Rating: 
Summary: Give Praise Where Praise Is Due!
Review: Unfortunately I cannot give this book the praise I would like to give it. Both Ms. Danticat and I are young women of African decent, which means I bought her book for two reasons: the nation's leading reviewers promised me an excellent read, ("it holds its own to Withering Heights and the Color Purple") and I wanted to support the author. But after reading the book I'm utterly baffled as to how reviewers could compare the Farming of Bones to either of those brillant novels. Once I got past the lyrical first three pages, I had a hard time staying awake. I was told (by reviewers) the book was heartbreakingly sad, (and I'd like to assume the reviewers made those kinds of statements because the novel was an historically based account of the needless slaughter of thousands of Haitian cane workers)because none of Ms. Danticat's characters evoked the slightest sympathy from me. It's as if Ms. Danticat forgot to breathe life into them (her characters). They're hollow, and devoid of emotions, like bad acters in a recondite play. Still I'm not as much disappointed in Ms. Danticat as I am these 'big time reviewers.' I believe Ms. Danticat is young and has plenty of time to grow as a writer. However, saying she is an awesome talent when she's just not there yet does no one any good. It makes readers not pay any attenton to reviews. It cauterizes the author by having her think she 'has arrived' when in reality she has a ways to go. Ultimately I think giving praise where praise isn't due, is especially damaging to young writers of color because it breaks the chain of competition--which is something we all need to be our best. I think Ms. Danticat does have talent to build on, but I think the editorial reviewers should really question why they gave Farming of Bones such rave reviews. It's mediocre novel at best (when you consider Ms. Danticat is young, bi-lingual and from one of the poorest countries in the world). But again those facts are outside ther rules of competition. Only when Ms. Danticat writes an excellent novel should those facts be considered--as a testimony to her strength, drive and developed talent.
Rating: 
Summary: A captivating read of joy woven painfully with sorrow
Review: I read the last line of The farming of the Bones while waiting for my car to get fixed. Right there in a lounge filled with customers I wept openly and unashamedly. I have never read a novel that forced me gasp, shudder, scream and cry in the same breath. I have also never read any other work that constantly forced me to pray that what I was reading was nothing but a bad dream from which the characters would miraculously awake. Ms. Dandicat has managed to shed light on a period of shame in that region's history that, even today, continues to plague the two groups that live there. Amabelle's journey through a life filled with fleeting moments of joy and love coupled with an abundance of sorrow, will forever haunt me. I applaud Ms. Dandicat's latest work and thank her for giving other young writers something to apsire to. Most importantly, I applaud her for giving the people of Haiti a voice-a voice that is constantly silenced in the world's bitter fixation with oppression.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful characters, intense environment, weak storytelling
Review: I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did, because it introduced me to a world I didn't know and showed me it thorugh a character that I had not seen before. Yet the overly formal poetic language distanced me from her plight. I was never truly moved by what was happening because it rarely felt like it was actually happening to a real person. What I did like was the writer's guts in telling basically a day to day tale and then, about 3/4 of the way through, hitting the fast forward button. Lesser writers would not have been able to pull this off.
Rating: 
Summary: The most riviting novel on Haiti that I have read. I wept.
Review: Danticat's novel is one of the most riviting works I have read. She situates the lives of the two Haitian women characters (mother and daughter) within the context of contemporary political events in Haiti and the United States. She discusses women's issues in a powerful and moving way. The text also shows insight into the daily lives of many Haitian women immigrants, and the legacy of culture, history, oppression, beauty, and strength that they bear.
Rating:
Summary: A transcendent story of a people that will not be forgotten.
