Haiti After the Earthquake by Paul Farmer
Audiobook ISBN 9781611744248
14 Hours
Haiti After The Earthquake is filled with information about the problems that have plagued Haiti’s infrastructure for years, and how that plays out tragically after the earthquake. While I do feel like I learned a lot about Haiti’s history, and also got a good sense of the horrific atmosphere in Port-Au-Prince after the earthquake, I only made it through five hours of this fourteen-hour audiobook before I gave up.
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 about not finishing it 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 the best 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.
I received a free copy of this audiobook for review.
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