Rating: 
Summary: GREAT BOOK!
Review: As a young Dominican woman I felt impelled to see these horrific acts through the eyes of the beholder.
As a teenager I heard stories from my grandparents which at the time seem more of a myth than part of history. Danticat narrated writing was detailled, and verry realistic to the point that I often found myself wipping tears away.
The story not only expossed the despicable acts of the Trujillo regimen, but it also showed a true love story with lots of colorful characters.
GREAT book, I recomended 100%.
Rating:
Summary: Haiti pulsates within these pages
Review: Bravo for Danticat! I recognize her as one of the most gifted young writers of my time and fully expect her to rise to the ranks of Toni Morrison and Alice Walker. Though I still consider her short story collection (Krik? Krak!) to be her strongest work, this novel weaves a touching, intriguing story that, I suspect, accurately portrays the colors, passions, and hardships of 1930s Haiti. Danticat has the gift of poetry that she transforms into beautiful, magical, insightful prose.
Rating: 
Summary: Refreshing
Review: I looked forward to reading this book each evening, and finished it in only a few nights. I enjoyed Danticat's simple prose. She tells the story of the Haitian slaughter through the eyes of a servant working in the DR. For a new author I found her technique of different voices -- the telling of the present story and the reflections on the main character's inner voice -- daring. And it worked. I look forward to more from Danticat.
Rating:
Summary: An Island Torn
Review: Danticat creates such a real journey that you believe you are inside it observing the story as it unfolds. The story tells of an island shared, yet torn by ethnicity and color. Because this book is through the eyes of a Haitian woman, I highly recommend that it be read in conjunction with "In The Time of Butterflies", by Julia Alvarez, which is a true story set in the time of Presidente Trujillo's mad reign.
Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal
Review: I could not absolutely put this book down. I believe that the author did a magnificent job at making the reader become part of the story. It is a must read. I absolutely loved it when I read it the first time and the second and the third time.
Rating:
Summary: ¡Muy Bueno Libro! (Very Good Book!)
Review: The Farming of Bones is a great book that demonstrates that people are always afraid of something more different that what they are, or what they try to be. This booked was selected by my high school's English department as a book to take a quotes test on for an English Honors class. The book before that we had to read was hard to comprehend, but The Farming of Bones opened up an whole new light for me. Now I'm trying to find more information about the major event that happened in the book. I recommend this book to readers of all ages and all kinds. This book sets you out on a adventure through someone else's eyes. Again a Very Good Book.
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Summary: ethnic cleansing - 1937
Review: With an unpretentious and unassuming style (the words seem to flow and disappear into the story), Edwidge Danticat tells the story of a young Haitian woman forced to flee for her life. Amabelle lost her parents, drowned in the river that separates Haiti and the Dominican Republic. A kind Dominican took her home and she was raised with the man's daughter. Many Haitians left their country for the Dominican Republic at that time, looking for work. (U.S. troops occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934.) The landowners, such as the man who took Amabelle in, needed laborers and house servants and welcomed the Haitians.By 1937, however, the Haitians have become superfluous people. It is the Depression. The Dominican military seems unable to make up its mind: deport the Haitians or kill them? Her lover and most of her friends arrested, Amabelle flees. She reaches Haiti, but she is now an exile twice. Danticat shows how easy it is to learn to hate, to learn to butcher and the ease with which fear seeps into the narrow spaces between people. She also shows, in Amabelle, the possibility of remaining humane. Amabelle's strength, love, and kindness carry her - and others - through. Years later, she returns to the Dominican Republic to visit the woman she grew up with, whom she served, whose children she delivered. But the sad chasm of history is wide.
Rating: 
Summary: Danticat's generosity
Review: I think we should cut Danticat some slack. She expresses what she feels and take us where we've never been before. She could be as fake as she wants to be that's why it is called "fiction". The book is beautifully written and the setting being in another country makes you use your imagination. Danticat is one of those poetic writers who will last for a long time. Farming of Bones is a book you need to read two to three times to really get the meaning of it. A work of art is not appreciated in one day.
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: This was a moving novel about surviving unimaginable atrocities and living life afterwards with all that you experienced. The novel can be divided into three sections: Life before, during and after your world is turned upside down. Mere days can change the rest of your life by seeing what cruelty people are capable of. I read some of the negative reviews and I don't honestly understand their criticisms. I found Ms. Danticat's language to be lyrical and beautiful and I didn't feel distant from the story. Nor did I find it lacking in comparison to Color of Purple despite the fact that these two books don't have much in common besides both authors being good. I would recommend this book to any readers who want to get a glimpse of life outside our privileged borders.
Rating: 
Summary: The farming of preconceptions
Review: I do not get it. The book plods. I have had the hardest time in finishing it. And this was a "notable" New York Times book? I cannot be accused of insensitivity: as a white male I read in a single sitting "the color purple" for example. And I was quite impacted by it. But this one rings fake to me. Yes, the idea of illustrating a not very glorious episode of the Dominican Republic history is good. Telling the story of the suffering of the cane cutters from Haiti has to be done. But I live in Venezuela, in a sugar cane growing area, and that book does not ring true to me. The characters are floating above their condition, not quite connecting to what it all means. Perhaps this is due to the language. The author might have overreached in trying to bring to life the language differences between creole speaking Haitians and Upper class Spaniards and Dominicans. Had the book been written in Spanish or French it might have worked, but in English it sounded more like a native versus tourist scene......
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