About this title: Danticat's historical novel is about a bloody episode in the history of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. A New York Times Notable Book for 1998.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little, Brown
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780316848152ISBN:0316848158
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Only lightly used. Book has minimal wear to cover and binding. A few pages may have small creases and minimal underlining. Book selection as BIG as Texas. read more
Description: Good. Minimal damage to cover and binding. Pages show light use. With pride from Motor City. All books guaranteed. Best Service, Best Prices. read more
Description: Very good. Appearance of only slight previous use. Cover and binding show a little wear. All pages are undamaged with potentially only a few, small markings. Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read. Recycle and Reuse! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780140280494ISBN:0140280499
Description: Good. A good reading copy in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dust cover, if available). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels. All items will be shipped by the close of the next business day. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Thorndike Press
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780786217328ISBN:0786217324
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Description: Good. 0786217324 HARDCOVER LARGE PRINT. Ex-library book with usual markings. Clean text. SATISF GNTD + SHIPS W/IN 24 HRS. Ships in a padded envelope with free tracking. 43, 994. read more
"Danticat lays bare the little-known Parsley Massacre of 1937 in the Dominican Republic (where between 20 to 30 thousand Haitians were slaughtered under the orders of the Dominican President) through the eyes of Amabelle, a Haitian servant to Dominican sugar plantation owners.
Danticat has a poet's way with words but her prose is direct - you get the sense that she's gone over her manuscript repeatedly with a fine tooth comb, getting rid of all excess in the writing. The only problem with this is that sometimes the book feels too spare for whats being described within its pages. The story is written in the first person but I found myself constantly waiting for Amabelle's reaction to the hatred and violence around her. Then again, given the events that the book is based on, maybe words are not enough."
"The Haitian workers in the Dominican Republic of this story are socially and linguistically marked. As immigrants, their language is a source of scorn, and their lives and stories have no bearing in the colonial world the Spanish have built. What, then, do they have but their bodies as evidence of their existence? The author provides a markedly physical account of an underrepresented historical event. Her title references the slave-like physical abuse of a marginalized people and the backbreaking work of the industry that em[ploys them. Her account has bodies and body parts strewn throughout, with the dreamscapes and memories being among the most visceral. The story is told through the speech of bodies. The sheer physicality of the text is no surprise, given that we are party only to the perspectivized view of the pre-literate Amabelle, whose history of violence, muting and the disappearance of everyone she holds dear leaves her with no other means of expression. The ultimate irony is that bodies - mutilated or whole -- are ephemeral. However, literature is not, and this is a beautiful memorial."
""Many of us start out as twins in the belly and do away with the other."
As are many of Danticat's novels, The Farming of Bones is both a beautiful and devastating romance and historical fiction account. Though Brother I'm Dying remains by far my favorite of her books, The Farming of Bones probably comes in as a close second. Though it's desperately depressing and has put me off parsley for the time being."
"Just finished re-reading this book and I'm so glad I did. I wouldn't know anything of the 1937 Massacre if I hadn't read this book in college, and I think that is the underlying tragedy of the entire book. The story needs to be told.
I love the imagery and language. The characters are all haunted by their pasts (both before and after "the Cutting") but also seem like ghosts themselves. It is a beautiful reminder that we are all living deaths and we all are carrying around histories and memories that both build us to be ourselves and weigh us down."
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