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A Wedding in Haiti
In a story that travels beyond borders and between families, acclaimed Dominican novelist and poet Julia Alvarez reflects on the joys and burdens of love—for her parents, for her husband, and for a young Haitian boy known as Piti. In this intimate true account of a promise kept, Alvarez takes us on a journey into experiences that challenge our way of thinking about history and how it can be reimagined when people from two countries—traditional enemies and strangers—become friends.
208 pages, Paperback
First published April 24, 2012
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About the author
Julia Alvarez
90 books4,082 followersJulia Alvarez left the Dominican Republic for the United States in 1960 at the age of ten. She is the author of six novels, three books of nonfiction, three collections of poetry, and eleven books for children and young adults. She has taught and mentored writers in schools and communities across America and, until her retirement in 2016, was a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College. Her work has garnered wide recognition, including a Latina Leader Award in Literature from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature, the Woman of the Year by Latina magazine, and inclusion in the New York Public Library’s program “The Hand of the Poet: Original Manuscripts by 100 Masters, from John Donne to Julia Alvarez.” In the Time of the Butterflies, with over one million copies in print, was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts for its national Big Read program, and in 2013 President Obama awarded Alvarez the National Medal of Arts in recognition of her extraordinary storytelling.
Photo copyright by Brandon Cruz González
EL VOCERO DE PUERTO RICO
Photo copyright by Brandon Cruz González
EL VOCERO DE PUERTO RICO
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 237 reviews
June 10, 2012
I think that Julia Alvarez was deceiving herself if she thought that her relationship with Piti and his family was one of friendship. For one thing, a real friendship requires some degree of commonality. There was absolutely none between Alvarez and Piti. A friendship also requires equality. She and this Haitian family can't possibly be equals for an entire boatload of reasons. I see her as a Lady Bountiful who wants to be honorable toward her employee, but there is this unbridgeable chasm of history,culture,experience and income between them. The history is the terrible history of Dominicans and Haitians. A people who wants to exploit another one has to tell themselves that they are inferior. Alvarez does her best to overcome the way Dominicans think about Haitians. She is well-intentioned, but she didn't come as far as she thinks she did.
I also disliked the fact that Alvarez over-dramatized. She writes that her second trip to Haiti was rough before describing what happened. I imagined all sorts of calamities, but the worst that happened to her is that she was inconvenienced. She evidently saw some terrible things which she never fully describes, but nothing tragic happened to her. She only saw the aftermath of Haiti's tragedy. I suppose she's a sensitive soul, so she couldn't bear to see such things. But it was really terrible for Haitians to experience them.
I also disliked the fact that Alvarez over-dramatized. She writes that her second trip to Haiti was rough before describing what happened. I imagined all sorts of calamities, but the worst that happened to her is that she was inconvenienced. She evidently saw some terrible things which she never fully describes, but nothing tragic happened to her. She only saw the aftermath of Haiti's tragedy. I suppose she's a sensitive soul, so she couldn't bear to see such things. But it was really terrible for Haitians to experience them.
July 4, 2012
3.5 stars
The title's a little misleading. I thought the part about Haiti after the earthquake was more interesting than the events surrounding the wedding.
December 30, 2012
I'm a fan of Alvarez's fiction, but was disappointed by this tedious travelogue/memoir. It is centered around two trips taken because of a man, Piti, who works on the coffee plantation that Alvarez and her husband own, yet we barely get to know this man. Apparently Alvarez and her husband are his godparents--a fact casually tossed into the narrative partway through the story about the wedding. Well, we know precious little about this beloved employee. Instead Alvarez fixates on narrating the details of every pothole, lump of rubble, and bemusing sign she sees on the road from the Dominican Republic to a remote Haitian town. Then a second trip is taken into Haiti to view what has happened to the country after the earthquake. Alvarez occasionally offers a kernel of true insight and wisdom, but these are few and far between her accounting of all the road's treacheries.
I kept reading, thinking that the point of the story must be revealing itself soon. Thinking that surely she would share with us more of the fascinating details of what it's like to live on a coffee plantation, what it's like to be neighbors with a country you barely know, what it is about Piti that is so endearing to her and her husband. But no. Just more and more details about the shitty road conditions and situations that make her feel uncomfortable.
The book felt hastily tossed together. It seems to me like she thought she had to write about the experience of traveling into Haiti, despite not having much to say about the matter other than the physical details of the trip. Like she felt the world should know more about Haiti and she set out to educate us, despite admitting at the beginning of the book that she doesn't know much about Haiti either. I came away with no greater knowledge or insight into the country and its people than I had before I started reading it. All the book seemed to do was reaffirm, repeatedly, "It's really hard to travel, or do anything at all, in Haiti, gosh!"
If you are new to Alvarez's work, do yourself a favor and skip this one. Instead go for one of her fine novels, which do a much better job of painting an intimate portrait of the DR--a country she does know intimately and which is always masterfully rendered in her hands.
I kept reading, thinking that the point of the story must be revealing itself soon. Thinking that surely she would share with us more of the fascinating details of what it's like to live on a coffee plantation, what it's like to be neighbors with a country you barely know, what it is about Piti that is so endearing to her and her husband. But no. Just more and more details about the shitty road conditions and situations that make her feel uncomfortable.
