Breath, Eyes, Memory

Praise for Breath, Eyes, Memory

Oprah Book Club Selection

“Vibrant, magic . . . Danticat’s elegant, intricate tale wraps readers into the haunting life of a young Haitian girl.”
—The Boston Globe

“Danticat’s calm clarity of vision takes on the resonance of folk art . . . Extraordinarily successful.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“A novel that rewards the reader again and again with small but exquisite and unforgettable epiphanies.”
—Washington Post Book World

“Written in prose as clear as a bell, magical as a butterfly, and resonant as drum talk . . . An impressive debut.”
—Julia Alvarez, author of In the Time of the Butterflies

“Reading Edwidge Danticat’s first novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory, for the first time in 2015 is a remarkable experience . . . It is clear in retrospect that this is a novel whose literary resonance has been profound, one that opened many doors for others—without it, would we have The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao?”
—Barnes and Noble Review

“Danticat has created a stirring tale of life in two worlds: the spirit-rich land of her ancestry, whose painful themes work their way through lives across generational lines, and her adopted country, the United States, where a young immigrant girl must negotiate cold, often hostile terrain, even as she spars with painful demons of her past.”
—Emerge

“A distinctive new voice with a sensitive insight into Haitian culture distinguishes this graceful debut novel . . . In simple, lyrical prose enriched by an elegiac tone and piquant observations, [Danticat] makes Sophie’s confusion and guilt, her difficult assimilation into American culture and her eventual emotional liberation palpably clear.”
—Publishers Weekly