Breath, Eyes, Memory

By: Edwidge Danticat

Narrated by: Robin Miles

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.

At the age of 12, 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.

©2015 Edwidge Danticat (P)2015 Recorded Books

The Moments

There were moments of pure brilliance... At one point, I lost my breath as if I had been running.

A Hatian Story of Mother/Daughter relationships

I remember liking another book I read that Edwidge Danticat wrote. But when I listened to this one I wasn't sure why I liked the my previous Danticat read. I also saw that I did not write a review of that book which means I can't even see what attracted me. This was the first novel written by Danticat, and I will have to look at the other I read to see more.

Breath, Eyes, Memory features Sophie Caco, who at 12 years old is sent for by her mother, Martine, who lives in the United States. Sophie barely remembers her mother and is reluctant to leave her aunt Atie who has raised her.

In New York we learn more about her mother and what is expected of Sophie as a young Hatian woman. Also revealed is a Haitian tradition of mothers testing their daughters for continued virginity and the mother's story of Sophie's father. Some of this gets revealed as soon as her mother learns that Sophie has fallen in love.

This testing, as it is called, creates a much larger rift between mother and daughter than was created earlier by distance, resulting in hasty marriage and estrangement from Martine and creating its own damage within Sophie's body.

While many foods and traditions are woven into the text, much is missing as well. First, there is no deeper story here. This is a story about generational differences, separation, and reconciliation set in an ethnic background. Using an audio format scrubs the book of the language sense that is needed when a book takes place in a foreign environment. Words, village names, and expressions lose their meaning and flavor when you hear rather than read. For example, places and names just disappeared as soon as I heard them since I had no way to interpret the spelling or associate the word or place with a real word.

I must admit that the language and pronunciation felt authentic, and certainly mother/daughter relationships are relatable, but only the tradition separated this book from many other generational stories.

Amazing Narrator

The narrator made the experience even better. Her use of different accents and languages, as well as tones and volume when the story demanded a change dragged me into the story. I'm not one to listen to audio books much but this was definitely worthwhile.

Amazingly read!!

Very beautiful and very sad at the same time. I really enjoyed listening to this book, the narrator was amazing

Excellent and so sad

This is a beautiful and heartbreaking book. I so enjoyed reading this and trying to understand different experiences.