Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
Danticat is one of my favorite writers, and I especially love her collection of short stories, Krik? Krak! Breath, Eyes, Memory is her first novel, and I've read this novel before, maybe 20 years ago, but most of it I didn't completely remember. This novel is our schoolwide summer read, so the rest of my family will read it eventually too, and we can talk about it. I like how the author channels the voice of Sophie and how her voice changes throughout the four sections as she ages and matures and moves and discovers herself. The novel is filled with a lot of pain, and the ending is not truly redemptive although it can be perhaps read as hopeful. As with most of Danticat's writing, though, there is a beauty that exists alongside of the pain and violence. This coming year, I will teach Krik? Krak! in Lit and Performance, and there is so much crossover between the two books that hopefully we can revisit some of the summer read themes in discussing those stories as well. And have I mentioned that Danticat is coming to our school to speak?!
Proof byDavid Auburn
In my Directing Course last week at Yale, we sat in on some acting classes, and one class was performing a scene from Proof. I had never heard of it but the scene we watched was good, so I decided to read the whole play. It's very good, very tightly constructed, and even when I get to the end, I was still questioning who was right and who was wrong and wondering what was the truth. The scenes may be too adult to use in my acting classes, but I am tempted because there is a lot of good material there: tension, conflict, pretending. There may be a film adaptation of the play -- I will put it on my watch list and maybe get to it eventually, but maybe not this summer break.
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