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_askthebookbug 's review for:
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After
by Clemantine Wamariya
• r e c o m m e n d a t i o n • #nonfictionnovember
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"It's strange, how you go from being a person who is away from home to a person with no home at all. The place that is supposed to want you has pushed you out. No other place takes you in. You are unwanted, by everyone. You are a refugee." - Clemantine Wamariya.
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I have another recommendation for you. That of a little girl's who is forced to leave her home like thousands of others in order to live. She isn't aware that she will not see her parents for many years to come. She thinks she can come back couple of days later and the fights would have fizzled out. But no War has been that easy and simple. They stretch out for weeks, months and sometimes years. While the girl is too young to know what's going on around her, she is quick to learn that she's now a refugee. The Rwandan genocide is often referred to as the100 days of slaughter during which neighbours killed each other encouraged by the hate instigated by the Hutus. While many fled to safety, lakhs of unfortunate people met their end. Clemantine survived the war to tell her story but many others didn't.
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The most harrowing part of this book was her description of refugee camps filled with naked and malnourished children, of lice that infested their lives and the very lack of decent food and living conditions. Although she made it to America, Clemantine left a part of her behind in those camps and I could see her heart chipping away when she left her home or when she walked for miles causing her toe nails to fall away. It's difficult to come out of such situations unscathed and Clemantine is living proof of that. This genocide that happened in 1994, took close to 800000 lives in a span of just 100 days. In spite of having read many books about mass murders, this fact still shocked me. What makes this memoir different is Clemantine's right to be angry, hate and the ability to not forgive those who committed such a heinous act. When she meets her family years later, she struggles to connect with them.
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Few stories are hard to read and hers is one such incredibly powerful and bold narrative.
.
"It's strange, how you go from being a person who is away from home to a person with no home at all. The place that is supposed to want you has pushed you out. No other place takes you in. You are unwanted, by everyone. You are a refugee." - Clemantine Wamariya.
.
I have another recommendation for you. That of a little girl's who is forced to leave her home like thousands of others in order to live. She isn't aware that she will not see her parents for many years to come. She thinks she can come back couple of days later and the fights would have fizzled out. But no War has been that easy and simple. They stretch out for weeks, months and sometimes years. While the girl is too young to know what's going on around her, she is quick to learn that she's now a refugee. The Rwandan genocide is often referred to as the100 days of slaughter during which neighbours killed each other encouraged by the hate instigated by the Hutus. While many fled to safety, lakhs of unfortunate people met their end. Clemantine survived the war to tell her story but many others didn't.
.
The most harrowing part of this book was her description of refugee camps filled with naked and malnourished children, of lice that infested their lives and the very lack of decent food and living conditions. Although she made it to America, Clemantine left a part of her behind in those camps and I could see her heart chipping away when she left her home or when she walked for miles causing her toe nails to fall away. It's difficult to come out of such situations unscathed and Clemantine is living proof of that. This genocide that happened in 1994, took close to 800000 lives in a span of just 100 days. In spite of having read many books about mass murders, this fact still shocked me. What makes this memoir different is Clemantine's right to be angry, hate and the ability to not forgive those who committed such a heinous act. When she meets her family years later, she struggles to connect with them.
.
Few stories are hard to read and hers is one such incredibly powerful and bold narrative.