A review by saralynnburnett
The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat

4.0

A quiet Haitian man in NYC with an artist daughter, a secret he and his wife have been hiding from her from their time in Haiti is slowly unearthed: this is the basic plot of Danticat’s beautifully written novel. The nine parts could stand alone as short stories, but they work together to show the effects of revolution, violence, and the choices made during those times on all the people around you, whether you’re aware of them or not. The stories and the topics in this novel cover kept calling to mind the visual of a ripple in a pond.

Some people have complained about the disjointed nature of the novel but I found it wonderful, especially as a reflection of memory, which is never linear.