Reviews - Näen, muistan, hengitän

2.5 stars. I appreciated what Danticat was trying to do with this story. There are a lot of important messages that one could get from this book, about family, forgiveness, love, trauma, and motherhood. Danticat's writing just didn't quite hit the mark. For one thing, I kept getting distracted by the lack of detail about spatial movement and small inconsistencies -- like, Sophie is lying in bed with her eyes tightly shut and tells us that there are tears running down her mother's face. How does she know if she can't see? Someone will be in one place and it's not clear how they got to a different place. It's not terrible, but it's indicative of the overall weak writing of the book.

Most problematically, Danticat deals only at a surface level with the trauma that this plot is steeped in. It's clear that Sophie is traumatized by being "tested" by her mother, but it's not clear exactly what makes it traumatic because it's dealt with very briefly. She blames her mother for the injuries she herself caused, again as a supposed result of being driven crazy by the testing. And later on, she's like, "Oh, BTW, I have bulimia," and there's maybe three references to it later. None of this seems to reach much of a resolution or healing by the end of the book.

It was interesting enough to keep me reading, but I can't say it's worth a recommendation.

pettypetunia's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Complicated

5.0

This is one of my favorite memoirs. It’s a hard book to read because it’s brutal and Danticant is a brilliant and searing writer. Her description of “doubling” both by perpetrators of violence and victims of violence is profound.

laure_d's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

serena_hien's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

avalle419's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

thesevisionsofjohanna's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Complicated

3.75

andreyatelier's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Complicated
Loveable characters? Complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Complicated

4.75

Just devastating. Danticat has slowly become one of my favorite authors over the years, and it’s hard to believe this is her first novel. The book works through the scars left behind by trauma, both by those known and those unknown. I recommend it to anyone.

kyranewcombe's review against another edition

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emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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