About this title: From the bestselling author of "The Dew Breaker" comes a major work of nonfiction: a powerfully moving family story that centers around the men closest to the author's heart--her father, Mira, and his older brother, Joseph.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Vintage Books USA
Date published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781400034307ISBN:1400034302
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Date published: 2007
ISBN-13:9781400041152ISBN:1400041155
Description: Knopf, 2007. 272 pages. 1st printing / edition. Hardcover. Fine-in Fine dustjacket. Tiny damp drop top of the text block. Small neat gift inscription on the dedication page. Jacket front has light surface soil. ISBN: 1400041155 2007 National Book Award in Nonfiction nominee. Winner, National Book Critics Circle Award, Nonfiction, 2008. read more
Binding: Audio CD
Publisher: Recorded Books
Date published: 2007
ISBN-13:9781428166288ISBN:1428166289
Description: Good. AUDIO BOOK. Excellent condition Ex-library copy in a plastic case. UNABRIDGED. Recorded Books Edition. EIGHT hours of play time. Contains SEVEN (7) CD's in terrific condition with all Art work. CD's may have slight scuff marks. All CD's play perfectly. All possible library stickers removed. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Vintage Books
Date published: 2008-09-09
ISBN-13:9781400034307ISBN:1400034302
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781400034307. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc
Date published: 2007-09-04
ISBN-13:9781400041152ISBN:1400041155
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781400041152. read more
Edition: Large type / large print.
Publisher: Center Point Large Print
Date published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781602851337ISBN:1602851336
Description: Very Good. Former Library book. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date published: 2007-09-04
ISBN-13:9781400041152ISBN:1400041155
Description: Very Good. Stated 1st edition. Binding is tight and square. DJ is very good. No names or remainder marks. Text is clean and bright. Careful packaging and fast shipping. We recommend PRIORITY mail for even faster delivery! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date published: 2007-09-04
ISBN-13:9781400041152ISBN:1400041155
Description: Excellent condition. New York: Knopf, 2007. Hardcover. First edition, first printing. Winner of the National Book Critics Award. Fine/Fine. read more
Edition: First Edition ~1st Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Publ, New York
Date published: 2007
Description: Memoirs of the acclaimed young novelist, fine in fine jacket, in fresh mylar cover; a crisp square unmarked copy in unclipped jacket. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York City, NY
Date published: 2007
ISBN-13:9781400041152ISBN:1400041155
Description: Signed by Author. Hardcover. First Edition. First Printing. 272 pages. As New in As New Dust Jacket. The author's debut memoir. One of the most important literary events of the year 2007. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Portions of the book originally appeared in The New Yorker Magazine. The title says it all: "In 2004, Danticat's uncle Joseph, a pastor in poor health at 81, fled Haiti after his church was burned, only to die ... read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date published: 2007
ISBN-13:9781400041152ISBN:1400041155
Description: New. 1400041155 Your Order will ship within 1 BUSINESS DAY of your purchase date. This is a Great Book at a Great Value. Our goal is to ensure that you are happy with your order. Some of our books may have publisher mark. read more
"I loved this book, which is the story of the author and her family in Haiti and in the US. It is probably pointless to go into the details. Her father left for the US to escape Haiti, while his brother remained. The ending is very sad. And shameful. I hope you'll read it. Tonight I watched CNN long enough to see that an effort to distribute high-protein biscuits to the earthquake survivors in Haiti ended with the UN truck and volunteers being forced to abandon a huge group of citizens after some young thugs grabbed food from the weakest, threatened the UN personnel trying to help them, and then shouted that the biscuits were bad and should not be eaten, so that the starving people threw them away, suspecting that the white devils were trying to poison them. Or maybe they had to throw them away to avoid being beaten up by the thugs. The UN people, feeling threatened, peeled out, chased by thugs, and went to another neighborhood to distribute the food, which was perfectly good, of course. This is an incident that sounds much like what happened to the Dantica family patriarch in Port au Prince years ago. Nothing changes."
"I have always loved Edwidge Danticat and this book cemented that affection. I endured teasing from my husband and our companions on a cabin getaway for reading such a "depressing!" book on vacation. Eh. I gravitate towards the darker side sometimes in a search for the light within and found such light in this book. There are unspeakable tragedies amongst Danticat's Haitian family, but the strongest current in this book for me was the devoted love she had for her uncle. This man acted as her surrogate father in her younger years when her parents moved to the U.S. and the love and affection she and her uncle had for one another is moving and uplifting. Danticat's voice is strong as ever and her ability to tell a very personal and emotional family story without digressing unnecessarily is potent."
"Danticat's intimate prose makes you feel like you're part of her family whose story this memoir narrates. Not only is it heartbreaking and beautiful; it's also a terrifying validation of postcolonial theorists' fears about globalization. It's difficult to maintain the "proud to be an american" mindset when, narratively speaking, the united states chooses to be the antagonist of so many stories like this one. Read Danticat for her absolutely beautiful writing... but also read her for the sake of social responsibility."
"It's not often that I don't finish a book. But I put this one down one day and never got back to it. I wanted to like it. I've read some of Edwidge Danticat's fiction and loved her lyrical language and her sense of place. But her family history, Brother, I'm Dying, just didn't keep my interest, and certainly did not show the same beautiful language of her other books. But maybe you should decide for yourself. It was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography.
Danticat was born in Haiti, right around Duvalier's time. The country is a mess politically, with people disappearing and being murdered, rank with poverty. Danticat's dad emigrates to New York when she is 2, followed by her mother, when she is 4. She and her younger brother are left in the care of her Uncle Joseph, a pastor. It ends up being 8 years before she joins her parents. In the meantime, Joseph, a sweet and caring man, loses his voice to throat cancer, and cannot preach to his flock, something he lived for. Danticat becomes his interpreter, helping him on his trips to shops and doctors. But it also makes the separation from her parents much more difficult, since her father would call Joseph and would share much more information with him than with his very young daughter.
Eventually her parents bring her to New York, where she does not feel part of the family she belongs to. She has 2 more brothers, who immediately take to their older siblings. But the long separation has taken an emotional toll.
The story is told in 2 time periods, the past and the near present, when Danticat finds out she is pregnant at about the same time that she finds out her dad is dying from a lung ailment. Her dad is very accepting of his situation and works at preparing his family for the inevitability of his death.
And this is where I stopped. Maybe my expectations were too high for this book. But the emotional distance she felt throughout her life, seemed very apparent in her writing. It seemed as if she was writing a news story in very simple language with very little subjectivity or emotional connection involved. I don't get it, either, because all the reviews I read rave about it. Maybe if I had hung on, through the total implosion of Haiti and Joseph's doomed final trip to the United States, it would have resonated more for me. But maybe I also stopped just in time. Reading once again about a country who treats people like chattel (and I'm not mentioning which country here) is just too painful."
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