The Dew Breaker

By: Edwidge Danticat

Narrated by: Robin Miles

From the universally acclaimed author of Breath, Eyes, Memory and Krik? Krak!, a brilliant, deeply moving work of fiction that explores the world of a "dew breaker", a torturer, a man whose brutal crimes in the country of his birth lie hidden beneath his new American reality.

We meet him late in his life. He is a quiet man, a husband and father, a hardworking barber, a kindly landlord to the men who live in a basement apartment in his home. He is a fixture in his Brooklyn neighborhood, recognizable by the terrifying scar on his face. As the book unfolds, moving seamlessly between Haiti in the 1960s and New York City today, we enter the lives of those around him: his devoted wife and rebellious daughter; his sometimes unsuspecting, sometimes apprehensive neighbors, tenants, and clients. And we meet some of his victims.

In the book's powerful denouement, we return to the Haiti of the dew breaker's past, to his last, desperate act of violence, and to his first encounter with the woman who will offer him a form of redemption, albeit imperfect, that will change him forever. The Dew Breaker is a book of interconnected lives, a book of love, remorse, and hope; of rebellions both personal and political; of the compromises we often make in order to move beyond the most intimate brushes with history. Unforgettable, deeply resonant, The Dew Breaker proves once more that in Edwidge Danticat we have a major American writer.

©2004 Edwidge Danticat (P)2004 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

• PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist, 2005

"Courageous. . . . Beautiful. . . . The Dew Breaker is brilliant book, undoubtedly the best one yet by an enormously talented writer." (The Washington Post Book World)
"Danticat's gift is to combine both sympathy and clarity in a moral tangle that becomes as tight as a Haitian community." (Time)
"A devastating story of love, delusion, and history." (O, The Oprah Magazine)

Hypnotic!!

How the mother and father meet left me in awe of this author!!
I'm a fan from now and forever!!

A story about dysfunction and consequences of evil

Robin Miles portrays the ensemble characters well in this novel told from the perspective of characters organized by the actions of one of them in the past in Haiti. The evil dysfunction and decay of Haiti is the under current. How the characters live with the consequences is the driving force. Danticat’s writing is tight and visceral, and maintains the foreboding that the characters live. The structure Danticat writes is Faulknerian, right out of AS I LAY DYING. It works well, creating a menacing, lingering reaction upon reading.

Excellent Narrator

Interesting story, excellent narrator, the story was a little hard to follow at times, but comes together nicely at the end.

Love Edwidge Danticat

I have a deeper appreciation for the Haitian people and their struggle. The delicate approach to a heady subject matter, with deep rich characters, elegant imagery for each setting gives the reader/listener the perfect chance to immerse themselves into the experiences portrayed.

Absolutely Loved!!!

Honestly, I am not the type of person to leave a review but I HAD to for this book. 10/10 plot and 10/10 performance. Will definitely be listening again!