Comments for Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat

Brother, I'm Dying: 05/15/14

Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat is a memoir written as novel about life in Haiti and the incidents that drove different members of her family to leave for the United States. It's told in a series of flashbacks interwoven with the present day, a time when the author is unexpectedly but happily pregnant for the first time.

Though on the surface a memoir, Brother, I'm Dying is the story of two brothers, Danticat's father and uncle. Her father was first to leave for the United States having grown tired of not being able to make ends meet as a tailor, only to become a taxi driver. Her uncle, a minister, stayed behind to run his church and provide for his neighborhood, staying until the bitter end, when he was forced to leave under the cover of darkness and in disguise during the political unrest and the United Nations occupation.

I listened to the Record Books audio, read beautifully by Robin Miles. It was a fascinating, though provoking, anger inducing and heartbreaking book. Anyone wanting to learn more about Haiti and the Haitian experience in the United States, must read (or listen) to this book.

Five stars

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