The book felt hastily tossed together. It seems to me like she thought she had to write about the experience of traveling into Haiti, despite not having much to say about the matter other than the physical details of the trip. Like she felt the world should know more about Haiti and she set out to educate us, despite admitting at the beginning of the book that she doesn't know much about Haiti either. I came away with no greater knowledge or insight into the country and its people than I had before I started reading it. All the book seemed to do was reaffirm, repeatedly, "It's really hard to travel, or do anything at all, in Haiti, gosh!"
If you are new to Alvarez's work, do yourself a favor and skip this one. Instead go for one of her fine novels, which do a much better job of painting an intimate portrait of the DR--a country she does know intimately and which is always masterfully rendered in her hands.
May 13, 2012
On the surface, this is a simple book--Julia and Bill travel to Haiti for Piti's wedding. But it's much more than that; it's a portrait of a complex country most of us will never visit. It's told without hyperbole but in honest language and stories, providing depth and complexities that can't be captured in 60 seconds on the evening news.
The book is divided into two sections--the trip for Piti's wedding and the return to Haiti six months after the earthquake in 2010.
This one gets a five for Alvarez's writing alone. I was disappointed in the production quality of the book. The photos scattered throughout were muddy and too small. Especially with a book with a smaller trim size, the photos should have been placed in their own signature on better quality paper. The toothy paper used for the text was a poor choice for photos--especially small ones. I get wanting to place them alongside the story they are supposed to illustrate, but honestly, A Wedding in Haiti would have been better off without them given the quality.
Still, I suppose most people read a book for the author and the story. I suspect it's just a few freaks like me who work in the industry and notice things like this.....
The book is divided into two sections--the trip for Piti's wedding and the return to Haiti six months after the earthquake in 2010.
This one gets a five for Alvarez's writing alone. I was disappointed in the production quality of the book. The photos scattered throughout were muddy and too small. Especially with a book with a smaller trim size, the photos should have been placed in their own signature on better quality paper. The toothy paper used for the text was a poor choice for photos--especially small ones. I get wanting to place them alongside the story they are supposed to illustrate, but honestly, A Wedding in Haiti would have been better off without them given the quality.
Still, I suppose most people read a book for the author and the story. I suspect it's just a few freaks like me who work in the industry and notice things like this.....
October 28, 2012
Overall, it was a good book. I definitely would not have read this book if I previously had known how it was written. Up until the final night's reading, I thought this book was cleverly written. Perhaps it was simply too much for me to read so much in one sitting, yet the book itself was not as good as I had thought it was. Personally, I would not recommend this book to anyone. However, if my friend suddenly began reading it, I would encourage them to continue. I had mixed feelings about this book because it was very eye-opening, yet it was eye-opening at the pace of a snail. The author captures my attention up until the last 100 pages where she begins to subtly describe more and more of her relationship with her husband. I was intrigued in this book for the views on Haitian life pre and post Earthquake, yet I did not care in the slightest bit about her husband's attitude towards her and how at times she felt that he was harsh. This book had some very clever quotations which will probably stick with me for a while, the most memorable of which is "God's pencil has no eraser" (280). I was not captivated well enough today, yet I am not completely disappointed which this book. I congratulate Julia Alvarez on creating a truly eye-opening inspiration tale which is a true story.
July 21, 2012
• This was a quick enjoyable read.
• While this was an ok read for me, I did think the author wrote with honesty and a caring heart.
• Not many surprises for me as I know much about the history about each of the countries and the history between the countries – and have often gone off the beaten paths on the various islands. But it is an informative book for those who often do not see this side of Haiti.
• This travelogue us-moir as the author calls – says it is not a me-moir as also about three marriages – the author and her husband, Piti (the Haitian man) and Eseline, and her parents’ marriage. Both of her parents have Alzheimer’s - each in a different stage.
• As border crossing in the US is a big topic – it is interesting to read about the process/procedures of the border crossings between Haiti & DR.
• The relationship between the author/husband and Piti/his family grew from a casual remark made by the author when first meeting Piti – that she would attend his wedding when he married. Never expecting to be called on this statement.
• The author has an engaging easy style that draws the reader into the story – and allows us to think a little bit about humanity, spirit, hope, and what loving someone means.
• While this was an ok read for me, I did think the author wrote with honesty and a caring heart.
• Not many surprises for me as I know much about the history about each of the countries and the history between the countries – and have often gone off the beaten paths on the various islands. But it is an informative book for those who often do not see this side of Haiti.
• This travelogue us-moir as the author calls – says it is not a me-moir as also about three marriages – the author and her husband, Piti (the Haitian man) and Eseline, and her parents’ marriage. Both of her parents have Alzheimer’s - each in a different stage.
• As border crossing in the US is a big topic – it is interesting to read about the process/procedures of the border crossings between Haiti & DR.
• The relationship between the author/husband and Piti/his family grew from a casual remark made by the author when first meeting Piti – that she would attend his wedding when he married. Never expecting to be called on this statement.
• The author has an engaging easy style that draws the reader into the story – and allows us to think a little bit about humanity, spirit, hope, and what loving someone means.
