We meet him late in life: a quiet man, a good father and husband, a fixture in his Brooklyn neighborhood, a landlord and barber with a terrifying scar across his face. As the book unfolds, moving seamlessly between Haiti in the 1960s and New York City today, we enter the lives of those around him, and learn that he has also kept a vital, dangerous secret. Edwidge Danticat’s brilliant exploration of the “dew breaker”--or torturer--s an unforgettable story of love, remorse, and hope; of personal and political rebellions; and of the compromises we make to move beyond the most intimate brushes with history. It firmly establishes her as one of America’s most essential writers.
The Dew Breaker (Vintage Contemporaries)
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From Publishers Weekly
Haitian-born Danticat's third novel (after The Farming of Bones and Breath, Eyes, Memory) focuses on the lives affected by a "dew breaker," or torturer of Haitian dissidents under Duvalier's regime. Each chapter reveals the titular man from another viewpoint, including that of his grown daughter, who, on a trip she takes with him to Florida, learns the secret of his violent past and those of the Haitian boarders renting basement rooms in his Brooklyn home. This structure allows Danticat to move easily back and forth in time and place, from 1967 Haiti to present-day Florida, tracking diverse threads within the larger narrative. Some readers may think that what she gains in breadth she loses in depth; this is a slim book, and Danticat does not always stay in one character's mind long enough to fully convey the complexities she seeks. The chapters—most of which were published previously as stories, with the first three appearing in the New Yorker—can feel more like evocative snapshots than richly textured portraits. The slow accumulation of details pinpointing the past's effects on the present makes for powerful reading, however, and Danticat is a crafter of subtle, gorgeous sentences and scenes. As the novel circles around the dew breaker, moving toward final episodes in which, as a young man and already dreaming of escape to the U.S., he performs his terrible work, the impact on the reader hauntingly, ineluctably grows.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Three Haitian women living in New York drink to "the terrible days behind us and the uncertain days ahead," thus succinctly denoting the resonant theme of Danticat's beautifully lucid fourth work of fiction: the baffling legacy of violence and the unanswerable questions of exile. In compelling and richly imagined linked stories of the Haitian diaspora, the author of The Farming of the Bones (1999) portrays the children of parents who either perpetuated or suffered the cruelties of the island's bloody dictatorships, young women and men who struggle to make sense of the madness that poisoned their childhoods. The book's pivotal, and most riveting, sections portray a man who works for the state as a torturer, or "dew breaker," until a catastrophic encounter with a heroic preacher induces him to flee to New York, where his sculptor daughter finally learns of his past under caustically ironic circumstances. Danticat's masterful depiction of the emotional and spiritual reverberations of tyranny and displacement reveals the intricate mesh of relationships that defines every life, and the burden of traumatic inheritances: the crimes and tragedies that one generation barely survives, the next must reconcile. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Edward Tem
Format:Hardcover
The Dew Breaker is a very educational book with unique contradictions in the characters in the story. This is a story about the haunting tale of a man who left Haiti for New York, and still could not leave behind his memory of victimizing. I enjoyed this book to the very end.
I recommend it along with DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE and DISGRACE
I recommend it along with DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE and DISGRACE
Format:Hardcover
This is a very interesting book. A novel, yes, sort of, but I get the impression that is somewhat autobiographical. The prose is concise. While not a novel per se, as it is almost a collection of short stories or sketches of various people as the weave in and out of the life of the book, I don't know what else to call it. The author certainly has a good command of her subject, the writing is easy on the eye and mind. I highly recommend this one and hope we get more like it.
Format:Hardcover
THE DEW BREAKER is a collection of vignettes featuring characters whose lives intersect mostly as a result of fate. At the heart of the story is a nameless man who is known as "The Dew Breaker." Early in the book his daughter, unaware of his torrid past, creates a sculpture in honor of her father, a Haitian immigrant now working in the U.S. as a successful barber. He carries a menacing scar on his face which is only a superficial representation of his inner turmoil and his unsavory past life in Haiti. Subsequent vignettes provide additional information about "The Dew breaker" from the perspective of his wife, neighbors, boarders and others. With each vignette another layer of this story and the main character's past is uncovered. The ending, while satisfying in a sense, will leave you to consider the moral imperatives that are presented and come to your own conclusions.
Danticat takes us on a series of highs and lows while traveling back and forth through time, from Haiti to the U.S and back. Ultimately, she leaves it up to readers to decide whether the main character is remorseful and seeking redemption or happily basking in the fact that he has gotten away with heinous crimes. While fate is often the impetus that brings the characters together, each of the vignettes and characters ultimately fit together in a synthesis that is both realistic and believable. This is a book filled with intricate nuances and minute complexities that, if overlooked, will prevent some from fully grasping and appreciating this fine work. It is complex, thoughtful, and sure to become a timeless classic.
Edwidge Danticat has done it again. She presents a complex and multi-faceted character driven story that includes keenly executed and descriptive prose. From the first page I was drawn into the story and felt as if I was experiencing things right along with the characters. She provides a well-rounded and empathic look at the varied experiences of some Haitian and Haitian American people. Danticat is a vibrant, young voice that is sure to go down in history as a literary great.
Reviewed by Stacey Seay
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
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4.5 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fiction of Haitian Life
Edwidge Danticat is one of the leading Haitian novelists today. This latest book of hers, The Dew Breaker, looks like a novel but is really a collection of closely linked stories. Read more
Published on Jun 24 2004 by Charles J. Rector
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Novel in Stories: A Work of Art
Edwidge Danticat has written a wonderfully crafted novel in stories in her fourth fiction release, The Dew Breaker. Read more
Published on Jun 2 2004 by Dera R Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars
Complex and Horrific, but Very Controlled
When I read THE FARMING OF BONES, Edwidge Danticat's second novel, I could see immediately what a truly superlative writer she is. Read more
Published on May 21 2004 by Totally Anonymous
5.0 out of 5 stars
A powerful and beautiful new novel
Edwidge Danticat's new novel, her third, is right up there with her first, Breath, Eyes, Memory, though very different. It's an elliptical novel, with much mystery. Read more
Published on May 9 2004 by JoAnn Whetsell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gave me new understanding of Haiti over the last 20 years
This young Haitian-American writer is making quite a name for herself. In this, her fourth novel, she again displays her depth of understanding of her people. Read more
Published on May 8 2004 by Linda Linguvic
5.0 out of 5 stars
Framing The Unmasterable, Memoried Past
Danticat is enormously good for us, especially now. She reminds us of the beautiful literary spirit of Haiti... Read more
Published on April 17 2004 by Alan Cambeira
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Highly Accomplished and Extraordinarily Powerful Novel
Edwidge Danticat's third novel, THE DEW BREAKER, arrives in bookstores on the heels of major turmoil in the author's native Haiti: in February Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned the... Read more
Published on April 3 2004 by Bookreporter
4.0 out of 5 stars
A legacy of horror
Throughout The Dew Breaker, evil prevails in all its manifestations, particularly in the guise of authority, demanding homage from the persecuted. Read more
Published on April 1 2004 by Luan Gaines
4.0 out of 5 stars
THAT IS A GREAT BOOK
That book is very educational. I liked it very much and I will recommend for my friends to buy it and read it. Good work Danticat.
Published on Mar 29 2004 by FRANTZ MOISE
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sins of the father
Throughout these nine interconnected short stories resides the life of one man attempting to hide from his violent past in Haiti as a torturer. Read more
Published on Mar 29 2004 by S. Calhoun
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