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sam_bizar_wilcox's review against another edition
5.0
The stories in Igifu are kind of perfect. Mukasonga is often thought of in relief of other Francophone writers, or other Pan-African writers. These are fair comparisons, but I also think Mukasonga has much in common with the twisted, deadpan horror of Kafka; horror and unfounded suffering are brought to light in the presence of war. Mukasonga, unlike Kafka, exposes real, human emotion, and her stories are made all the better for it.
yentagon's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
hades9stages's review against another edition
4.0
“On the TV, and on the radio, they never called it genocide. As if that word were reserved ‘too serious’ for Africa.”
hades9stages's review against another edition
4.0
“On the TV, and on the radio, they never called it genocide. As if that word were reserved ‘too serious’ for Africa.”
hades9stages's review
4.0
“On the TV, and on the radio, they never called it genocide. As if that word were reserved ‘too serious’ for Africa.”
pearloz's review against another edition
4.0
A wonderful collection of short stories--I was most captivated by the first, Igifu, about hunger. The story was told with great power and had a unnerving visceral effect on me. Next was another story related at least tangentially to hunger and survival, the Glorious Cow--learning from their father about raising cattle and how important they are to the community, the cultural status and cache one has when they have cows. Next is a story called Fear which is literally about fear, how fear can be generational, how it can be taught, how it is necessary often for survival. We find this quote which seems to be the thesis of the story:
"'In Nyamata,' my mother used to say, 'you must never forget: we're Inyenzi, we're cockroaches, snakes, vermin. Whenever you meet a soldier or a militiaman or a stranger, remember: he's planning to kill you, and he knows he will, one day or another, him or someone else.'"
The story itself is infused with a gutteral tension that doesn't cease. The story's final moments, where the town have gathered together in a house after an alarm has sounded, signaling coming assailants. The next follows a night of deathly fear and tension, and the final line "They hadn't come this time, but we knew one day they would."
In "The Curse of Beauty" we are introduced to Helena and follow her life at a remove. The pretty girl with a bad (and basically unfounded) reputation who eventually turns to prostitution when she's is left with nothing as an adult.
We see her rise to a office worker, then a living display in a clothes shop, her life is filled with tragedy, and what was mistaken once for tenacity, now feels like a desperate attempt at survival. She was almost lynched at one point by townspeople that didn't like her arrangement with the man that displayed her. She became a prostitute.
The Burundian authorities feared the visits of President Mobutu of Zaire, the Leopard of Kinshasa. They wanted to dazzle him with a grand reception...and a woman to share his bed. Helena is of course chosen. They didn't want to choose a Burundian woman so they had to choose a refugee, a Rwandan. She was tested and prodded by military doctors and eventually rejected by the Leopard. She was taken by the aide-de-camp who said "I never mind taking the president's leftovers."
The tragedy doesn't end there and seems to get worse for Helena, she was dealt so many blows, it's as if she took all the punishment for a country of women. Quite a tragic tale.
Grief, tragedy, the long fingers of the memory of genocide permeate each of the stories here and make for an intense reading experience. Recommended as each of her books are.
"'In Nyamata,' my mother used to say, 'you must never forget: we're Inyenzi, we're cockroaches, snakes, vermin. Whenever you meet a soldier or a militiaman or a stranger, remember: he's planning to kill you, and he knows he will, one day or another, him or someone else.'"
The story itself is infused with a gutteral tension that doesn't cease. The story's final moments, where the town have gathered together in a house after an alarm has sounded, signaling coming assailants. The next follows a night of deathly fear and tension, and the final line "They hadn't come this time, but we knew one day they would."
In "The Curse of Beauty" we are introduced to Helena and follow her life at a remove. The pretty girl with a bad (and basically unfounded) reputation who eventually turns to prostitution when she's is left with nothing as an adult.
We see her rise to a office worker, then a living display in a clothes shop, her life is filled with tragedy, and what was mistaken once for tenacity, now feels like a desperate attempt at survival. She was almost lynched at one point by townspeople that didn't like her arrangement with the man that displayed her. She became a prostitute.
The Burundian authorities feared the visits of President Mobutu of Zaire, the Leopard of Kinshasa. They wanted to dazzle him with a grand reception...and a woman to share his bed. Helena is of course chosen. They didn't want to choose a Burundian woman so they had to choose a refugee, a Rwandan. She was tested and prodded by military doctors and eventually rejected by the Leopard. She was taken by the aide-de-camp who said "I never mind taking the president's leftovers."
The tragedy doesn't end there and seems to get worse for Helena, she was dealt so many blows, it's as if she took all the punishment for a country of women. Quite a tragic tale.