November 5, 2012
A Wedding in Haiti by Julia Alvarez was a sweet chronicle that provided an intimate, personal view of life in Haiti, beyond the images of its poverty that is often focused on in the media. Detailing the various events along the journey of the author and her companions, I was taken along with them to relive with them every little experience that comes from real life traveling in Haiti, further colored by the many photos of what Alvarez described. It introduced and immersed me into the lives of various characters of Haiti, from an ordinary farmer to a hotel manager, from the author's many friends she makes in Haiti to friendly strangers who recount their stories of the earthquake in 2010. Alvarez's narrative,mostly at a good pace, did a marvelous job of telling of her adventures in Haiti (and her native Dominican Republic) while giving her stories a definite sense of living human nature and awareness of the people and places she encountered. For a realistic yet lively depiction of Haiti, Alvarez's book is definitely worth a shot.
November 8, 2013
A Wedding In Haiti was an eye-opening cultural journey into the Dominican Republic and Haiti to attend a friend's wedding, during Haiti's recovery from a devastating earthquake. The author shares the cultural differences with the reader in such detail that you almost feel you are there. Fortunately, I was not, because I would not have been nearly as brave and hardy as the author. The black-and-white photos were a great help to the North Carolina, USA, native. I would never have been able to imagine just how different the lives of the families in Haiti are so very different from my own. A couple of lines from the book: "When we have seen a thing, we have an obligation. To see and to allow ourselves to be transformed by what we have seen."
As I neared the end of the book, I slowed down to delay the end. I'm never ready for a good book to end!
As I neared the end of the book, I slowed down to delay the end. I'm never ready for a good book to end!
August 22, 2012
This book never really gelled for me. I felt like Alvarez was trying to connect all these various threads of ideas about her aging parents, the troubles of Haiti, the hardship for the people there and traveling in a third world country but the narrative just came off as trying too hard. Also none of her characters (which are real-life people) felt like fully developed people with personalities to me. The whole experience was like reading someone's stream-of-consciousness travel journal. Perhaps that is what she was going for, but it just didn't appeal to me.
March 31, 2013
Lately Haiti has been calling on my life. I suppose that is why I plucked this off the shelf. It's time had come.
Again, my rating of the book has a personal vector, and if I had no connections to Haiti, perhaps this would rate 4 Stars. Which would be a shame, since Julia Alvarez is such a watchful guide through two journeys from the coffee plantation/literacy center she and her husband maintain in the Dominican Republic while living in Vermont. Crossing from the DR to Haiti has usually been a trail for centuries. The history is unpleasant and the United States has more than once performed shamefully in its relations with both countries. Haiti has come off the worst for its history; it is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world.
Julia and company make their first journey before the earthquake, to, as the title says, a wedding. The second trip, six months after the disaster, was made largely to return a homesick bride to her family for a visit, as well as to renew visas, bring a suitor to ask for the hand of his love, and to see how friends had fared during this latest, gravest crises on the west of Hispaniola.
Alvarez delivers a touching, insightful portrait of two countries, a dozen people, herself and her marriage, an adventure through bureaucracy, treacherous roads, flooded rivers, unremitting poverty seasoned with hope and determination and the kindness of strangers. We are left with thankfulness for our blessings as well as knowledge of how tenuousness our blessings are.
Highly Recommended.
Again, my rating of the book has a personal vector, and if I had no connections to Haiti, perhaps this would rate 4 Stars. Which would be a shame, since Julia Alvarez is such a watchful guide through two journeys from the coffee plantation/literacy center she and her husband maintain in the Dominican Republic while living in Vermont. Crossing from the DR to Haiti has usually been a trail for centuries. The history is unpleasant and the United States has more than once performed shamefully in its relations with both countries. Haiti has come off the worst for its history; it is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world.
Julia and company make their first journey before the earthquake, to, as the title says, a wedding. The second trip, six months after the disaster, was made largely to return a homesick bride to her family for a visit, as well as to renew visas, bring a suitor to ask for the hand of his love, and to see how friends had fared during this latest, gravest crises on the west of Hispaniola.
Alvarez delivers a touching, insightful portrait of two countries, a dozen people, herself and her marriage, an adventure through bureaucracy, treacherous roads, flooded rivers, unremitting poverty seasoned with hope and determination and the kindness of strangers. We are left with thankfulness for our blessings as well as knowledge of how tenuousness our blessings are.
Highly Recommended.
December 16, 2015
There is something truly magical about randomly discovering a book on a free shelf only to find it deeply resonates with you. This book caught my attention because I already read and enjoyed "In The Time of the Butterflies", and have traveled throughout the Dominican Republic and could personally visualize many of the locations talked about in the book. I can understand where other readers are coming from being disappointed at Julia's relationship with Piti and the fallacy in thinking it's genuine friendship. However, as someone who has made what I consider as genuine friendships from traveling in and meeting people living in developing countries, her experiences and perspective on something as mundane as traveling over the border of the DR and into Haiti to attend a rural wedding for someone she has gotten to know personally resonated with me a lot. She brings up observations on international aid and foreign travelers I've grappled with in my own journeys. There are also many poignant quotes about travel, privilege and life throughout the text.
