Last month, we discussed the life and "ordeal" of Elizabeth Marsh and what her experience revealed about the expanding world of the late 1700s; this month, we will consider the life of two late 20th century Haitian immigrants and their family and what their experience can tell us about our world today with the memoir Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat.Danticat tells the story of her father, Mira, who immigrated with his wife to America, and her uncle, Joseph, who remained in Haiti until political unrest caused him to seek asylum in the United States. Danticat lived the first twelve years of her life with her uncle and then joined her father, mother, and siblings in America, so she sees both of these men as fathers. Unfortunately, she lost both of them in one year, Mira to pulmonary fibrosis and Joseph to ill health that was aggravated by improper treatment by American immigration authorities, the same year she became pregnant with her own daughter.
In an interview with Democracy Now, Danticat said that in Brother, I'm Dying she wants to present "a picture of my uncle, of what he meant to us, but also to link his cause to the greater cause of mistreatment and lack of medical care of immigrants in detention." Lyrical, clear, and restrained, Danticat's story gives us a picture of both global issues and personal grief. An interviewer for the Philadelphia Inquirer said of this book, "If Brother, I'm Dying does not break your heart, you don't have one." We hope you will join our discussion, Tuesday, August 4, at 7:00 p.m. at Main Library, Thursday, August 20, at 11:00 a.m. at the West Ashley Branch Library, or here on the blog.
