A Most Anticipated Book from Oprah’s Book Club, Foreign Policy, Literary Hub, Publishers Weekly, and Traci Thomas on SheReads
“A brilliant, absorbing book, a family story, a tale of power, exile, and calamity, a love letter to Benjamin’s mother that becomes a deep look into the darkness of Haitian history. And it’s also a no-holds-barred autobiography. I couldn’t stop reading.”
—Salman Rushdie, author of Knife
"Unflinching...A poignant critique of America's impact on migrants and the enduring bonds of family."
—Oprah Daily
“Rare is the memoir that allows us a window into the deeply personal fallout of very public, world-historical moments in history. So it is with Benjamin’s Talk to Me.”—Literary Hub
"Talk to Me is a revelation. As unflinching as it is tender, it is the story of a nation and an intimate portrayal of a family. Rich Benjamin meticulously probes into Haiti's vast history while sensitively revealing with the painful secrets that his mother and her sisters carried to America. This is a son's homage to a complex, brilliant woman and a letter of longing to a Haiti that might have been, and could still become."
—Maaza Mengiste, author of The Shadow King, finalist for the Booker Prize
“Talk to Me is a tour-de-force! I was gripped by every page of this meticulously researched and emotionally rich mother-son memoir, which explores how one family is unmade and remade—again and again—by forces both external and internal. Rich Benjamin is a supremely talented writer. You will not be able to put it down!”
—Adrienne Brodeur, author of Little Monsters
“An evocative, wise memoir of a multilayered search for roots.”
—Kirkus, starred review
“This brutal, spellbinding tale is at once a searing domestic drama and an illuminating glimpse at Haiti’s history. Readers will be rapt.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Rich Benjamin contains multitudes. The grandson of a president of Haiti, son of an Ivy League graduate, gifted with a brilliant mother. Now he's written an eloquent, Argos-eyed love letter.”
—Edmund White, author of The Humble Lover
“Talk to Me is a brilliant exploration of the complexities of the parent-child relationship in Ayiti. A deeply moving, disciplined journey that refuses to accept what’s left unsaid.”
—SEJOE, writer and producer of Nou Chaje Ak Pwoblèm
“[Benjamin’s] training as a cultural anthropologist shines through in his extensive research, and he renders history in lush, expressive detail… Ultimately, Benjamin's book succeeds as both a political history of twentieth-century Haiti and a compelling family saga.”
—Booklist