This is a quick read. I recommend this book to anyone who has tried bridging the disparity between completely different lives and cultures to befriend someone. Particularly, true travelers who have traveled to experience the nitty gritty of a place and meet its people would enjoy this, or it would be a great gift to the college student prepping for a study abroad experience in order to offer some food for thought on how their interactions may impact themselves and the people they encounter abroad.
This is a quick read. I recommend this book to anyone who has tried bridging the disparity between completely different lives and cultures to befriend someone. Particularly, true travelers who have traveled to experience the nitty gritty of a place and meet its people would enjoy this, or it would be a great gift to the college student prepping for a study abroad experience in order to offer some food for thought on how their interactions may impact themselves and the people they encounter abroad.
November 30, 2015
I really enjoyed this book. Alvarez's recount of traveling to norhteastern Haiti from the Dominican Republic with her husband and several Haitians was very affirming of Haitian resiliance and as well as documenting the lack of infrastructure and poverty of the Haitian countryside. The story doesn't focus on this, but rather it is the context of her story of going to the wedding of her Haitian "son", Piti, a young man she and her husband have been close to for many years. I identified with her bewilderment at many of the transactions through her trip - including "bribes" at the border, wondering if this is the family they will be staying with (and who exactly is everyone), what time things will finally happen, etc. In the second half of the book, she, her husband, Piti, his wife and baby, a young American, and two or three others, return to Haiti to bring Piti's wife home for a stay. This is post-earthquake Haiti. They return home via Port-au-Prince. When Alvarez tells a man in Port-au-Prince they are only there to see, he responds - people need to see Haiti.
November 21, 2017
Will long remember Julia's adventures and descriptions. She brought Haiti to life.
The library has this cataloged/shelved in the biography section. Putting in travel might have been my choice. It's one of those that I would have put on the display shelves frequently.
In the library, there is a section of shelving just inside the main entry where new books are displayed, with the front cover facing the potential reader. Too often, the new book display shelves would be stripped of the more popular new books. To fill the gaps, I'd browse the regular shelves looking for the oldies but goodies to fill in the empty spaces ...
The library has this cataloged/shelved in the biography section. Putting in travel might have been my choice. It's one of those that I would have put on the display shelves frequently.
In the library, there is a section of shelving just inside the main entry where new books are displayed, with the front cover facing the potential reader. Too often, the new book display shelves would be stripped of the more popular new books. To fill the gaps, I'd browse the regular shelves looking for the oldies but goodies to fill in the empty spaces ...
July 26, 2012
i found this book poorly written also i began to not care about their adventure.
September 3, 2014
When I'm on vacation in the Caribbean, I always try to pack among my books at least one that is either set in the region or written by somebody who hails from there--preferably both. The first one I read, A Wedding in Haiti by Julia Alvarez, is a fairly straightforward work of non-fiction that moved me to tears twice in the first chapter when I test-drove it at home, so it was a clear choice for my suitcase. I'd read little Alvarez in the past--her first novel and one collection of poetry out of her nineteen published works--and this one is by far my favorite.
Her family was exiled decades ago from the Dominican Republic during the terrors of Trujillo, but in recent years Alvarez and her husband bought a coffee plantation in her homeland as a means of creating sustainable agriculture and jobs in a rural area where it was much needed and could be an example to other enterprises. One day while visiting the plantation, they encounter an underage boy from Haiti named Piti and over the years they become close, prompting Alvarez to promise that she would attend his wedding when the day comes.
Fast forward to 2009, when, back in Vermont, Alvarez gets the urgent call from Piti, simultaneously reminding her of her promise and informing her that he's getting married. In two weeks. In Haiti. At the same time she is scheduled to appear at a literary conference. But as she goes on to say, "Sometimes a conscience is an inconvenient thing to have, and costly. But not to follow it exacts an even greater cost, having to live with the hobbled person you become when you ignore it." Thus, between Piti and their own resources, they contrive to figure out a way to make it happen, including finding an escort who can take them up-country where the wedding will take place.
Despite having grown up in the DR, Alvarez had never crossed the border into Haiti and despite everything she had read about, she and her husband were utterly unprepared for it: the stripped & barren land, the abject poverty, the undercurrent of menace, the feeling of impossibility that anything other than a large-scale international intervention could make a difference (and this was all before the earthquake that further devastated the poorest nation in the western hemisphere). "Truly one of those environmental and social-justice conundrums; what should come first: the eradication of poverty or the forestation of the land that might allow for agriculture so that hunger can be eradicated?"
And yet...and yet...Alvarez is able to see, appreciate, and even convey to the reader the unexpected beauty hidden that somehow isn't tampered down amidst the pockets of despair. The incredible sense of hospitality, the joy and pride the entire community feels for Piti. The rewards of patience. The "investment plan" of sharing what you have now, with the knowledge that the community will take care of you in your own time of need. They successfully cross back into the DR, but only after some hair-raising encounters and bribes for Piti's new-but-undocumented wife and baby to get pack the various checkpoints.