Grief, tragedy, the long fingers of the memory of genocide permeate each of the stories here and make for an intense reading experience. Recommended as each of her books are.
hanntastic's review against another edition
5.0
Global Read 133: Rwanda
These are nearly perfect short stories. Beautiful, interesting, utterly soul destroying. These stories portrayed pain and anger and trauma through lenses I've never seen before. Highly recommend.
These are nearly perfect short stories. Beautiful, interesting, utterly soul destroying. These stories portrayed pain and anger and trauma through lenses I've never seen before. Highly recommend.
nuhafariha's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you to Archipelago and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Indie Bookstore.
We rarely get to see Rwanda in the aftermath of the mass killing of the Tutsi people, the destruction and the rebuilding of the nation. Emotional, memorable and haunting, Scholastique Mukasonga's Igifu is a collection of stories about postwar Rwanda. Struggling to survive in the aftermath of a genocide, Mukasonga's characters are as strong as they are fragile. With courage and bravery, the women do what they must to survive and find beauty in the struggle of being alive.
Now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Indie Bookstore.
We rarely get to see Rwanda in the aftermath of the mass killing of the Tutsi people, the destruction and the rebuilding of the nation. Emotional, memorable and haunting, Scholastique Mukasonga's Igifu is a collection of stories about postwar Rwanda. Struggling to survive in the aftermath of a genocide, Mukasonga's characters are as strong as they are fragile. With courage and bravery, the women do what they must to survive and find beauty in the struggle of being alive.
bigbeardedbookseller's review against another edition
5.0
It’s August so that must mean it’s Women in Translation month.
I’d already lined up quite a lot of novels and novellas for the month I was in the mood for some short story collections and did a shout out on Twitter for some suggestions. Igifu was one of the suggestions that really made me perk up and think I’ve not read any translated works from Rwanda, or sub-Saharan Africa before.
Scholastique Mukasonga builds upon a strong prose to bring to your heart a lost Rwanda through these heartfelt stories, full of family traditions, micro- and macro-politics, colonial impositions, but intertwined in grief and love throughout.
All the stories are brilliant at illuminating aspects of what life was like for Tutsi’s in exile during the genocides and. their aftermaths, and also shows what life was like before to some extent.
The collection is excellent throughout but I personally found ‘The Glorious Cow’ and ‘Grief’ to be the two strongest stories.
In ‘The Glorious Cow’ we hear of how the cows were treated and venerated as life givers and central to the culture of the families described in the story. Prestige and standing were both conferred through these beautiful animals, and the loss when they were slaughtered or had to be left behind when the genocide was ongoing is a different level of bereavement, a cultural loss.
Then there is ‘Grief’, such a strong story to end the collection on. Describing a woman’s discovery that she and her brother who had both left for exile in were the only ones of their family to escape slaughter during the genocide. We are taken through various stages of her personal grief, leading to some horrific discoveries and a knowledge that she has to be the conduit for the voices of the dead.
An emotionally crushing collection of short stories that are a must read, both for the history that’s imparted but also for the strength of Scholastique’s writing.
I’d already lined up quite a lot of novels and novellas for the month I was in the mood for some short story collections and did a shout out on Twitter for some suggestions. Igifu was one of the suggestions that really made me perk up and think I’ve not read any translated works from Rwanda, or sub-Saharan Africa before.
Scholastique Mukasonga builds upon a strong prose to bring to your heart a lost Rwanda through these heartfelt stories, full of family traditions, micro- and macro-politics, colonial impositions, but intertwined in grief and love throughout.
All the stories are brilliant at illuminating aspects of what life was like for Tutsi’s in exile during the genocides and. their aftermaths, and also shows what life was like before to some extent.
The collection is excellent throughout but I personally found ‘The Glorious Cow’ and ‘Grief’ to be the two strongest stories.
In ‘The Glorious Cow’ we hear of how the cows were treated and venerated as life givers and central to the culture of the families described in the story. Prestige and standing were both conferred through these beautiful animals, and the loss when they were slaughtered or had to be left behind when the genocide was ongoing is a different level of bereavement, a cultural loss.
Then there is ‘Grief’, such a strong story to end the collection on. Describing a woman’s discovery that she and her brother who had both left for exile in were the only ones of their family to escape slaughter during the genocide. We are taken through various stages of her personal grief, leading to some horrific discoveries and a knowledge that she has to be the conduit for the voices of the dead.
An emotionally crushing collection of short stories that are a must read, both for the history that’s imparted but also for the strength of Scholastique’s writing.