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chantelspeaks's review against another edition
5.0
For more reviews, head to my blog Chantel Speaks.
"I've seen enough to know that you can be a human with a mountain of resources and you can be a human with nothing, and you can be a monster either way.”
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After is a memoir about Clemantine and her sister Claire and their survival of the Rwandan genocide, their journey as refugees through Africa and their eventual settlement in the USA. It is a story not just about war itself, but what happens once it's over and how you bring all those pieces of yourself back together.
Clemantine was six years old when she fled Rwanda; Claire was fifteen. The journey the girls faced was not just the physical one, but the emotional one too. They grew up fast, experienced things that in their later lives in the USA are only taught in a history book; dehumanised and disconnected. How do you find your place in a world where you’ve seen things others never will? How do you connect? Clemantine and Claire’s relationship with each other and their family is somewhat difficult at times. Families fracture and families heal, even if they don’t look the same as they did before.
“Two people in pain are magnets, repelling each other. We cannot or will not reach across the space to connect.”
The journey that Clemantine takes from child to young woman is one that I found particularly moving. I honestly would forget early on that some of the things that were happening around her were through the eyes of a child, and that she actually experienced what she was describing as a child. There’s a lot of pain to be sifted through and versions of yourself to be reconciled when you’ve been through traumatic events.
Clemantine’s discussion around the word “genocide” is the thing that will stay with me long after I’ve finished reading The Girl Who Smiled Beads and it is also that subject matter that will get me to re-read in the future. The points Clemantine makes, made me see the Rwandan Genocide, and how we deal with genocide and how we talk about it in a whole different way.
“The word genocide is clinical, overly general, bloodless, and dehumanizing.”
What struck me the most as I was reading was how much I could only empathise with, but never fully understand. That says a lot about the privilege that I have. I thought I had an understanding of war and its aftermath before I read this book, but I can safely say that my understanding of its repercussions is something I need to explore more.
This is a truly powerful book and one that has left me reflective for days. I’m quite certain that my review does little to give this book justice and I plan to re-visit The Girl Who Smiled Beads one day so I can digest it some more.
"I've seen enough to know that you can be a human with a mountain of resources and you can be a human with nothing, and you can be a monster either way.”
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After is a memoir about Clemantine and her sister Claire and their survival of the Rwandan genocide, their journey as refugees through Africa and their eventual settlement in the USA. It is a story not just about war itself, but what happens once it's over and how you bring all those pieces of yourself back together.
Clemantine was six years old when she fled Rwanda; Claire was fifteen. The journey the girls faced was not just the physical one, but the emotional one too. They grew up fast, experienced things that in their later lives in the USA are only taught in a history book; dehumanised and disconnected. How do you find your place in a world where you’ve seen things others never will? How do you connect? Clemantine and Claire’s relationship with each other and their family is somewhat difficult at times. Families fracture and families heal, even if they don’t look the same as they did before.
“Two people in pain are magnets, repelling each other. We cannot or will not reach across the space to connect.”
The journey that Clemantine takes from child to young woman is one that I found particularly moving. I honestly would forget early on that some of the things that were happening around her were through the eyes of a child, and that she actually experienced what she was describing as a child. There’s a lot of pain to be sifted through and versions of yourself to be reconciled when you’ve been through traumatic events.
Clemantine’s discussion around the word “genocide” is the thing that will stay with me long after I’ve finished reading The Girl Who Smiled Beads and it is also that subject matter that will get me to re-read in the future. The points Clemantine makes, made me see the Rwandan Genocide, and how we deal with genocide and how we talk about it in a whole different way.
“The word genocide is clinical, overly general, bloodless, and dehumanizing.”
What struck me the most as I was reading was how much I could only empathise with, but never fully understand. That says a lot about the privilege that I have. I thought I had an understanding of war and its aftermath before I read this book, but I can safely say that my understanding of its repercussions is something I need to explore more.
This is a truly powerful book and one that has left me reflective for days. I’m quite certain that my review does little to give this book justice and I plan to re-visit The Girl Who Smiled Beads one day so I can digest it some more.
happyeverabigail's review against another edition
5.0
I’ll be sitting with this one for a while. This had me in tears for quite a bit but the way the timeline bounces back and forth (very clearly at the chapter headers) the authors really delicately take you along in a way they are not obligated to and I really appreciate that. I would recommend this to anyone even remotely interested, it’s so moving.
sarasmith21's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
abbegeorge's review
4.5
Raw and poignant depiction of the injuries of war to the individual persons, both acute and for many years after!!! An important read, not only for shedding light on the rarely taught Rwandan genocide, but also in the context of today’s genocide.
abaugher's review
5.0
What a heart-breaking and beautifully healing story! Examples of the short- and long-term effects of war and intolerance are given in truthfully harrowing detail by one who fled Rwanda while still a child, and how her life unfolded with that conflict as an intrinsic part of her experience. Stunning, amazing, definitely a lesson for all
courtneyjane's review
5.0
Such a great read, and one that required me to do some personal reflecting.
I found my own ignorance of the Rwandan genocide to be appalling. I knew of it of course but had no idea it was an event that lasted just 100 days but claimed almost a million lives. That to no surprise the racial tensions were started by Belgians, imperialists, who ran at the first sight of the mess they caused.
I can you tell you facts upon facts about the holocaust. I am disturbed thinking of the way the holocaust was taught in school, under the guise of "never again." When in fact it did happened again and just a decade before I was learning about WWII.
It's happening right now in China.
Whiteness should not factor into empathy and education.
Clemantine, I'm sorry you were a victim paraded on our television shows for entertainment. Made to perform when you were confused and lost.
I found my own ignorance of the Rwandan genocide to be appalling. I knew of it of course but had no idea it was an event that lasted just 100 days but claimed almost a million lives. That to no surprise the racial tensions were started by Belgians, imperialists, who ran at the first sight of the mess they caused.
I can you tell you facts upon facts about the holocaust. I am disturbed thinking of the way the holocaust was taught in school, under the guise of "never again." When in fact it did happened again and just a decade before I was learning about WWII.
It's happening right now in China.
Whiteness should not factor into empathy and education.
Clemantine, I'm sorry you were a victim paraded on our television shows for entertainment. Made to perform when you were confused and lost.