Not the best editing job, but a good read nonetheless. Compared to the "Dew Breaker" (which seemed more like a collection of short stories, loosely connected as an afterthought) "Breath, Eyes, Memory" is much more interesting. I hate to side with Oprah, in fact I've had to reconsider the validity of the novel twice because of the prominent Oprah book club sticker, but yeah Oprah's right, it's a decent read. I wish I could give it a 3.5, but the book made me cry a little, mutilation will do that, so I rounded up.

This is a lovely, beautifully written, novel about a 12-year-old girl (Sophie) from Haiti, her life there and then moving to the US and growing up in NYC. There are three strong generations of women who endure hardships, love, loss, poverty, brutality and disturbing cultural practices. The author was only 24 years old when she wrote this debut novel. She uses simple words to describe deep emotions, relationships and Haitian settings. Made me feel as though I was right there with Sophie during her times of joy and sadness.

I'll remember this novel for a long time, it's that magical! Highly recommended.

i was super let down by this book. i was expecting a fabulous, lyrical story and i was just happy i made it to the last page. perhaps i should be less trusting of ms. oprah's little book club...?

Danticat is an exquisite writer. This novel looks at the relationships between mothers and daughters, between love and grief, between shame and tenderness. After being raised for many years by her aunt in Haiti, Sophie, now 12, is sent to join her mother in New York. Sophie finds out that she was the result of her mother's rape as a 16 year old girl in Haiti and the effects of that rape have ramifications that have cascaded through the years. Not easy subject matter, but Danticat handles it deftly.

Main character is traumatized and must enter therapy. I guess I don't have patience with weak, selfish characters such as this.

I've read two of Ms. Danticat's works before, and knew that I was probably going to like this one as much as I loved Krik? Krak! and Brother, I'm Dying. This novel is evocative, ethereal and a slim work of terror, pain and female self mutilation. Martine has been raped at age 16 and tries to shield her daughter Sophie, the product of that horrific account, from the wiles and relations with men.

Sophie in turn becomes horrified of men and sex and cannot love her husband Joseph in return. Both mother and daughter are inexorably linked due to a shared experience that is a metaphor for the sufferings of a nation often torn apart by corruption and violence against women and the impoverished.

A hellish account, often fraught with grief and forced happiness, it truly is a stunning debut novel that introduces Ms Danticat into the literary stratosphere with immediacy.

Ratings (1 to 5)
Writing: 4
Plot: 3
Characters: 4
Emotional impact: 4
Overall rating: 3.75

Puedo decir que "Aliento, ojos, memoria" es una gran novela. También puedo decir que no me ha llegado tan hondo como “¿Krik? ¡Krak!”, y que me parece que juegan en dos ligas muy distintas.

¿Significa eso que me arrepiento de haber leído este libro? Para nada: en él se empieza a intuir la voz de Dandicat, todavía algo temerosa, y ya plantea muchos de los temas que luego trabajará en sus relatos. Incluso el concepto del sonido “¿Krik? ¡Krak!” aparece en la novela.

En definitiva, volvemos a ese universo de Dandicat, con su desarraigo, su visión de Haití como emigrante y de EEUU como inmigrante (¿o será al revés?); la maternidad; el duelo; la violencia (en especial, la violencia sexual contra la mujer); la idea de progreso; tradición frente a modernidad...

En ese sentido, me ha parecido un texto delicadísimo, muy bien escrito y con una voz narradora que encaja de maravilla con el personaje protagonista. Pero, con el corazón en la mano, tengo que decir que su obra maestra seguirá siendo “¿Krik? ¡Krak!”.

Someone died? Thank goodness something kept it interesting because I hate reading. I hate reading, because while reading, I can think of SO MANY other things I would rather be doing. I have never enjoyed picking up a book just to read it for fun. Is reading suppose to be “fun”? It sure seems funny to me that people read for entertainment. Being assigned to read a book within 3 weeks for my english class seemed like a nightmare and literally impossible. I told myself, sparknotes were created just for me.

The book Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat has fidgeted with my thinking and made me realize my statement of “I hate reading” is an understatement. The emotions presented throughout this book takes you through a rollercoaster. After reading the first chapter, I knew 12 year old, Sophie Caco was about to take me on a sad, emotional adventure. Sophie is devastated when she learns she will be leaving her amazing aunt Atie, to move to New York with a person who should have raised her in the first place. Edwidge Danticat made the story magical. Her vivid detail and deep thought made it seem as if you were living a life back in the 1980s, which forced you to jump to conclusions that end up being wrong. Violence, insanity, and anger Sophie’s mother Martine presents when she informs Sophie of how she is giving her nightmares play a big role in this book in which it leads you to many unexpected endings. “You carry your past like hair on your head”- Edwidge Danticat. This quote is presented in multiple ways in this book, making the future irrelevant. I believe this quote is the real theme in this novel. I never wanted to put this book down, it made me create many different definitions of the word--life.

