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923 reviews for:
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After
Clemantine Wamariya, Elizabeth Weil
4.25 AVERAGE
923 reviews for:
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After
Clemantine Wamariya, Elizabeth Weil
4.25 AVERAGE
Clementine Wamariya’s ability to open herself to this much vulnerability and share her experiences was unlike any I’ve ever heard. She was unafraid to show her anger and resentment while also admitting how lost she felt. While many of us have never had to live through such a trying set of circumstances, there are various parts of Clementine’s life that I think each of us can relate to in small ways.
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I learned a lot from listening to her experiences she felt participating on boards to try and aid the refugee crisis, and other people’s complete unawareness of how privileged we really are.
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I learned a lot from listening to her experiences she felt participating on boards to try and aid the refugee crisis, and other people’s complete unawareness of how privileged we really are.
This novel was one that I saw and was immediately interested in reading. The plot drew me in immediately and I knew right then and there that this novel would have a huge impact on me.
This is a non-fiction novel that follows a woman who grew up during the Rwandan massacre in 1994. She then was offered asylum alongside her sister and was able to go to the United States to start her life over.
Throughout this novel we go back and forth between Clementine’s days in Rwanda and her days becoming accustomed to her life in the United States.
This novel was raw, heartbreaking and so very inspiring. It was incredibly hard to read about the horrors that Clementine and her sister went through whilst they traveled across Africa. The treatment of refugee’s in the camps was abhorrent and something that you never would wish upon your worst enemy.
Despite the horrors they suffered, Clementine and her sister were able to survive and create a new life for themselves in the United States.
Throughout this novel I was horrified to see the conditions of the life Clementine was living and the things she went through, I just felt so incredibly lucky to have what I have and to be able to live my life without the same fears. It is really eye opening to see how a lot of the world lives and how there are so many things I take for granted.
I truly thought this novel was one that everyone should pick up, and I definitely recommend watching Clementine’s TED talk, especially if you’re unable to read the book itself.
All in all, this book was a very heavy read with a lot of information being told and a lot to take in, but that’s what made it such an influential book in my life. I was thoroughly amazed with the strength seen by the individuals in this book and it was wonderful seeing Clementine go on to do wonderful things so she can continue to work on making the world see the things that we choose to ignore.
This is a non-fiction novel that follows a woman who grew up during the Rwandan massacre in 1994. She then was offered asylum alongside her sister and was able to go to the United States to start her life over.
Throughout this novel we go back and forth between Clementine’s days in Rwanda and her days becoming accustomed to her life in the United States.
This novel was raw, heartbreaking and so very inspiring. It was incredibly hard to read about the horrors that Clementine and her sister went through whilst they traveled across Africa. The treatment of refugee’s in the camps was abhorrent and something that you never would wish upon your worst enemy.
Despite the horrors they suffered, Clementine and her sister were able to survive and create a new life for themselves in the United States.
Throughout this novel I was horrified to see the conditions of the life Clementine was living and the things she went through, I just felt so incredibly lucky to have what I have and to be able to live my life without the same fears. It is really eye opening to see how a lot of the world lives and how there are so many things I take for granted.
I truly thought this novel was one that everyone should pick up, and I definitely recommend watching Clementine’s TED talk, especially if you’re unable to read the book itself.
All in all, this book was a very heavy read with a lot of information being told and a lot to take in, but that’s what made it such an influential book in my life. I was thoroughly amazed with the strength seen by the individuals in this book and it was wonderful seeing Clementine go on to do wonderful things so she can continue to work on making the world see the things that we choose to ignore.
An important and interesting story in need of better development.
Very interesting, disturbing and sad. I was only 13 years old in 1994, and never bothered to learn what really happened in Rwanda and other places in Africa during that time.
Clemantine was six years old in 1994, and her story is impossible. Although hard to listen to at times, I’m glad I did.
Clemantine was six years old in 1994, and her story is impossible. Although hard to listen to at times, I’m glad I did.
This was a great memoir about a girl and her sister who survived the Rwandan War and became a refugee and how that's shaped her life.
Read it.
Read it.
This book is an important read. It is heartbreaking at times, but I learned so much through Clemantine's eyes. I like how she alternated between more recent times and her past as she and her sister struggled to find their way in Africa after leaving Rwanda. The perseverance shown by both Clementine and Claire was amazing. I also appreciated the rawness of the story and that this wasn't a perfect read tied up with a bow. While her story is her own, I know that this book can teach others about the struggles of refugees from war torn countries all over the world. I highly recommend this book to those that are open to listening and learning. I know this book will stick with me for awhile.
Loved hearing the author’s voice at the end of the audio version!
