[.ca] Breath, Eyes, Memory: A Novel (ISBN 037570504X)

From Amazon.com:
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. 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

A Moving story:
Breath, Eyes, Memory is one of the books written about the Caribbean that I really enjoyed. Like Edwidge Danticat's other novels and stories this story is well written in a lyrical evocative style. What I cherish about the story is the fact that I came to have a better understanding of Haiti, their culture which is close to that of Benin in Africa and their rich though mysterious belief. Much of the pains, fears, horrors and complications of Haitian history are unveiled in this amazing story which can make you cry, sigh, laugh, angry and happy in different turns. This true to life story is a recommended read. Also recommended: DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, THE USURPER AND OTHER STORIES, CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY

The curse of being woman:
If a Martian arrived on Earth and read this novel right away, it would deduce that women are tormented beings, while men walk around perfectly content. This may be a simplistic summary of the novel, but tell me i'm wrong! What starts with some rather beautiful depictions of life in Haiti ends up being a collection of tortured life accounts. The common thread is that all the tortured characters are women. In the eyes of the author, this suffering saga started generations before, and it is being perpetuated along with every new woman that is born. The ones that are abused keep abusing, and do not know the way to escape that vicious circle. Grandma Ifé was just the recipient of years of superstition and servitude, Aunt Tatie a spinster with a collection of unrequited love stories, Martine the abused/abuser and ghost fighter, Sophie the inadequate daughter and frigid wife... What about the men? They are too cool and composed, too perfect, too understanding (especially Joseph, Sophie's husband). This book moves fast, years go by in a matter of three pages, and the pace is never slow. However, it is depressing, there is no resolution to any conflict, no redemption of any kind. The best parts are the vivid descriptions of Haiti, in all its poverty and grace.

Good until the last 20 pages:
Beautifully lyrical and full of hope even during personal tragedy but the ending takes all that building emotion and dashes it. The ending spoiled the book for me. It seemed unnecessarily tragic -- tragic just for the sake of being tragic.

Disappointing, though I wanted to like it:
I totally agree with the writer from Uzbekistan who says that Danticat's writing style is lyrical and lovely, but there is just too damn much suffering in this book, especially of the kind involving female genitalia! I can understand why she mentions the Haitian mothers "testing" their daughters' virginity, which has quite a horrifying impact on the reader -- but why does Danticat insist on harping on this over and over and over? Once was enough! And there is definitely too much chronological jumping around. One minute the narrator is in love and about to marry; then in the next chapter she and her baby daughter are running away from the husband. Huh?

AN UNCOMMONLY FINE FIRST NOVEL:
Few first novels are as impressive as Breath, Eyes, Memory, the story of a young Haitian girl's passage to maturity." "I come from a place whre breath, eyes and memory are one, a place where you carry your past like the hair on your head," writes Edwidge Danticat through the voice of her protagonist, Sophie. There are many parallels between Sophie's fictional life and the author's. When Danticat was four-years-old, she and her brother were left in Haiti when their mother joined their father in New York City. Thus, the 12-year-old island girl who spoke no English was tossed into one of the world's largest, rudest and sometimes loneliest cities. And, so is Sophie. She comes of age on the streets of New York as, in many respects, so did Ms. Danticat. This is a sad, painful story, yet it is also life-affirming and triumphant.