Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

Edwidge Danticat

Danticat is the author of several books, amongst which are Krik?Krak!, Farming of Bones, Butterfly's Way: Voices From the Haitian Diaspora in The United States. Breath, Eyes, Memory is her first novel and is an essay of her early years in Haiti and relocation to New York.

She lives in the Unites States with her husband and daughters.

Published; April 1994, Genre; Realistic Fiction, pages; 234.

Plot/Synopsis
Set in two cities, Haiti and New York, Breath, Eyes, Memory is the  moving story of a young Haitian girl named Sophia, who was left as a baby with her aunt in Haiti by her mother who found her way to New York to make what she believes is a better life for herself and flee from the tortuous memories of her past that make her suffer constant nightmares and low self esteem from being raped and impregnated as a young girl of 16.

History however repeat itself in the life of her daughter, Sophie, when she goes to join her mother in New York at age 12. Although, her mother tries to make sure she focuses on her education and not men, Sophie goes ahead and  falls in love with their neighbor, Joseph who is a musician and when she gets caught by her mom one night, her mother out of fear that she was about to go down the same path she did, begins to test her periodically to check that she's still a virgin and her virtue is intact. Sophie in depression and anger decides to use her mother's pestle on herself so she will fail the virginity test. She fails the test the next time her mother tests her and she is sent out of the house. She runs off with Joseph and they get married.

Although she is now married and is expected to have sex with her husband, Sophie from the mental scars inflicted by her mother's constant testing of her vagina, finds sex repulsive and develops a phobia for it, and is unable to make love to her husband except she pretends she really isn't there. Her relationship with her mother also deteriorates from the  period of the testing when she lived with her.  Her marriage to Joseph suffers as she begins to feel frustration and confusion and decides to go back to Haiti away from Joseph. She runs away to Haiti with her baby and  soon after her mother also comes to Haiti. Not since the night she threw her out for failing the virginity test had they seen or spoken and Sophie has a lot of anger and bitterness at her for inflicting those tests on her. In time, however, they reconcile and move back to New York together but their union is short lived as her mother kills herself when she discovers she's pregnant for Sophie's fiancé.


Review 
It is quite an easy read, written in first person narrative by Sophie Caco and is filled with lots of Haitian thoughts and mentality conveyed in the grandmother's  songs and stories. The 3 generations of women and the bonds-both broken and strong-between them is conveyed very simply by Danticat in a clear and easy prose.

I've found that most family history has a way of repeating itself in children and grandchildren and this inheritance of experiences often leads to frustrations and depression in many young people. It is a constant battle which many, such as our heroine, Sophie try to fight daily and grow into insecure adults that in turn, make up a fractured society.

Danticat may not write in the literarily complex manner of some others (she was only 25 at the time this was published anyway) but I thoroughly enjoyed her straightforward style of writing and simple flowing lines. Yes, it was a bit choppy in places but that's to be expected in a short story such as this.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars