A review by curlymango
Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

challenging reflective sad medium-paced
I’m not sure whether I can give this a rating, because I don’t think it would really reflect how I felt during and after this read. At times I was deeply uncomfortable; I felt like I was intruding into the darkest sides of the characters’ intimate, complex relationships. But of course that’s the core of the book: untangling matters of womanhood, motherhood, generational trauma, sexual violence, heritage, and death. What struck me most was the gentle simplicity of Danticat’s prose and how she weaves such brutal topics into Sophie’s story, without it necessarily feeling gratuitous. Quite haunting, though. I’m still thinking about the final passage and don’t know whether to feel hopeful or hopeless about it.
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