Claire's Reviews > Breath, Eyes, Memory

Breath, Eyes, Memory is a book that feels like a comfortable companion, a story of a young girl Sophie, growing up with her Aunt, Tante Atie, in Haiti, her grandmother not far away. The Aunt is is the edlest child in the family, an unmarried woman, taking care of her sister's child.

Sophie's mother is in New York and when she is 12 years old sends a ticket for her to come. Sophie thinks of her Aunt as her mother, she makes her a mother's day card, her Aunt encourages her to take it with to the mother she doesn't remember.

Sophie's mother works as a care worker, she takes her daughter with her, until she can start school, she presses on her the importance of an education. She has terrible nightmares most nights, connected to the reason she left Hiati and her daughter behind.

It is a simple read and yet an extraordinary book, the lives of these characters seep into the reader, these generations of women raising their daughters alone, living with their demons of the past, trying to ensure nothing of their suffering passes on to the next generation.

It is the first of Edwidge Danticat's books I have read, I can't wait to read more.

My complete review here at Word by Word.