Rating: 
Summary: great read
Review: Having both read the book and the reviews it received by amazon readers-- I must say that you shouldn't pick it up because Oprah did. I think you have to have an interest in cultures that differ from yours and a sentivity to them. It was a great piece where you could feel the the women and men's pain as well as learn about the culture-Haiti's. I am impressed by the author's age as well. For bad or good I see the similarities in Amy Tan and this writer. Perhaps I see the similarities in living as a first genereation American in 2 worlds.
Rating:
Summary: This book was an extremly detailed and heart wrenching.
Review: Breath, Eyes, Memory was an extremely well written book. Being a Haitian American as well I sort of naturally bonded to the book even more than I expected. Having never gone to Haiti before in all my 16 years I have learned some interesting things about my heritage and what a lot of traditions mean and originate from. Not only was I surprised and terified at some of the things that went on in Haiti I wondered if any of my own ancestors went through this type of treatment. This book has made me more interested in researching more things about my heritage and what Haiti is all about. I am on the verge of reading Krik, Krak, and I hope that I will learn as much from this one as I learned from Breath, Eyes, and Memory. Edwidge Danticat is a remarkable writer and I commend her for her great accomplishments and I wish her many more in the future. -satisfied reader
Rating: 
Summary: An opening to an always ignored culture
Review: I found this book to be my personal path to a culture that I have continously avoided. Never before had I thought of becoming familiar with the Hatian people or there culture. The book kept me in suspense and was rather tear jerking due to personal experiences I had with my mother. The mother daughter relation ship was truly realistic, and I am more understading of cultural adversities and how why we are so different,yet, we are so alike, "doing the best we can with what we know." I believed at the end that Sophie would break the cycle. Just as many of us wish we could get rid of those old folklaws that are no longer accepted, needed, or wanted today.
Rating:
Summary: Sometimes less is more.
Review: I am surprised at the reviews suggesting that Danticat didn't go far enough with this story and its characters. This may not be an especially "literary" book, but it is a book you can feel with your senses. Danticat lights candles in the darkest corners of the lives of her characters, and lets us find our way. I'm still haunted by the experience. Very different and much appreciated.
Rating:
Summary: I could not puit it down!!
Review: I throughly enjoyed this book. A great story showing the great strength of a family. It brought me to tears. Give it a try!!
Rating:
Summary: an insightful and amazing first novel
Review: This was an incredible read, thoughful and well written book. While the writer took riks with the fragmented style, we were rewarded over and over again with the small and large epiphanies of Sophie's road to womanhood. The book was as much a quest for language as it was for self and I enjoyed this in the story as well as in the manner in which it was told.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable read
Review: Growing up in a Haitian household I could relate to many of the customs, traditions and sentiments. Her story was very thought provoking and an enjoyable read. I am astounded at the fact, that being that this is one of her earlier works, that someone of such a young age can capture such thoughts and ideas so beautifully. All in all an impressive piece of work.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm over Oprah's Book Club!
Review: While I related to the characters and learned something about the Haitian culture, I found the book rambling and rather elementary in scope. I was happy to read that it was one of the author's earlier attempts. There are shades of promise here. I have been so scalded by some of the other Oprah books that I think this one finally convinced me that I make better choices on my own. While I have overcome significant challenges in my own life, it seems to me that most of her books have a similar theme.....poor people, who can only escape their existance within their minds and suffer, suffer, suffer so eloquently in the process. I was so tired of this story by the time it was over!! Previously, I had to start "She's Come Undone" three times. Toni Morrison's books are beautiful, though tedious, because she tries to use the entire dictionary in her syntax. I'll make my own choices.. I found Amistead Maupin, Diana Gabaldon and Barbara Taylor Bradford on my own!
Rating:
Summary: Breath, Eyes, Memory is a poorly developed book.
Review: While Edwidge Danticat is obviously a talented writer, this book left a lot to be desired. Breath, Eyes, Memory is a story about a young Haitian girl's relationships with the other women in her family, particularly her relationship with her Aunt, and her relationship with her mother which did not really begin untill adolecence. This book is also about the ritual sexual abuse that the mothers in this family and presumable in Haitian culture inflict upon their daughters and how this abuse effects the daughters physically and psychologically. This book could have been excellent, however, both the story and the characters were poorly developed. The book read like a list of events instead of an descriptive story about a woman's life. Danticat jumped from one event to another without much detail about how these characters came to the events in their lives and how these events shaped their lives and emotions afterwards. While this book has a very important story to tell, it was not told well, and I was left feeling very detached from the story and it's characters.
Rating:
Summary: I'm disappointed
Review: I enjoyed the initial part of the book. During the rest, I kept hoping for it to become less predictable, for the characters to turn out more real.
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