Tsun Tam Mellon Professor of the Humanities in the department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University.

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Community Reviews

Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 100 votes)
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100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Anime-Addicte94
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Hemos leído Aliento, ojos, memoria en el Club de lectura de La librería Ambulante.

Inciso: El cofre de Adviento de La librería ambulante ha sido u-na-pa-sa-da. Cada día amanecíamos con la ilusión de hacer una prueba o abrir un regalito… ¡Muchas risas en Telegram! Estoy a 863 kilómetros de la calle Barrau en Sevilla, pero es imposible sentirme más cerca de la familia ambulante. Fin del inciso.

Edwidge Danticat comenzó a escribir Aliento, ojos, memoria a los 18 años y se la publicaron con 25. Es muy difícil escribir así de bien a esa edad, pero la autora lo consigue gracias a que hay mucho de ella en Sophie Caco, su protagonista. Ambas a medio camino entre Haití y Nueva York, Aliento, ojos, memoria está a medio camino entre ser una novela muy dura y a la vez muy bella. Porque las tradiciones y las historias se heredan, al igual que se heredan algunas heridas y pesadillas.

El breve cuento de la alondra y la niña es maravilloso mientras que el posfacio final entre autora y protagonista es sanador.

“Una madera bien labrada ―dijo mi abuela ―dice mucho acerca de su carpintero. Atie, le enseñaste bien a Sophie”.

¡Feliz año! Os deseo un 2025 lleno de salud y buenas lecturas.
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-redux
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This was the first novel I ever read about Haiti. I read it after my first trip there. The 10 years since then have increased our understanding of this tiny island nation. And I have read more and more books by Danticat. She is always right on in describing the scenery, the culture, the customs, the heartache... A must read.
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SubaChuva
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This book read like poetry, and the imagery was powerful. The characters stayed with me for months after finishing this novel. Definitely a book that lingers in the heart, long after the last page is turned.
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ProfessorBrahms
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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The Male World's Debilitating Obsession with Female Purity

The dominant culture's problematic obsession with female purity is best witnessed by the pair of Martine and Atie. Growing up, the sisters' purity was carefully guarded by the humiliating practice of testing. Yet Martine was raped at age sixteen, while Atie, betrayed by her fiancé, never married. Neither achieved the womanhood for which she was groomed, suggesting at first that this is the source of their unhappiness. But the ultimate force of their stories reveals a troubling commonality between 'pure' and fallen women. The sisters' twin tragedies evidence the toll of a lifetime ofdoubling, of living in an environment which keeps the woman uncomfortable in her body.

The cult of female purity centers on an obsession with the woman's body, as it is elevated to the status of sacred object. It is no longer the woman's own, but instead a symbolic vessel of honor, whose utility and purpose are decided by others. In this context, the woman is alienated from her body, trapped by the weight of her woman's flesh. Martine's rape gives way to madness, nightmares, hallucinations and voices, as violence done to her body is perpetuated by her body's continual violence against her soul. The details of Martine's suicide suggest an attempt to destroy the rapist's body, which has become indistinguishable from her own. Thus, while Martine's experience represents a more dramatic version of the imprisonment that her female contemporaries feel, it is a difference only of scale. Atie's turn to alcohol represents a similar escape, an attempt to negate the physicality of her failed womanhood and the broader physical trap of being stuck in Dame Marie. The residual effects of the virginity cult are visible in Sophie's inability to have sex without doubling, and her own difficulty with her body in the novel's final sections. It is Sophie's conscious attempts to address this split, to reconcile her body and soul via therapy, narrative and love, which evince a power to move beyond the tragedy of her mother's and aunt's experience.
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mellonii
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I read this in 9th grade and used it for a book report. It wasn't my favorite then, but I bet if I read it again, I would have a completely different perspective, and might possibly enjoy it more. I can't really recommend or not recommend this book.
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Nargaphyrias
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I. The book that I have read is called Breath Eyes Memory written by Edwidge Danticat
tII. This book takes place in Haiti and New York City
tIII. The Major characters are Sophie, Sophie's mother and grandma and her aunt as well.
The problem was that Sophie's mother was raped when she was young and she got pregnant with a child she did not want, so Sophie did not see her mother until she was twelve years old and her grandmother was raising her while her mother lived in New York.
II. Resolution: The problem was kind of solved by reuniting Sophie with the mother she never saw but always heard about, another problem Sophie faced was that she had to move to New York City, this was a problem because she had to acclaim to a different culture.
tI. This book entertained me because it was very strange and I enjoyed learning something new I also enjoyed the culture the book introduced.
tII. The book met my expectation and it is really fun to read.
tIII. The choice I wish the author made was if we found out who the father was because it was spice things up and it would be a cool twist to the book.
I. Overall I would recommend this book to be read by others because it is really interesting full of surprises but I do not recommend it for children under 14.
tII. The Ideal person you would read about is Sophie mostly because the book is based on her life and hardships she has to face thought her life time.
III. After reading this book, I will read more cultural books because I did not expect this book to be this good but it changed my point of view in being open to every book because every book has a different and interesting moral
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FakeNeko
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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(3.5) Like her protagonist, Sophie Caco, Danticat was raised by her aunt in Haiti and reunited with her parents in the USA at age 12. As Sophie grows up and falls in love with an older musician, she and her mother are both haunted by sexual trauma that nothing – not motherhood, not a long-awaited return to Haiti – seems to heal. I loved the descriptions of Haiti (“The sun, which was once god to my ancestors, slapped my face as though I had done something wrong. The fragrance of crushed mint leaves and stagnant pee alternated in the breeze” and “The stars fell as though the glue that held them together had come loose”), and the novel gives a powerful picture of a maternal line marred by guilt and an obsession with sexual purity. However, compared to Danticat’s later novel, Claire of the Sea Light, I found the narration a bit flat and the story interrupted – thinking particularly of the gap between ages 12 and 18 for Sophie. (Another Oprah’s Book Club selection.)

Favorite lines:

“She cannot stay out of duty. The things one does, one should do out of love.”

“I knew my hurt and hers were links in a long chain and if she hurt me, it was because she was hurt, too.”
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Clotion
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I have heard it compared to virginity cult, our mothers' obsession with keeping us pure and chaste....

Edwidge Danticat is a writer and she shows us and show off in writing this novel Breath, Eyes, Memory . A moving story that deeply explores mother-daughter relationships. Danticat explores how generation of hurt and emotional abuse affects relationships and future generations.

The story is set in Haiti and explores three generations of women, Grandma Ifé, her daughters -Tante Atie, Martine and her granddaughter Sophie. Martine left Haiti and in doing so left her daughter Sophie with Tante Atie for her to raise. Finding some stability, Martinie sends a ticket to her daughter Sophie to join her in America. Of course things are awkward between Martinie and Sophie but they both try their best to be each other's keeper. Things take a turn for the worse when Sophie begins dating and her mother employs an old/barbaric way of checking to make sure her daughter is still "pure"....

This novel took me by surprise. So many themes are covered in this book and they are explored in a deeply moving way. Danticat knows Haiti and knows how to write an intense mother-daughter relationship and these are the things I enjoyed a lot reading this book.

Thoroughly and highly recommend this read.
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