After the earthquake hits, though, Alvarez and her husband are compelled to do the journey again, and this is what makes them an extraordinary couple, putting themselves on the line for coworkers who have become like family. For it is in returning that they learn the true meaning of family, loyalty, and the resilience of the human spirit. I can't recommend this book highly enough--it's a nice companion piece to something like Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains, as it's much more emotionally involved book, and Alvarez is an astute and honest observer of the world she travels through.
Her family was exiled decades ago from the Dominican Republic during the terrors of Trujillo, but in recent years Alvarez and her husband bought a coffee plantation in her homeland as a means of creating sustainable agriculture and jobs in a rural area where it was much needed and could be an example to other enterprises. One day while visiting the plantation, they encounter an underage boy from Haiti named Piti and over the years they become close, prompting Alvarez to promise that she would attend his wedding when the day comes.
Fast forward to 2009, when, back in Vermont, Alvarez gets the urgent call from Piti, simultaneously reminding her of her promise and informing her that he's getting married. In two weeks. In Haiti. At the same time she is scheduled to appear at a literary conference. But as she goes on to say, "Sometimes a conscience is an inconvenient thing to have, and costly. But not to follow it exacts an even greater cost, having to live with the hobbled person you become when you ignore it." Thus, between Piti and their own resources, they contrive to figure out a way to make it happen, including finding an escort who can take them up-country where the wedding will take place.
Despite having grown up in the DR, Alvarez had never crossed the border into Haiti and despite everything she had read about, she and her husband were utterly unprepared for it: the stripped & barren land, the abject poverty, the undercurrent of menace, the feeling of impossibility that anything other than a large-scale international intervention could make a difference (and this was all before the earthquake that further devastated the poorest nation in the western hemisphere). "Truly one of those environmental and social-justice conundrums; what should come first: the eradication of poverty or the forestation of the land that might allow for agriculture so that hunger can be eradicated?"
And yet...and yet...Alvarez is able to see, appreciate, and even convey to the reader the unexpected beauty hidden that somehow isn't tampered down amidst the pockets of despair. The incredible sense of hospitality, the joy and pride the entire community feels for Piti. The rewards of patience. The "investment plan" of sharing what you have now, with the knowledge that the community will take care of you in your own time of need. They successfully cross back into the DR, but only after some hair-raising encounters and bribes for Piti's new-but-undocumented wife and baby to get pack the various checkpoints.
After the earthquake hits, though, Alvarez and her husband are compelled to do the journey again, and this is what makes them an extraordinary couple, putting themselves on the line for coworkers who have become like family. For it is in returning that they learn the true meaning of family, loyalty, and the resilience of the human spirit. I can't recommend this book highly enough--it's a nice companion piece to something like Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains, as it's much more emotionally involved book, and Alvarez is an astute and honest observer of the world she travels through.
April 5, 2016
This was the 2nd time reading this book. With my memory, I had no recollection of the first time. I remembered having checked it out from the library before, but I didn't remember having read it. So, It was as if it was a brand new book.
The story is about Julia Alvarez, whose parents live in Santiago, Dominican Republic, and her husband, who made a friend in Piti, a young man from Haiti, working illegally in the Dominican Republic. When Piti announced he was getting married to a woman in Haiti, Julia and her husband decide to go to the wedding with Piti.
During this first trip to Haiti, we get a feel for the differences between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. We learn a bit about the histories of the 2 countries, the relative wealth in the DR and the relative poverty in Haiti. We learn about the struggles at the border, wherein having a passport or visa to pass made little difference, depending on whether or not the official was susceptible to being bribed.
Throughout the book, I was impressed with Alvarez' ability to connect with people of any kind. She was a rich American (although born in DR), married to a white American, driving a big, fancy vehicle. Yet, she manages to find commonality with almost everybody she meets, from the ladies selling mangos on the street, to the employees in restaurants and hotels, to Piti's relatives. I found myself quite envious of this. Yet, she managed to never let herself be"taken in" by people who just wanted to get to know her, to be able to benefit through her wealth, either through her generosity or through theft.
Rougly the same people made a second trip to Haiti, 6 months after the devastating earthquake that leveled most of Port-au-Prince. During this second trip, Alvarez wonders about whether she should stay with her husband. She ends up he is the man for her, but I enjoyed reading about her thoughts.
I loved this book because I love reading about other cultures, I love reading about people's psychologies (personalities) and I love interesting adventures. it was great.
The story is about Julia Alvarez, whose parents live in Santiago, Dominican Republic, and her husband, who made a friend in Piti, a young man from Haiti, working illegally in the Dominican Republic. When Piti announced he was getting married to a woman in Haiti, Julia and her husband decide to go to the wedding with Piti.
During this first trip to Haiti, we get a feel for the differences between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. We learn a bit about the histories of the 2 countries, the relative wealth in the DR and the relative poverty in Haiti. We learn about the struggles at the border, wherein having a passport or visa to pass made little difference, depending on whether or not the official was susceptible to being bribed.
Throughout the book, I was impressed with Alvarez' ability to connect with people of any kind. She was a rich American (although born in DR), married to a white American, driving a big, fancy vehicle. Yet, she manages to find commonality with almost everybody she meets, from the ladies selling mangos on the street, to the employees in restaurants and hotels, to Piti's relatives. I found myself quite envious of this. Yet, she managed to never let herself be"taken in" by people who just wanted to get to know her, to be able to benefit through her wealth, either through her generosity or through theft.
