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Literati Book Club

Brother, I'm Dying

by
Edwidge Danticat

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography
A National Book Award Finalist
A New York Times Notable Book

Brother, I'm Dying is a 2007 memoir by Edwidge Danticat that explores the love and challenges of family separation and immigration.The book is a tribute to Danticat's father and uncle, and their courage in the face of adversity, their love for their family and homeland, and their enduring spirit. The story takes place as Danticat, who is now living in Miami, deals with the death of her father and the birth of her first child, while her uncle and his son flee Haiti to escape the Haitian government and gang violence that has destroyed his church. Danticat's uncle, Joseph, a Baptist minister who cared for her as a child in Haiti, flees the country in 2004 at the age of 81 and seeks political asylum in the U.S.. Danticat's uncle eventually dies while in American custody.

The San Francisco Chronicle says that Danticat's words transform the family's tragedy into a promise of hope, and Blinkist says that the book provides Danticat, her brother, and their children with a strong sense of identity and cultural heritage. Danticat has also said that one of her goals in writing the book was to humanize Haitians and introduce people to the individuals she knows and their complexity and difficulties.

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