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"On January 12, 2010 a massive earthquake laid waste to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, killing hundreds of thousands of people. Within three days, Dr. Paul Farmer arrived in the Haitian capital, along with a team of volunteers, to lend his services to the injured. In this vivid narrative, Farmer describes the incredible suffering--and resilience--that he encountered in Haiti. Having worked in the country for nearly thirty years, he skillfully explores the social issues that made Haiti so vulnerable to the earthquake--the very issues that make it an "unnatural disaster." Complementing his account are stories from other doctors, volunteers, and earthquake survivors. Haiti after the earthquake will both inform and inspire readers to stand with the Haitian people against the profound economic and social injustices that formed the fault line for this disaster"--Provided by publisher.… (more)
User reviews
I very much enjoyed this book. I learned a lot about Haiti, its history, its challenges, and its strengths. I was also interested in Farmer's perspective on the roles of both governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the wake of a natural disaster. Parts of the book were heartbreaking, with vivid descriptions of the suffering that occurred as a direct result of the earthquake and the suffering that continued to reverberate throughout Haiti many months later. Other parts were more academic, providing insight into the challenges of development. Although the audio version of the book was quite well done, I might have preferred to have read some of the denser parts myself, so that I could refer back as needed.
In addition to Farmer's perspectives on Haiti, the book concludes with a number of chapters by others who were in Haiti at the time of the earthquake or who were impacted by it. One of my favorite of these chapters was written by Edwidge Danticat, a truly gifted author who used the poetry of her language to reach my heart as well as my head.
Most people are aware of the earthquake that shook Haiti in early 2010 but only few understand the lasting impact that this disaster had on the country and its people. Farmer does an excellent job summarizing the current state of affairs as well as delving deep into the history of this poor country. Farmer's main focus in this book is the "Building Back Better" goal for Haiti and he goes into great detail on how to achieve this. He also reminds us of the importance of helping the Haitian people to help themselves and strengthening the country from the inside out.
There are several Haitian guest writers who contributed personal essays about their experience and those help to make the whole situation more vivid and less stuffy and academic. I really enjoyed listening to the original voices on the audio book edition.
Overall, it's a long read but you learn a lot and this book will definitely leave a lasting impression.
Dr. Farmer is an amazing person who has been entrusted with many gifts--intelligence, a good education, great jobs, positions of influence and power, energy, language ability, to name a few. I didn't feel like he was bragging about himself in anyway as he told the story of Haiti and his involvement there as a medical doctor with a medical NGO and special envoy for the U.S. government. His viewpoint is socialist and this comes through very clearly.
I would have liked to have heard more stories of how the quake affected the lives of Haitians and less about the political side of things, but I suppose that must be told as well, especially for certain audiences.
To say the book is read by Meryl Streep is a means of selling this audio version. Most of it is read by a male reader, which fits well as the voice of Paul Farmer. Ms. Streep has a minor part and some Haitians read as well. They speak English with an accent and slowly for obvious reasons and that can make one impatient.
I had a lot of interest in the book because my husband will be traveling there in December for his work, but even with that, I had trouble forcing myself to finish listening.
One other minor complaint: the cover of the audiobook says that Meryl Streep reads the book. She reads a few of the essays at the end but not the majority of the book (the portion written by Paul Farmer).
For someone who is interested in foreign policy and the infrastructure of Haiti’s government and the lack of services for their citizens, there is a lot of information here, it’s just not arranged in a manner that held my attention. I feel bad giving this book a low rating because I think that the information itself is so important, but this was just a depressing subject that dragged on and on. I began to dread listening to this book, in part because it seemed to be repetitive, at least until it got into the history of Haiti, which was the part that held my attention because it had a solid framework and direction – a beginning, middle and end. With the rest of the book (the parts that I listened to) it was hard to tell which direction the book was going to go. I really did want to see if there was improvement for the people of Haiti, but I just couldn’t force myself to listen to another nine hours.
Also, the audiobook says that it’s narrated by Meryl Streep, which is very misleading. Most of the book is narrated by a man who has a nice deep voice that is pleasant to listen too, but the billing on the front of the audiobook should reflect that. (I have read elsewhere that Meryl Streep reads an essay near the end of the book.)
If you have an overwhelming interest in Haiti then you might want to listen to this audiobook. The narrator was pleasant to listen to, but the organization of the material left a lot to be desired.
In this book, Paul Farmer - now UN Deputy Special Envoy to Haiti under former president Bill Clinton - details his experiences in the first year after the earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010. The majority of the book, 8 CDs in the audio version, is his point of view, but includes copious quotes from colleagues and friends affected as well. Dr. Farmer's involvement was more on a political level than anything else, so while he does include some stories of individuals affected by the quake, he focuses much of his narrative on "building back better," and the political policies that he believes will affect change in Haiti. I did not find this as personally interesting, nor did I agree entirely with his underlying assumption that the public sector is the best way to provide certain services.
Dr. Farmer's text is read not by Meryl Streep as the packaging would suggest, but Eric Conger, who does a good job of keeping the narration flowing and making it clear when he is quoting someone else. Since this was a full-cast audio, I half expected quotes from other people to be delivered by other voices, but this is not the case. Instead, each essay at the end - written by various people including Edwidge Danticat, Nancy Dorsinville, Timothy T. Schwartz, and Dr. Farmer's wife Didi - are read by the cast. I particularly liked the narration by the Haitian authors themselves: Edwidge Danticat reading her essay made me want to read her fiction. Because these three narrators' renditions were slower, I found it hard to follow entirely on audio and supplemented by reading the book at the same time. But I loved the individuality and nuance it brought to their essays, and loved being able to hear the Haitian Creole phrases and sentences the way they should sound (for the record, it sounds similar to French, but I wouldn't have guessed that from the spelling). While in some ways this book wasn't what I expected, I am glad I read it, and I will pass it on to my aunt who, I think, will appreciate it even more than I did.
The cover of the audiobook highlights Meryl Streep as a reader, but the first 8 CDs of 11
I have now learned,
I will say that I found the short pieces at the end of the set of CDs to be a refreshing change. These pieces were compelling and personal. In fact, if you are interested in Haiti, I’d advise you to skip to the end and listen to the short pieces only.
Paul Farmer, known for starting
At the conclusion of the book lies several stories from individual Haitians. It is nice to hear their patriotism intermixed with their empathetic sufferings of their fellow citizens. Clinton always raved about how resilient the Haitian people are. They will bounce back. This story - these journeys - tell exactly how this bounce-back will occur. For those interested in being more globally minded, this book is worth a read.