Rougly the same people made a second trip to Haiti, 6 months after the devastating earthquake that leveled most of Port-au-Prince. During this second trip, Alvarez wonders about whether she should stay with her husband. She ends up he is the man for her, but I enjoyed reading about her thoughts.
I loved this book because I love reading about other cultures, I love reading about people's psychologies (personalities) and I love interesting adventures. it was great.
October 8, 2014
I really enjoyed this book, though I suspect that my reason for liking it is kind of odd. At the end, I found myself more interested in Alvarez's journey for what I learned about her as a 60something educated woman negotiating the relationships that come with later middle age than I was in her description of Haiti. It was good to "see" Haiti and to know more about its troubles and its people and the aftermath of the earthquake, and that will affect choices I make in the future about charities to support. As a literary work, though, the story resonated with me because it's rare to encounter a realistic portrayal of what it's like to be the responsible ones, the ones with the means and connections to make things happen for those who are younger, poorer or weaker--and the limits to that power. I think other reviewers who have noted that the "friendship" in the title doesn't actually convey the relationship that Alvarez and her husband have with Piti are correct--as she says in one place, she and Bill see all the young people traveling with them in their truck more as their "adult kids." In her travels to and from Haiti and the Dominican Republic, back and forth from her parents' home to the parents' homes of those "kids," Alvarez is honest about the awkwardness and tenuous connections that occur with people who can only minimally understand her life. She struggles with being powerful, yet vulnerable in her privileges of age and socioeconomic status. Even her parents--a particularly affecting scene for me was when she tells her mother that she is driving over to Haiti the next day. Her mother, stricken by Alzheimer's and losing her ability to speak, responds with anxiety and concern, and in that I saw another aspect of these stage-of-life relationships. As we age, our parents can't fully understand why we (their adult children) choose to do things, just as the younger generation isn't able to see into our lives from their side.
November 11, 2012
I really enjoyed this book for several reasons. One, it was relatively short and a light read, something I appreciate due to time constraints. Also, through out the book I was exposed to situations which seemed almost strange to me. For example, the hotel that the two main characters show up to towards the beginning of the book. Through the way they described it, the hotel seemed to have been almost hazardous. In the United States such a hotel would surely be shut down due to infringements of several health codes. Also, what struck me as odd, was the fact that despite the Haitian people having so little, they were willing to share any food and space they had with the visitors. The Haitians prepared proper living arrangements for the Americans and greeted them quite graciously. In addition, this book exposed me to problems I was unaware were taking place in Haiti/ Dominican Republic. For example, I did not know that the Dominican Republic was quite racist and brutal towards Haitians. I also liked the fact that there were several components to the book. The first being the author's trip to Piti's wedding, the second Piti and his wife trying to go to the Dominican Republic, and the third being the aftermath of the earthquake. I felt these three parts allowed the reader to feel as if the plot kept evolving whereas if the author only wrote about one part, the story would feel almost "stuck." With that said, I think this book is definitely a good, light read. I only gave it 4 stars because it is just that, a light read, nothing extraordinary. I would recommend reading this book.
July 6, 2013
I have never been much for travelogues but my niece recently went on a medical mission to Haiti and had some incredible experiences. I found the subject interesting, but I did not like Julia Alvarez' writing. I am not sure what it was but her writing evoked no feelings. It did not connect me to the people or events. For a poet, I expected beautiful words that flowed together to create imagery and bring me into the novel, not just on an intellectual level, but emotional, it didn't happen. There were little snippets and phrases that caused me to pause and think, such as when her husband says that they must try to be generous wherever they find themselves, but I was never emotionally invested in the book. Alvarez is well read and I found some of the quotes she used making me hunger for better writing. One was Shakespear in A Midsummer Night's Dream, "two lovely berries molded on one stem, . . . two seeming bodies, but one heart."
I know Alvarez can write beautifully as she did when she wrote, "Haiti is not erased. It is alive in his imagination and in ours. Haiti is what cannot be erased in a human being, not with slavery, not with centuries of exploitation and bad management, invasions, earthquakes, hurricanes, cholera. It embodies those undervalued but increasingly valuable skills we will need to survive on this slowly depleting planet: endurance, how to live with less, how to save by sharing, how to make a pact with hope when you find yourself in hell." The best part of the book.
I know Alvarez can write beautifully as she did when she wrote, "Haiti is not erased. It is alive in his imagination and in ours. Haiti is what cannot be erased in a human being, not with slavery, not with centuries of exploitation and bad management, invasions, earthquakes, hurricanes, cholera. It embodies those undervalued but increasingly valuable skills we will need to survive on this slowly depleting planet: endurance, how to live with less, how to save by sharing, how to make a pact with hope when you find yourself in hell." The best part of the book.
