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A review by abitbetterbooks
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After by Clemantine Wamariya
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting but I don’t think this was it. I’ve had the physical book on my shelf for a while but I’m so glad I decided to listen to the audiobook instead. Robin Miles is an absolute masterclass is narration and she gave so much depth and nuance to this already powerful story.
While this book is about the Rwandan genocide, not too much detail is provided about the genocide itself; there are plenty of books I’m sure you can read to learn more about it. Of course the author contextualizes it and what happened, but the majority of the book is about the impact of the conflict on her life and the subsequent journey, through many countries, refugee camps, bus rides, generous families and friends, evil guards and immigration police, and ultimately, her life in America. I appreciated in particular Clemantine’s exploration of her feelings of anger, lack of safety, need for survival, and fears of abandonment, and the deconstruction of the role of “refugee” she was meant to play, both on the Oprah show and other instances of tokenization.
I flagged many moments in this book and I can’t wait to go though and annotate them in my physical copy. Obviously there are many trigger warnings for this book but I highly recommend reading, with caution!
While this book is about the Rwandan genocide, not too much detail is provided about the genocide itself; there are plenty of books I’m sure you can read to learn more about it. Of course the author contextualizes it and what happened, but the majority of the book is about the impact of the conflict on her life and the subsequent journey, through many countries, refugee camps, bus rides, generous families and friends, evil guards and immigration police, and ultimately, her life in America. I appreciated in particular Clemantine’s exploration of her feelings of anger, lack of safety, need for survival, and fears of abandonment, and the deconstruction of the role of “refugee” she was meant to play, both on the Oprah show and other instances of tokenization.
I flagged many moments in this book and I can’t wait to go though and annotate them in my physical copy. Obviously there are many trigger warnings for this book but I highly recommend reading, with caution!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Domestic abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Child abuse, War, Violence, Grief, and Genocide
Moderate: Colonisation, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, and Rape
Minor: Infidelity