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A review by catstead
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After by Clemantine Wamariya
This book has been on my Book Depository wishlist for so long! Way before it was launched, so when I saw it up on Netgalley for review I was so excited to get in there and read it. I read 100 pages in the first sitting. I really wanted to read a book that was deep and personal and I definitely found it in The Girl Who Smiled With Beads.
The book starts us off in 2006, the night before Clemantine was going to be on the Oprah show. Already, the passion and the emotion came through in each and every one of these words with purpose. I felt myself immersed and felt so connected to everything that was happening to Clemantine and her sister Claire. We find out that Clemantine had come to America as a refugee when she was 13 and was originally from Rwanda. I didn’t know much about the war in Rwanda and that is had dispossessed so many people, to be fair I was only 5 at the time, the sad thing is. So was Clemantine.
The story beautifully transitions from a future year, back to a past year in a way that you know that Clemantine is differentiating from her life in Chicago (America) and her life in Rwanda and the refugee camps scattered across North and South Africa. The way that Clemantine describes her childhood and her life before the war is captivating, as is her strength and wisdom (much beyond her years). The way in which she writes is breathtaking and I loved looking at life through her eyes, whether it was brutality, happiness or confusion. The incorporation of the Rwandon language, Kinyarwanda was a touch that was not expected at all, and I appreciate that Clemantine shared that part of her culture and life with me as a reader.
This story depicts a wonderful yet tragic story about a young girl who loses a lot and fights to keep her place in the world. I gained so much insight into the world of refugees and how important their stories are. The recounts of her experiences seeing dead bodies, war, famine, disease and despair are eye-opening and heartbreaking. I had never known anything about the genocide in Rwanda and it was a haunting experience reading about her life, a read that I really am grateful for.
The book starts us off in 2006, the night before Clemantine was going to be on the Oprah show. Already, the passion and the emotion came through in each and every one of these words with purpose. I felt myself immersed and felt so connected to everything that was happening to Clemantine and her sister Claire. We find out that Clemantine had come to America as a refugee when she was 13 and was originally from Rwanda. I didn’t know much about the war in Rwanda and that is had dispossessed so many people, to be fair I was only 5 at the time, the sad thing is. So was Clemantine.
The story beautifully transitions from a future year, back to a past year in a way that you know that Clemantine is differentiating from her life in Chicago (America) and her life in Rwanda and the refugee camps scattered across North and South Africa. The way that Clemantine describes her childhood and her life before the war is captivating, as is her strength and wisdom (much beyond her years). The way in which she writes is breathtaking and I loved looking at life through her eyes, whether it was brutality, happiness or confusion. The incorporation of the Rwandon language, Kinyarwanda was a touch that was not expected at all, and I appreciate that Clemantine shared that part of her culture and life with me as a reader.
This story depicts a wonderful yet tragic story about a young girl who loses a lot and fights to keep her place in the world. I gained so much insight into the world of refugees and how important their stories are. The recounts of her experiences seeing dead bodies, war, famine, disease and despair are eye-opening and heartbreaking. I had never known anything about the genocide in Rwanda and it was a haunting experience reading about her life, a read that I really am grateful for.