I feel bad giving this a rating of 3. I was captured by the harrowing tale of how the author, her sister and family survived the Rwandan genocide and lives as refugees interspersed with their lives after coming to America. But then the memoir started feeling disjointed after the author was done discussing her childhood. Then it became more about working through her complicated emotions as she goes through life. But I don’t really know what that life is after Yale. The narrative was unclear and choppy the last third of the novel. But this has made me want to read more about what happened in Rwanda and thanks to the memoir, I already know what book to read on that subject.
Narrated by Robin Miles.
The chapters in The Girl Who Smiled Beads alternate between a chapter set in the 90s when Clemantine was a child refugee, and the 2000s when she’s a teenager learning to acclimatise to her new life in America. It’s equal parts hopeful to see Clemantine’s life gets better but also so sad that even when she is living this new life – perhaps even the American Dream – what she went through has lasting affects on her.
The main thing I’ll take from The Girl Who Smiled Beads is that someone’s life doesn’t automatically get better once they have some semblance of stability, especially when they’ve been to dozens of countries when they are so young, looking for safety. Clemantine doesn’t hold back in describing how what she experienced shaped her as a person and continues to affect her. She takes a long time to trust people and open up to them, because she had to learn to put on a tough exterior when she was a child to protect herself and her family. Her relationship with her sister is interesting and fraught as Clemantine often resents her for some of the choices she made when they were refugees, but also knows she did her best and is so thankful that Claire never abandoned her.
After the age of six, Clemantine never gets to be a child. Because her sister Claire needs to work and get money (her resourcefulness and entrepreneurship is to be admired, especially as she founded so many black markets in refugee camps) Clemantine becomes more of a mother to Claire’s children than Claire was. Clemantine was only about nine or ten when she was caring for her baby niece; bathing her, feeding her, keeping her safe. It’s so much to put on a child but you cant hate Claire for it because she had to go from being a normal teenager to sole-caregiver to her kid sister in such a short space of time.
Clemantine must grow up so quickly and it’s incredibly difficult for her to handle all the emotions she’s feeling and the experiences she’s living. It’s not until she’s in America with her “American mom” and life that’s stable, that she can even begin to access what she’s gone through. And even then, she’s angry and scared and jealous and resentful, and so many other emotions that she struggles to put a name to and to express and understand.
The Girl Who Smiled Beads is a tough read as it is an unflinching look at the realities of being a refugee and of having no home or place to belong for over six years. It’s about the trauma Clemantine experienced, the threat of death, sickness and violence, and the people she met over the years in different refugee camps, in different countries. It’s an incredible story, and it’s so sad that it’s one that so many people have lived through, and are still living through in the refugee camps around the world.
The chapters in The Girl Who Smiled Beads alternate between a chapter set in the 90s when Clemantine was a child refugee, and the 2000s when she’s a teenager learning to acclimatise to her new life in America. It’s equal parts hopeful to see Clemantine’s life gets better but also so sad that even when she is living this new life – perhaps even the American Dream – what she went through has lasting affects on her.
The main thing I’ll take from The Girl Who Smiled Beads is that someone’s life doesn’t automatically get better once they have some semblance of stability, especially when they’ve been to dozens of countries when they are so young, looking for safety. Clemantine doesn’t hold back in describing how what she experienced shaped her as a person and continues to affect her. She takes a long time to trust people and open up to them, because she had to learn to put on a tough exterior when she was a child to protect herself and her family. Her relationship with her sister is interesting and fraught as Clemantine often resents her for some of the choices she made when they were refugees, but also knows she did her best and is so thankful that Claire never abandoned her.
After the age of six, Clemantine never gets to be a child. Because her sister Claire needs to work and get money (her resourcefulness and entrepreneurship is to be admired, especially as she founded so many black markets in refugee camps) Clemantine becomes more of a mother to Claire’s children than Claire was. Clemantine was only about nine or ten when she was caring for her baby niece; bathing her, feeding her, keeping her safe. It’s so much to put on a child but you cant hate Claire for it because she had to go from being a normal teenager to sole-caregiver to her kid sister in such a short space of time.
Clemantine must grow up so quickly and it’s incredibly difficult for her to handle all the emotions she’s feeling and the experiences she’s living. It’s not until she’s in America with her “American mom” and life that’s stable, that she can even begin to access what she’s gone through. And even then, she’s angry and scared and jealous and resentful, and so many other emotions that she struggles to put a name to and to express and understand.
The Girl Who Smiled Beads is a tough read as it is an unflinching look at the realities of being a refugee and of having no home or place to belong for over six years. It’s about the trauma Clemantine experienced, the threat of death, sickness and violence, and the people she met over the years in different refugee camps, in different countries. It’s an incredible story, and it’s so sad that it’s one that so many people have lived through, and are still living through in the refugee camps around the world.