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  "We Wish to Inform You" and "A Thousand Sisters"

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  I just read a riveting, unnerving Powell's Bookstore review of two books: "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda" by Philip Gourevitch and "A Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman" by Lisa Shannon.

  http://www.powells.com/blog/?p=18316?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=facebook_fans&utm_content=Guest%20Blog%20April22

  Has anyone read either of these books?

  tapbirds started this discussion 3 years ago (edited). ( reply | permalink )

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  Regina L 

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  I have not heard of them. Sounds interesting though.

  posted 3 years ago. ( permalink )

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    tapbirds 

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    I have "A Thousand Sisters" sitting in my TBR pile - - unfortunately it is behind "American Lion," and nothing is going to get in the way of that read!! :)

    posted 3 years ago. ( permalink )

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    Regina L 

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    LOL You get the prize for the most anxious CROAH member (behind me of course)

    posted 3 years ago. ( permalink )

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  entwined 

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  I read "We Wish to Inform you..." years ago. I remember it to be fairly objective that gave the historical framework for the genocide, but it was a very painful read.

  posted 3 years ago. ( permalink )

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  apokalypsis 

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  I have read "We Wish to Inform You" -- I thought it was brilliant. If you like staring into the face of evil, it's definitely worth a read. The author is Jewish, and I remember him drawing some interesting comparisons to the Holocaust of WWII -- specifically around how much more work it is till kill people with machetes -- in pursuit of the idea that the Rwanda massacres were not just acts of temporary madness.

  I would have to revisit the book and recent events, but I am not sure Gourevitch's assessment of Laurent Kabila has stood the test of time. That said, I don't think it diminishes the book by much. Sadly, the war that started in Rwanda has continued to rage through other countries of central Africa, and continues in the Congo.

  If you are interested in books about genocide, I would also highly recommend S.: A Novel about the Balkans by Slavenka Drakulic. Drakulic is a journalist who based her character (a mixed-ethnicity woman who ends up in a Serbian prison camp) on many interviews with survivors.

  posted 3 years ago. ( permalink )

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