Synopses & Reviews
Edwidge Danticat was raised by two fathers--by her natural father and by his brother, her uncle Joseph, who became a surrogate father for eight years after her parents emigrated to America. Brother, I'm Dying is the story of her attachment to her uncle Joseph, and the wrenchingly complicated emotions she experienced when, at 12, she finally rejoined her parents. it's the story of adapting to a new life while continuing to fear for the safety of those left behind. And it is the story of a life and death: late in 2004, her 81-year-old uncle Joseph was forced to flee to the US where he was detained by Customs, brutally imprisoned, and died within days. His brother, sick and grieving, died soon after, but not before he held Edwidge's first-born, a girl who will bear his name into the next generation. Brother, I'm Dying is a true-life epic on an intimate scale: a tale of family and country, love and sorrow, and the triumph of hope over tragedy.
Synopsis
From the age of four, award-winning writer Edwidge Danticat came to think of her uncle Joseph as her "second father," when she was placed in his care after her parents left Haiti for America. And so she was both elated and saddened when, at twelve, she joined her parents and youngest brothers in New York City. As Edwidge made a life in a new country, adjusting to being far away from so many who she loved, she and her family continued to fear for the safety of those still in Haiti as the political situation deteriorated. In 2004, they entered into a terrifying tale of good people caught up in events beyond their control. Brother I'm Dying is an astonishing true-life epic, told on an intimate scale by one of our finest writers.