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joanna_banana's review against another edition
3.0
A quick read covering two accounts of experiences in Haiti: a wedding of Piti, to whom the author and her husband are benefactors, and then a year later their return to Haiti after the earthquake.
The first part recounting the tale of driving through northern Haiti from the DR was a bit exaggerated. Reminded me of my first impressions of Mali until I knew better and made friends. It was interesting to hear about places in Haiti where the project I work has sites.
The second part was better than the first, gave me goose bumps reading about the earthquake stories, the tragedy. Haiti just can't get a break. Having traveled there for work, I've heard stories first hand. However Alvarez' accounts are well written. Though she admits committing "natural disaster tourism" and I don't think she had a good reason to go to PAP other than telling the story again? "It needs to be seen" says one man they meet.
A few quotable quotes:
"There are two kinds of pain: the pain of doing yoga. And the pain of not doing yoga. Life is going to be complicated no matter what, so you might as well open the door and invite it into your house..."
"I sometimes seem to forget: you get all the parts when you love a whole person."
I think I will read some of Alvarez' other books now. But this one was just average.
The first part recounting the tale of driving through northern Haiti from the DR was a bit exaggerated. Reminded me of my first impressions of Mali until I knew better and made friends. It was interesting to hear about places in Haiti where the project I work has sites.
The second part was better than the first, gave me goose bumps reading about the earthquake stories, the tragedy. Haiti just can't get a break. Having traveled there for work, I've heard stories first hand. However Alvarez' accounts are well written. Though she admits committing "natural disaster tourism" and I don't think she had a good reason to go to PAP other than telling the story again? "It needs to be seen" says one man they meet.
A few quotable quotes:
"There are two kinds of pain: the pain of doing yoga. And the pain of not doing yoga. Life is going to be complicated no matter what, so you might as well open the door and invite it into your house..."
"I sometimes seem to forget: you get all the parts when you love a whole person."
I think I will read some of Alvarez' other books now. But this one was just average.
juleswells's review
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
4.5
Very pleasantly surprised by this! Such an interesting & heartwarming true story! Good reminder that there are good people out there helping others!
mbondlamberty's review against another edition
Not her usual fare, actual experiences and in Haiti but interesting if a bit sad.
kjw2's review against another edition
5.0
I loved reading about the DR and Haiti. Places that I can totally picture in my mind. A wonderful story written by a wonderful author!
chelseamartinez's review against another edition
3.0
This was an "impulse buy" at the library for me; I'm aware there are many hundreds of books on Haiti that I could have read instead, but since I have read some of Alvarez's other books it seemed more accessible. So, it's written very candidly as the perspective of a well-to-do Dominican writer and her white husband who have Haitian employees they come to consider family (and vice versa) making trips across the island the DR and Haiti share. Things I am reading lately seem to overlap coincidentally with our very stupid political moment, but only cursorily, I realize - if I read more than one book about Haiti then it won't be noteworthy in my memory that this one - which is frank but hopeful about Haiti after the 2010 earthquake - was what I was reading when the president of America made openly racist comments about its people and other people living in hardship around the world. So here's a note to seek out some more books on the nation in the future.
bgg616's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. Alvarez's recount of traveling to norhteastern Haiti from the Dominican Republic with her husband and several Haitians was very affirming of Haitian resiliance and as well as documenting the lack of infrastructure and poverty of the Haitian countryside. The story doesn't focus on this, but rather it is the context of her story of going to the wedding of her Haitian "son", Piti, a young man she and her husband have been close to for many years. I identified with her bewilderment at many of the transactions through her trip - including "bribes" at the border, wondering if this is the family they will be staying with (and who exactly is everyone), what time things will finally happen, etc. In the second half of the book, she, her husband, Piti, his wife and baby, a young American, and two or three others, return to Haiti to bring Piti's wife home for a stay. This is post-earthquake Haiti. They return home via Port-au-Prince. When Alvarez tells a man in Port-au-Prince they are only there to see, he responds - people need to see Haiti.