The Dew Breaker

I enjoy reading Edwidge Danticat's novels and stories, and The Dew Breaker (2004), was no disappointment. Danticat thoughtfully tells a difficult story of a person who traveled down a violent path and managed to veer away (but our past always helps shape our future, no?).

We meet The Dew Breaker - father, husband, landlord & neighbor; former torturer. This man hides his past from his wife for many years, from his daughter until she is an adult, and from everyone else in the world indefinitely.

One of the most compelling aspects of this book is the way it deals with the greyness of life decisions - even the process of/ability to make decisions - through a very plausible set of stories. The novel, a set of interwoven stories, leaves you with a sense of the ugliness, the difficulty, the love, the creativity, and the reflection that is necessary to survive and grow in an imperfect world.

This book gets a thumbs up from me.

Labels: danticat, haiti, morality, tonton macoutes

posted by reader kay at 11:42 AM