November 5, 2012
"A Wedding in Haiti" is a very long story that continues to unravel even when you think you finished. I found this book very long and although it was interesting it was a hard read. The story was simple and easy to understand but it was almost too simple and predictable that half way into the book I was ready just to give up on reading it. It had two different stories which I was not expecting. The first part of the book was about the author's travel to a wedding for her "son's" wedding. It was Piti's wedding, who she thinks of and treats as her son even though he is not. The title of the book made me think that I was going to be reading about a wedding in Haiti which was true except it was so dragged out and so many unnecessary details were added that you could not tell that was what the main idea of the book was. In the second part of the book it talked about the author and her companions journey to Haiti again almost 6 months after the earthquake. I felt the fact that they added the second part of the book was confusing and I was often bored because I did not know what the book was building up to. It was a hard book to read due to the fact that the plot was hidden by all the details and smaller stories with in the book. Although parts of the book were enjoyable and some parts really made you think about how lucky and blessed you are, other parts seemed redundant and pointless. I would not recommend this book unless you enjoy Haiti's history or nonfiction.
July 12, 2017
Julia Alvarez is one of my favorite writers but at first it seemed as if this wasn't going to be one of my favorites of her books. It seemed a little dry, compared to her usual fare. But before I knew it, I was as sucked in to her travelogue as I have been to her fiction. I was put off when I got halfway through the book and the wedding referred to in the title had already taken place. The second half of the book was about a return journey to Haiti in the aftermath of the terrible Haitian earthquake. This struck me as "false advertising" by the title. But I ended up loving it nonetheless, because Alvarez sprinkled in nuggets of real insight and wisdom, as for example:
"Haiti is what cannot be erased in a human being, not with slavery, not with centuries of exploitation and bad management, invasions, earthquakes, hurricanes, cholera. It embodies those undervalued but increasingly valuable skills we will need to survive on this slowly depleting planet: endurance, how to live with less, how to save by sharing, how to make a pact with hope when you find yourself in hell. The poet Philip Booth once wrote, 'How you get there is where you'll arrive.' How we respond to Haiti is perhaps more critical than we imagine: a preview of where we are likely to end up as a human family."
June 12, 2012
Julia Alvarez and her husband own a coffee farm in the DR. They accompany a young Haitian employee, Piti, newly married and with a new baby with his fiance, to Haiti for his wedding and to p/u said fiance and baby to return to DR. The story of their journey is just as if you were there as well. The journey in the 2nd part of the book is all of them again, taking his fiance to stay with her family in Haiti for a while, a trip already planned before the big earthquake. The trip is taken after the earthquake.
This is a wonderful book. If you want a very accessible, pleasure to read, thought provoking and well told book about Haiti, this is it.
November 23, 2016
Did not actually finish and after a few pages on my Kindle here and there over three years it's time to call it quits. Interesting enough subject matter but doesn't follow a linear narrative or have compelling enough characters to get me over the finish line, which is pretty rare for me and Alvarez is one of my favorite authors
June 14, 2012
Loved it! Fascinating read on many levels - relationships, family, travel,
politics, natural disasters, history, etc. Read it basically over one day as
I could not put it down!
politics, natural disasters, history, etc. Read it basically over one day as
I could not put it down!
May 13, 2022
This book was a pleasure to read. I don't mind that Julia Alvaraz comes from a wealthy family in the Dominican Republic or that she has friends in high places that can smooth over problems with international bureacracy. She had the guts to travel with her husband and other companions, through rural Haiti in a pickup truck. She looked, listened and seemed to enjoy the infectious energy of the country, impoverished as it is. Maybe she couldn't help all of the souls who are suffering in post earthquake Haiti, but she did befriend a select few.
Haiti is a small country; the size of Maryland, but traveling cross country by road takes all day and is not for the faint hearted. The roads are in dismal shape. I have done that and this books brings back some hair-raising memories.
Haiti is a small country; the size of Maryland, but traveling cross country by road takes all day and is not for the faint hearted. The roads are in dismal shape. I have done that and this books brings back some hair-raising memories.
February 4, 2023
It’s about a journey, friendship and resilience, in the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake in 2010.
Read
October 28, 2024A harrowing read - as much for the exposure of Alvarez's privilege and naivete about her travels as for the display of Haitian poverty. Though she's self-aware and a talented memorist, her assumptions and the packaging of the story for her mainstream middle-class USAmerican audience grated on me. I was already familiar with the racist, violent history between the Dominican Republic and Haiti but this is a decent primer for those who aren't, and a useful text for reflection on what ethical individual action should be in the face of national, generational exploitation and poverty. Also, I had shamefully forgotten how bad the 2010 earthquake was.
Alvarez's comparison between caring for her own aging parents (Alzheimer's patients) and rural Haitian village life was stark and thoughtful. And she's reasonably insightful about her own marriage, even though that wasn't particularly of interest to me.
My most lingering question at the end wasn't about Piti and his family - they had the luck to have USAmerican champions, they will endure and even thrive - but about the white college volunteers Eli and Mikaela. 15 years later, did they go into this line of work? How would THEY reflect on such a trip? Breaking the cycle of USA poverty tourism rests on the shoulders on those folks, not Alvarez.
Alvarez's comparison between caring for her own aging parents (Alzheimer's patients) and rural Haitian village life was stark and thoughtful. And she's reasonably insightful about her own marriage, even though that wasn't particularly of interest to me.