Breath, Eyes, Memory, is a book that I would recommend to people, like me, that do not enjoy reading words in a book for hours on end. It’s awesome for anyone who enjoys flashback and realistic, sad scenarios that happen throughout the course of life. If you are wanting a quick, intense read, Breath, Eyes, Memory should be the next book checked out under your name.

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There is an Haitian tradition known as ”testing”. Haitian mothers have for centuries been taught that it is their duty, their obligation as good mothers, to test for their daughters’ virginity. An unmarried woman, having lost her virginity, has no virtue and is without value. Mothers insert their fingers into a daughter’s vagina to confirm that the hymen is intact. I was unaware of this tradition. It revolts me. I see it as barbaric, cruel, incomprehensible. How in the world can a mother maintain with her daughter a loving, trusting and compassionate relationship with a daughter after such an act?! And not once but repeatedly. It has detrimental psychological repercussions, is ineffective and unhygienic. (For more about the tradition see: http://www.siecus.org/index.cfm?fusea...) It is not a tradition restricted only to Haiti.

Reading about this disturbing practice is NOT why I dislike the book. In fact, it is good that people are made aware. The novel failed me despite that it brings attention to a worthy topic.

The book tackles many disturbing subjects besides “virginity testing”. Rape, breast cancer, eating disorders, insomnia, nightmares, sexual, lingual and racial discrimination are other topics of this book. Psychological disorders, lack of self-esteem and immigrant assimilation are additional topics that play in. The number of heavy topics covered make it difficult to give adequate depth to each.

Here is the gist of the story. The central character, Sophie Caco, is the product of her mother’s rape. Her mother flees Haiti to the north—Brooklyn, New York City. I am guessing this is probably in the 1980s or 1990s since HIV and AIDS are a problem. Sophie remains in Haiti to be raised by her mother’s sister, Tant Atie, until her mother sends for her, when she is twelve. She doesn’t know her mother. She does not want to leave Haiti and her mother emotionally views her daughter with hatred. She is visual proof of the rape she is unable to forget. One can question why she now sends for her daughter!

A central focus are the grandmother-mother-daughter-granddaughter relationships. Have you noted the absence of men in this human equation? Men are in the sidelines of this story. Their actions affect women, but it is women we study. I prefer a book that focuses on both sexes, how we influence each other. Isn’t it more productive, isn’t it more interesting to focus on both, rather than furthering the divide? The female relationships, as they are described in this book, are misshapen, beaten out of the recognizably healthy and normal.

Did I feel for the characters? No. Nothing. This is bad news, given that what they go through is truly horrendous. The author has failed to make their suffering mine. Which leads one to ask why this is so.

In my view, the prose is the answer. It is the weakest aspect of the book. It is ordinary. It is run-of-the-mill. It is flat. It is off-key. The dialogs are stilted. What the characters say and think does not feel genuine, at least not to me. One teeny example, to illustrate my point: Sophie asks her husband if their daughter is able to sleep. She is worrying about insomnia in her two-year-old, when for a few days the father cares for the child. Isn’t this stretching things a bit?! The lines quite simply seem wrong. All too often I would ask myself, “Why would the character say that? Why would she draw that conclusion? Would a person actually say that?” The characters’ thoughts seemed all too often illogical to me.

It is interesting to look at the two sisters, the mother who leaves her child and the aunt that cares for Sophie. One comes to learn that Tant Atie sacrificed much for her niece and her sister. I think more could have been done with this theme. I kept comparing the two, but this line of thought just fizzles out.

I have another complaint. The resolution of Sophie and her mother’s troubled relationship is too rapid. The reader does not vividly experience the healing process. Instead, we are thrown into another new problem. Martine, Sophie’s mother, finds herself pregnant with a child she does not want to bear. As mentioned above, problems are heaped one upon another in rapid succession.

I have no complaint with the narration of the audiobook performed by Robin Miles. Very good, as always. I had a hard time enjoying the narration due to my lack of appreciation for the writing.

Expcted to be blown away by this one but the story felt shallow and didn't connect with the characters, it did touch on some heavy and important topics but didn't explore them well.

For me this book is more of a 3.5 rather than a 4, but could have been a 5. I put this book on my to-read list as I know very little about Haiti and the Haitian immigrant population and their experience in the US. This book goes some way, to explain some of the Haitian issues but unfortunately not far enough. I learned some, but if the author had expanded on cultural issues more than it would definitely have been a 5.

Where this book is very good is to go to show how the cult of "female virginity", its ridiculous position in the Haitian and unfortunately still many other cultures has on the relationships of women within a family and the problems it causes. The book also shows how rape affects not only the victim but has after-effects on others, especially daughters and mothers of the victim. The author showed this very sympathetically and heart-felt in this book. It is not an easy read because of this.

Excellent narration with a mainly female point of view for once. Would recommend it to anyone who is interested in these topics.