Amabella is a Haitian servant for a Spanish family in the Dominican Republic in 1937. She is in love with Sebastien, the sugar cane cutter. She doesn't mind serving Senora Valencia and her husband, an army colonel. Her only ghost is the violent death of her parents, deaths that she watched at a very young age as they were swept away in the Massacre River. But change is on the way. The Generalissimo wants the horrid Haitians out of his country and back across the river from where they came! The persecution begins, and Amabelle tries to escape from the country where she has grown up to return to her roots. But, she loses Sebastien along the way. Is he alive? Will they find each other? Why can't Dominicans and Haitians tolerate one another, their major difference being how they say certain words? Parsley.
In the beginning, there are amazing passages in between the narrative dialogue chapters of precious, private moments between Amabelle and Sebastien. Once the action begins and the Haitians are being slaughtered, those moments go away, and the heart of the book is lost. I wish Danticat had kept those going because they were beautiful, peaceful moments to bring the reader back to this deep character that is Amabelle.
Also, the ending brought everything back together. The last chapter is moving and unpredictable in a sad way. Amabelle's obsession with water comes full circle in the end that leaves the reader feeling as ghost-like and un-whole as Amabelle must have felt since the massacres.
I recommend this book for older audiences who can appreciate the history and the pain. But, the middle can be and should be skipped.
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