My most lingering question at the end wasn't about Piti and his family - they had the luck to have USAmerican champions, they will endure and even thrive - but about the white college volunteers Eli and Mikaela. 15 years later, did they go into this line of work? How would THEY reflect on such a trip? Breaking the cycle of USA poverty tourism rests on the shoulders on those folks, not Alvarez.
June 14, 2012
First, I have to say that I despaired when I saw this book. I've been meaning to write about a Haitian wedding for a long time -- have tried 2 - 3 times -- and always had it in the back of my mind. Never could find a good way "in" to the story, though.
Julia Alvarez uses one of the approaches I'd considered, and she does it really well. I can see, by reading this book, that mine wouldn't have been as good...but then again, maybe the real way in would have come to me.
Who knows?
This is the story of a thoughtful Dominican/American who finds herself grappling with Haiti two different times, once to attend the wedding of a friend and once to visit. The visit, though, was 6 months after the earthquake. The first trip is rife with the oddnesses of Haiti: the assumptions one makes about what there will be, how it will be, how the people will be, what it will look like. None of the assumptions are quite right, and she shows her understanding on every page. Haiti is quite an experience.
Perhaps because the first half of the book was what I had regarded as "my" idea, I liked it better. The second half was probably equally well-written, but my fascination with all things Haitian was a bit less assuaged. Julia Alvarez is a thoughtful, insightful traveling companion.
Julia Alvarez uses one of the approaches I'd considered, and she does it really well. I can see, by reading this book, that mine wouldn't have been as good...but then again, maybe the real way in would have come to me.
Who knows?
This is the story of a thoughtful Dominican/American who finds herself grappling with Haiti two different times, once to attend the wedding of a friend and once to visit. The visit, though, was 6 months after the earthquake. The first trip is rife with the oddnesses of Haiti: the assumptions one makes about what there will be, how it will be, how the people will be, what it will look like. None of the assumptions are quite right, and she shows her understanding on every page. Haiti is quite an experience.
Perhaps because the first half of the book was what I had regarded as "my" idea, I liked it better. The second half was probably equally well-written, but my fascination with all things Haitian was a bit less assuaged. Julia Alvarez is a thoughtful, insightful traveling companion.
September 5, 2014
A lovely story about a promise kept, A Wedding in Haiti tells the story of a friendship Julia Alvarez and her husband have with a very young boy they first meet while he is flying a kite in the Dominican Republic, his name is Piti. Piti is Haitian and he has come to the Dominican Republic, for better opportunities, he soon begins working at the coffee plantation that was established by Julia Alvarez and her husband. Fast forward several years, a letter arrives from the Dominican Republic to the Alvarez family with a wedding invitation from Piti. He is about to be married and he wishes for them to attend his wedding which will be in Haiti.
Adventure abounds with risky border crossings often with undocumented participants,some of the travels take place in Haiti post earthquake. Remarkable that even when families were quite poor they would share their homes with visitors, but I also felt the quiet seething of angry desperation among some of the Haitians when they would come across more affluent people.The reader will feel like they are sitting in the truck making the trip as well. A story exhibiting that Haiti's people have been through devastation for many of her years, but they are most resilient and strong, they ask not to be forgotten.
Adventure abounds with risky border crossings often with undocumented participants,some of the travels take place in Haiti post earthquake. Remarkable that even when families were quite poor they would share their homes with visitors, but I also felt the quiet seething of angry desperation among some of the Haitians when they would come across more affluent people.The reader will feel like they are sitting in the truck making the trip as well. A story exhibiting that Haiti's people have been through devastation for many of her years, but they are most resilient and strong, they ask not to be forgotten.
January 16, 2017
It was definitely not what I was expecting. For some reason, I thought that this was a work of fiction, however, it was actually a non fictional narrative; It's the story of Julia Alvarez going to Haiti to attend the wedding of one of her workers, and returning after the earthquake. It was a pretty easy read, and I finished it in a couple of days..I had it in my amazon wishlist for a few months, and I noticed that this week it was $1.99 for the kindle version, so I snatched it up. Let's just say, I would have been disappointed if I paid $14 for the book..anyhoo, back to the 'review'
Books like these are always problematic, as it explores multiple realities; for example, it explores the D. Republic vs Haiti tensions, class tensions in Haiti, and the interaction of Haitians with blans (i.e, whites, such as Alvarez and her husband). While it may seem like on the surface, the intent is for Alvarez to simply tell her story about 'Piti' (the worker's wedding that she attending), she addresses themes of inequality, poverty, color, colonialism and class. It's really 'light' reading, so she definitely doesn't explore these themes in great detail.
Books like these are always problematic, as it explores multiple realities; for example, it explores the D. Republic vs Haiti tensions, class tensions in Haiti, and the interaction of Haitians with blans (i.e, whites, such as Alvarez and her husband). While it may seem like on the surface, the intent is for Alvarez to simply tell her story about 'Piti' (the worker's wedding that she attending), she addresses themes of inequality, poverty, color, colonialism and class. It's really 'light' reading, so she definitely doesn't explore these themes in great detail.
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