Review: More cogently than in her earlier "Breath, Eyes, Memory", with The Farming of Bones Edwidge Danticat takes a considerable step in establishing a Haitian Narrative in the American cultural landscape. The story revolves around star-crossed lovers caught in the hellishly capricious assault by Trujillo on Haitian immigrants and Haitian-Dominicans in the 1930's. The mechanics of the plot are handled with confident mastery and Danticat manages to put luminously evocative prose at the service of a tale of raw brutality. Yet that is not what makes this novel a remarkable achievement. It is the alchemy of the voice. Danticat's is a voice that at once is essentially Haitian - in nuances and concerns - and renders the author an indisputably American novelist in its unblinking description of the Diasporic Individual caught in the sweep of history. The Farming of Bones is the transcendent story of a people that will not be forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: a true work of art
Review: once again ms.danticat has found a way to bring her country of haiti alive on thepage. i found the desriptionof the landscape so vivid. it was if i was there myself. thedevelopment of he characers were exellent. one could really emphathize with amabelle. it was like one waned to make everything all right for amabelle. it was also educational. one ws able to find a lot about te period although the author changed the events aound. a most enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: Farming of Bones moving, inspirational
Review: Edwidge Danticat is not one to be taken lightly. That girl (or shall I say woman) has a powerful literary voice. The Farming of Bones is an amazing piece of work, probably the best fiction I've read, ever. The language is so vivid. The prose dance across the page like poetry and the Kreyol (Creole) and Spanish vernacular wash over your tongue like music. > If you have not read Edwidge Danticat's The Farming of Bones, and you like fiction, you should get yourself a copy.
Rating: 
Summary: Here I am to save the day
Review: Edwidge Danticat has been a phenomenon for some time now though I doubt it's because of her writing. Anyone who allows themselves a literary review of her work will find it often comes up short as does this, her latest effort. What mars her work is a strange juxtaposition of overly formal language with a crushingly sentimental storytellers eye. They are hard to merge, but somehow she does. In this novel we begin much to slowly and continue in this way. Tolstoi was a thousand pages long and i read him without qualm so don't think mere length or slower pacing is the trouble. Instead, like many Caribean authors, there is a formalism, almost trying to out-Brit the British that makes much of their work sound old, dry and very much of the past. This can be valuable until you realize that, of course, the past already has its voices and yes some of them are of color so why not go to those for whom such rigid codes were normal and more poetically used. I found this book dreary and dull and lost in the morass of its horrifying actuality. One senses that if perhaps the events had never truly occured, Ms. Danticat might have ceased with the endless sigh before the fall of tears that one manages to feel with every line. No one wants to listen to a weepy grandmother unless they are masochists. Ms. Danitcats Krik?Krak! was by far her best book if only because the short story form didn't allow here to meander in sentimentality and sadness. As a woman who reads much it bothers me that we women will play to soupy emotion like a person with a sprained ankle will favor their good leg. We should walk on both feet and though it is harder to be unswerving and harsh we should put our stories up to the light true literature demands. No more tearjerkers next time Ms. Danitcat, I beg you. You and we all are much, much better than that.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for everyone!
Review: I just finished reading this book. I read it in about 4 days, I literally could not put it down. It really had my emotions flowing and I feel like I have learned so much from reading it. The fact that this novel is based on actual events made it all so real. I recently returned home from a semester abroad in the Dominican Republic where I saw a lot of racism and problems between the Haitian and Dominican people. It made this book even more interesting because I was able to envision much of the scenery as well as the people. I also am more understanding of where the racism developed. It is a shame that many years later the scars haven't healed and the same racism still exists. I have a lot more respect for the haitian people and what they went through. Unlike many others, I was not disappointed at the ending of this book. I felt the fact that Senora Valencia was so indifferent and unloving showed that even the people she thought were her family turned on her. I recomend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about a piece of history most North Americans aren't educated about. I loved this book and I feel like I went through everything with Annabelle. I say "two thumbs up to the author!" Exellent!!!
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding. So vivid.
Review: I asked my girlfriend. "Have you read this book?" as I picked it up from her shelf a couple days ago. Not looking up, she said "What's it called?". I read her the description from the book jacket and she said "I think that's a movie, I don't remember reading it, but I can picture much of what happens." Such is the case with most of Danticat's outstanding stories. The words work their way into your head easily, leaving nothing but pure imagery behind. I read Breath, Eyes, Memory about a year ago, but it does not compare to the powerfull nature of Danticat's current work. I can't gush enough about how it has touched me. Please read it.
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