Rating: 
Summary: This was so realistic
Review: This book is so good that it makes you feel like you've been to Haiti. Such a great writer and thank goodness she shared her knowledge of her homeland. I took this book with me on a cruise to the Virgin Islands and as we passed Haiti, I had the feeling of actually being there ONLY because of the details and customs and beliefs that the author wrote about. The culture and beliefs of the Haitian people were so real. This book opened a new door for me in the way of appreciating other lands. Thank you so much for writing this book----I enjoyed my "trip" to Haiti and I enjoyed the closeness of the women family members as well as the unchallenged respect for the elders. Wonderful book!! Some of the primative practices and beliefs have adverse effects, as the book also shows. I don't want to say anything more direct because the beauty of reading this book is the education received about this culture. Again, this was truely enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointing
Review: This is less a novel than a string of episodes from a young Haitian woman's life and I enjoyed the first two sections, but was really disappointed as the writer lost control of her text in the later stages. The story starts in Haiti where twelve year old Sophie has been raised by her aunt, Tante Atie, while her mother supports the family with a job in New York. But now her mother wants Sophie to come and join her. There's a beautifully detailed portrait of country life in Haiti here and the separation of Sophie and Atie is genuinely heart rending.The next section details the tentative first steps of Sophie and her mother as they feel out the parameters of a mother-daughter relationship. This is complicated by the fact that Sophie was the product of her mother being raped as a teenager by a Tonton Macout. This transition from Haiti to New York is fine and would be a solid basis for a novel, but Danticat now starts skipping forward in large chunks of time. Suddenly, Sophie is 18 and enamored of an older neighbor who is a musician. Her scandalized mother begins to probe her nightly to establish that she has maintained her virginity. Tempers explode and we skip ahead again. Sophie has married the musician and had a child, but she's estranged from her mother, has developed sexual phobias and has fled to Haiti with her child. From here the novel descends into all the worst topicality of the 90's and we see how it made Oprah's Book Club. We're immersed in bulimia, sexual dysfunction, female genital mutilation, therapy, suicide, etc. Ultimately, after a strong and promising beginning, I have to say that the author lost me. I appreciated the opportunity to be exposed to a side of Haitian life that we rarely see, but then we're buried in a blizzard of psychoblither. I expect to see better from this author in the future. GRADE: C-
Rating: 
Summary: I didn't get it?....
Review: I thought the book had great potential, but it skipped too much and left too many blanks. That is probably why it was such an easy read. I had questions that never got answered, like how old was Joseph? What was the terrible secret that Sophie was going to find out in New York and how come we didn't hear about it again in Haiti? I understand that being "tested" was such a crucial and demeaning process in their lives, but I didn't consider it a secret. The book left many gaps like Sophies teenage years, her marriage to Joseph, her birth of her daughter, how she developed bulimia from being married and not being able to perform sexually. I was more miffed about how she and her mother could become confidants after not speaking and having no contact for how ever many months or years. And then after such a huge revelation in their relationship,.............. I just wish more was explained and then it would have been a real worthwhile story about another culture.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting...but...
Review: Edwidge Danticat tried to discuss too many issues in the book: rape, violence, cancer, abortion, sexuality (or lack of), child abuse, so on and so forth. I felt that some of the chapters were totally irrelevant to the story. For example, when Sophie went back to Haiti, she thought that her daughter was coming down with a fever but the thermometer was broken and she couldn't check her temperature...and that was the end of it! The characters were way too complicated, and for the most part they were dealing with too many emotions. There was a great effort put into the book, but I think it could have been better had the author covered less issues. There were also some grammatical errors, but they did not disturb me too much.
Rating: 
Summary: A breath for a memorable Experience!
Review: The most important thing about the true identity of a great writer is to read what isn't often said about them. To be able to trace the identity of a person through hir/her work is an ability one most have in reading. I have been able to connect and relate to Danticat through her memorable breath taken Story. who is to say only those who've been there can explain how it was like. A suffering soul never reveals his/her pains. As the pain continue to grow, it expands the mind to more possible cure. Being able to bring an UGLY past to life is not the idea behind a writer's mind. But the best way to learn and understand why somethings happen is by making people aware of their existence. It's good to remember a tragic past. But how you remember it and explain it makes all the difference. One thing I could not understand is that, reading something like that makes you think about the way people were back then. They didn't have a voice, but they had guidelines that should have served her well. Needless to say, Sophie's story is very touchy, but yet questionable. Her life story will effect the rest of her life, but still, this is an option. There is very little we can do when we are young, why carry the burden if we are unable to repair the wound? I applaud the writer, but such a story needs more life into it. It's a combination of self experience, drama, and tales, which puzzles everyone who have not lived it or aware of this type of life. This Story can bring a lot of criticisms towards Haitian women, Which Im sure Edwidge predicted. Phychologicaly speaking, no one knows how to get over a bad situation and move on. We can pretend it didn't happen ,we can ignore that it ever happened, or we couldn't care less, but to know that you will be reminded of it one way or another is a scare that can never be disguised.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book that makes you think
Review: This book is very good and I am a bit aggravated at those who claim she doesn't develop her characters enough. It is a clear example of how many mother/daughter relationships are. Everyone trying to deal with their own pain and disappointments in their own way and sometimes hurting those we love. Her use of language and description is beautiful, I felt that I was on the porch eating dinner with her, her Aunt and her grandmother. And sometimes what isn't said is more important than what is.....
Rating:
Summary: Different, Yet Intriguing and Worth Reading!
Review: This was my first time reading a book by this author, however, I really enjoyed it. It was very different(ie about the Haitan Experience) vs. many of the books I read by African American authors(ie relationship/romance drama) and as such took me awhile to get into. As I delve further into the book I really begin to like it and thought it was a wonderful book by a novice author. Her storytelling and writing style are exquisite and you're drawn into the story and the characters. Great book for reading clubs.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary
Review: Edwige Danticat's novel took my breath away. It's not only a great review of the Haitian life, but life in general. I read this book twice and each time learned something different about the Haitian culture and my very own. Oprah picked a gem, when she picked this one.
Rating:
Summary: A Book About Surviving, Even With The Losses
Review: This tranquil novel has a delicacy and peacefulness in its tone and expression, yet underneath the simple sentences and serene language, is a tormented, turbulent novel. Set in Haiti, New York City, and Providence, Rhode Island, the female protagonist, Sophie, lives in perpetual sexual paranoia and is tormented by ancient ghosts of sexual intimidation. Quiet Sophie, gentle Sophie, she watches her mother, her aunt, her grandmother struggle as females in a patriachal society. She decides to torture her own body as a means of liberation, but does this really free her? For Feminist Literature, this sensible tale has a distinct tone of serious, dangerous struggle for survival, in spite of the loses. She will carry on the human chain, but there will be loses.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but lacking something
Review: Ms. Danticat is a good writer, however, I felt as though something was missing after finishing this book. She did an excellent job of describing some of the emotions of different characters in the book, however, she didn't describe the main character as in depth as I would've liked. Sophie made a couple of surprising choices but without much reasoning. Perhaps I was expecting too much 'why did this person do this, what motivated them'? Still, a fairly decent read.
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