Looking Back - Breath, Eyes, Memory

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
Fiction
1998 Vintage (first published in 1994)
Finished in January 1999
Rating: 2/5 (Fair)

Publisher's Blurb:

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 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.

My Original Notes (1999):

Not great. Actually, kind of dull. I did enjoy learning a big about Haitian culture, but the story isn't very interesting and the author isn't very polished. Won't read more by her, I'm afraid.

My Current Thoughts:

I'm sure I read this because it was promoted by Oprah's book club. I wonder if I ever did read anything else by Danticat. I have no recollection of this book or any others.