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Summary: Thanks to Philip Gourevitch for giving voice to Rwandans
Review: This book was recommended by my daughter's violin teacher. I felt so fortunate to be better informed about what the Rwandan people have been through. My life is forever enriched to know of the bravery, fortitude, compassion, and hope for the future Rwandans exhibited. I can never forget Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager, General Magame who resolutely pursues doing what is right and Dr. Odette Nyiramilima, the physician who adopted 10 children after her miraculous survival of the genecide.There is a resounding message in the book. We can do better. Gourevitch showed clearly that there is much that can be learned when we gain a deeper understanding of how this genocide happened. He also showed clearly the necessity figuring out how to avert genocide by acting before conflict erupts. We'll soon see whether any lessons have been learned as Central Africa continues to struggle with the threat of genocide. Looks like a great opportunity to try some calming techniques such as the simple, mental techniques of TM and yogic flying. It's certainly shown promise in repeated short term studies. Philip Geourevitch has done a great job giving the international community a look at the genocide in Rwanda. He's made it impossible to dismiss it as just someting that happens in Africa.
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Summary: Excellent, Superb , Read IT!
Review: There are no words to describe what a privilege it was to read this book. I think anyone who reads it will afterwards be a different person. I think for the better but certainly with a broadened knowledge of the human experience which he/she will take to the grave. Please if you are reading this review, get the book, and read it. We all have a responsibility to know and I hope learn.
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Summary: Oh, and one more thing
Review: I decided to read the book because I was worried about humanitarian aid in Kosovo going to the KLA. It satisfactorily addressed my questions about the misuse of humanitarian aid. While I'm not comfortable as an ally of the KLA, it doesn't look like the KLA is in the same league as the Hutu Power movement. I forgot to mention that I thought the book jacket was misleading and maybe a little offensive. The book is about a genocide and it's aftermath. The jacket makes it seem like it's about the author's reaction to the event. I think a different picture, perhaps a slightly abstract photograph of the clothed skeletons in the church, from the description that opened the book, would be better.
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Summary: Uplifting!
Review: This book provides answers. This book has a hero in General Kagame. This book has many, many good guys who are willing to risk their lives and make sacrifices for what is true and good. Because of these elements, this book is finally hopeful. Regarding Rwanda, I had absorbed the racist mentality of the rest of the western world, neatly summarized by Francois Mitterand when he said "In Africa, genocide is not such a big thing". For me it's a great relief to find that statement untrue.
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Summary: I join the majority, this type of book is too good to ignore
Review: Before I bought the book, I read some of the reviews - and bought this at a book store just in case I didn't want it after all. Now, I am sure glad that I bought it - I finished this 350page hardcover book in 2 days (one weekend). While after reading this book, I can see the point of view of the negaitve reviewers (their critisms bring very good points too...), THIS BOOK IS A READING REQUIREMENT. To read a book like this reminds us that non-white genocides of all types take place all over the world today. Our world goverments do not follow the lesson that 6 million jews showed us - regardless of a purported ethinic or societal "role play", a race of people do not deserve extermination or mass death. We must do what it takes to support racially integrated peaceful goverments - not goverment integration of racist supremacists. Why did we not save lives when we could have or try to compensate the victomized (sound familiar?). Despite the book's flaws and graphic content, I feel sympathy with peoples I would not know in a 5 minute newsbroadcast - both Hutu and Tutsi. The author has a lot of courage to bring this book to us Westerners. I am glad this book has received the recognition it deserves (winner of the national book critics circle award).
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Summary: Reality? Check!
Review: Have you ever been punched so hard that you forgot who and where you were? The tales Gourevitch brings back from Rawanda will do you just so. I don't know where they'll hit you but they'll hit you so hard that you may never be the same if you choose to read the accounts of the Rawandan massacre...
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Summary: Highly recommend.
Review: I was transfixed by this book. Paul Gourevitch has made this complex and outrageous conflict understandable. It is also nice to read a journalist with the moral backbone to actually be outraged at human and political behavior. I have considered working in the international relief field, but have been ambivelent about the organizations and their motives. This has shed light on much of the blindness and inappropriateness of these organizations which I suspected. Wish he could do another on the Balkans. Couldn't put this book down, and I'm not much of a non-fiction reader.
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Summary: It started strong, but it got a little boring at the end.
Review: I thought the first part of this book was so exciting that I couldn't put it down, but part two seemed a little boring. I liked part one because it talked about some of the events that happened during the Rwandan genocide. Gourevitch also interviewed various people who were in Rwanda during the genocide and put excerpts from those interviews into the reading. I liked this because it informed me of things that happened in 1994 that I didn't know about until I read this book. I didn't like the second part because the events it described didn't seem as interesting to me. I read this book to learn about the fighting and killing in Rwanda, and explaining the conditions that the relief camps were in didn't seem to fit into what I was hoping for. The end of part two, though, started getting more interesting because the ex-FAR and interhamwe started to fight the RPA again. All in all, I felt that this was a pretty good book. I would definitely recommend it to a friend.
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Summary: A fascinating view into the collective madness of a nation
Review: A captivating book about the genocides in Rwanda in 1994 and its aftermath. The book was extremely well written with the author's obvious empathy for the people. He was able to look inside the psyche of both the victims and the perpetrators in a situation that can only be described as anarchy. Basically, an entire country went crazy, a psychosis built on a solid foundation of Western influences and prejudices. It really brings home a lot of issues about foreign policy on the world stage and the european/american apathy towards Africa in general. A tremendous read.
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Summary: eye opener
Review: Like his excellent articles in the New Yorker magazine, Gourevitch is able to render a kind of "Great Lakes Region for Dummies" and help one understand an extremely complex situation in clear, interesting and non-academic language. No pretence is made of being un-biased and Gourevitch's anger is clear. Very powerful and highly recommended!
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