Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994) by Edwidge Dannicat

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994)

by Edwidge Dannicat

Brooklyn, New York

Brooklyn/Queens/Long Island/Staten Island: 4/28

New York: 69/105

   Breath, Eyes, Memory is another candidate for continued/increased canonical inclusion. Dannicat tells this powerful story of intergenerational trauma through the eyes of a young Haitian immigrant to Brooklyn. Dannicat covers an incredible swath of emotional territory in the course of telling the life of Sophie.  Sexual violence and the tradition of mothers testing their Haitian daughters for their purity by forcing their fingers into the private parts of their daughters is central to Breath, Eyes, Memory and if I'd thought it through a little I would not have listened to the Audiobook, which was rough.  So rough.  I won't soon forget Breath, Eyes, Memory.