Reviews

One thing about Francesca Momplaisir, she is not afraid to write about heartbreaking themes.

In The Garden of Broken Things we meet Genevieve, originally from Haiti she left at an early age to live in the US. She studied hard and started working as a therapist. While in school she met her husband and now father to her two sons. After years of philandering Genevieve finally decides to “leave” him but the pain remains fresh and she cannot seem to shake him. She should go to therapy for it, but do therapist go to therapy?

Added to her fail marriage, Genevieve’s son Miles starts acting out, in order to teach him a lesson she decides to take him to Haiti to show him what his life could be like if he doesn’t shape up. Nothing could prepare Genevieve for the decision that will shake the core of her life. While visiting Haiti she reconnects with family and friends, and tries her best to stay present even though she remains haunted by the things of the past.

I read Momplaisir’s first book and I made a note to read their sophomore novel and I can definitely say I am happy I did. I don’t think any book written about the earthquake in Haiti will be an easy read but this one was particularly hard. There was an undercurrent of hopelessness and sorrow that I didn’t shake even after finishing the book. I will say I did enjoy the author’s storytelling even with the heavy themes.

mofongobookclub's review against another edition

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slow-paced

1.0

amyyyrodriguez's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

_lalabear's review against another edition

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emotional informative medium-paced

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

4.0

kaayycee's review against another edition

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3.75

what is held in motherhood, how this relates to being raised by Haitian women, by Haiti as home. the need to protect, to withhold what you mean to maintain power. how space and loss become a shared inheritance. how supposed resilience hardens and callouses to become weapons of defense, written by generations of heartache. got a bit lost post-earthquake as the storylines severed without resolution (though isn't that the way it happens sometimes?)

anneebel's review against another edition

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4.0

Read this book for want of a Caribbean writer and foreign location, and had expected that this would be based after the Haitian earthquake from the information in the blurbs. However I was surprised where the book went how it followed this slightly crazy sounding family dynamic and ended.
I would recommend it as a read, as I liked the writing style and learning a bit about Haiti, but there needs to be some trigger warnings about child abuse and murder on this one!

indielitttttt's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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