Book 180: "The Farming of Bones" by Edwidge Danticat

An eye-opening story to a small piece of the Haiti and the Dominican Republic. I began reading this book with practically no knowledge of the history of Haiti and the Dominican Republic except for the fact that the DR is wealthy and modern (generally), while Haiti is steeped in poverty.

This is one person's story of escaping the genocide of Haitians in the Dominican Republic. It is her tale of the family she grew up with and served and her harrowing escape just as the genocide commenced. In it, she loses everyone she loves. It is the tale of living in Haiti waiting for news. It is heartbreaking and hard to read.

Edwidge Danticat is a well-known author who often writes about he Haitian experience. She was born in Haiti, moving to the US when she was 12 and she offers a unique literary perspective on a people and country that I feel is largely un-represented in literature. Though this book was hard to read (on an emotional level) I'm really glad I did. I'm glad that I learned this piece of history and culture that I was unaware of before and look forward to reading her other books.