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A review by sarah2438
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After by Clemantine Wamariya
5.0
I added this memoir to my TBR 5 years ago, because 5 years ago is when I first heard of the attrocity that Wamariya experienced. I was dismayed that in all my education, I had never heard about what happened in Rwanda. I had to learn about it through a Snapchat story from Vice, if I'm remembering correctly. I can't believe that my school district spent 2 years on Idaho history and didn't even mention this.
Now that I have that rant over with, the actual "review." I use the term review loosely because I have complex feelings on what it means to review a memoir. When someone is telling their own personal story, you can't turn around and say it was good or bad or critique the plot. What I will say, is that Wamariya's writing is incredibly beautiful. Her experiences are heartbreaking, but she incorporates balance in the way she tells her story by alternating the grim days in the refugee camps with her experiences as a refugee in the United States. This contrast just serves to reinforce the hope that is her message.
I'm giving this memoir 5 stars because I genuinely believe that it is beautiful and essential for us to read and learn histories like this that we have not been taught. And if I believed this book to be anything less, I would leave the rating blank.
Now that I have that rant over with, the actual "review." I use the term review loosely because I have complex feelings on what it means to review a memoir. When someone is telling their own personal story, you can't turn around and say it was good or bad or critique the plot. What I will say, is that Wamariya's writing is incredibly beautiful. Her experiences are heartbreaking, but she incorporates balance in the way she tells her story by alternating the grim days in the refugee camps with her experiences as a refugee in the United States. This contrast just serves to reinforce the hope that is her message.
I'm giving this memoir 5 stars because I genuinely believe that it is beautiful and essential for us to read and learn histories like this that we have not been taught. And if I believed this book to be anything less, I would leave the rating blank.