Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness

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Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness

3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 · rating details · 6,713 ratings · 1,236 reviews

Tracy Kidder, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of the bestsellers The Soul of a New Machine, House, and the enduring classic Mountains Beyond Mountains, has been described by the Baltimore Sun as the “master of the non-fiction narrative.” In this new book, Kidder gives us the superb story of a hero for our time. Strength in What Remains is a wonderfully written, ins...more

Hardcover, 304 pages

Published August 25th 2009 by Random House (first published February 29th 2000)

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Aug 16, 2011 Meri rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography-memoir, africa

It's not easy to write an effective genocide memoir. At first, it shocks and moves the reader to see people turn on each other, bodies burned, and children slaughtered. As the bodies start piling up, we start feeling numb and removed from the violence, which seems cartoonish at a certain point.

Tracy Kidder takes a different approach by starting the story in the middle, as Deo is leaving Burundi. We suffer with Deo as he struggles to find his feet as a penniless illegal immigrant in New York wit...more

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May 14, 2010 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, worldsaving

I'm about 4/5 of the way through this book, and I wanted to record my impressions. I love this book. It's heartbreakingly sad but also enheartening and healing, in some inexplicable way. I love Deo, the person whose story this is.

I've felt since the genocide in Rwanda and Burundi that my understanding of and response to this episode was pathetically inadequate. I know that that particular time and place was not special or odd. Things like that can happen anywhere, anytime. A few of the factors...more I'm about 4/5 of the way through this book, and I wanted to record my impressions. I love this book. It's heartbreakingly sad but also enheartening and healing, in some inexplicable way. I love Deo, the person whose story this is.

I've felt since the genocide in Rwanda and Burundi that my understanding of and response to this episode was pathetically inadequate. I know that that particular time and place was not special or odd. Things like that can happen anywhere, anytime. A few of the factors that supported such a sequence of events are ignorance, fear, and the severe poverty and desperation of the populations of those two countries. Poor governance, and scare-mongering by unscrupulous elites so that they could remain in power also played a part. But here's the thing: none of us is completely immune from this scenario. Only a small portion of the populations of the two countries were involved in the militias, in the slaughter of their neighbors. Perhaps 2% or 3%, that is all it takes, apparently.

So my deep puzzlement remains. What is it that causes people to give up the rule of law for anomie? And what happens to reestablish the rule of law and normalcy afterward? It's something we as a species really need to understand well, so that we can protect ourselves and each other, and quickly do whatever is needed to put a stop to conditions like this, to rebuild nomie out of anomie. So I've been pondering and worrying the question in the back of my mind ever since, during these last 16 or 17 years.

Riots sometimes have broken out in the US in various places in my lifetime. There was the civil rights movement in the 50s and 60s, which happened when I was a young child and unaware of what was going on, yet it could have led to a state of armed violence. It might have been another Northern Ireland, an endless series of attacks and counter-attacks with no political solution for decades. I'm so grateful that it didn't come to that, so grateful that we found reason, found something approaching justice. Not complete justice, not a perfect solution, not by a long way, but something far better than we had before.

This book, though, stretches my heart and extends my sympathies to all the people in the world who live in conditions of intolerable poverty. There's no reason at all that everyone born on our planet shouldn't have access to clean water, to adequate nutrition and medical care, means for prevention and treatment of treatable diseases, decent housing, clothing, adequate parental care, and education. Those are the non-negotiable elements that must be put in place very soon, in the next few decades, to avert human extinction. It's the only thing for a caring and decent civilization to do, and it's also wise and in everyone's self-interest. We simply can't afford to throw away all our human capital anymore.

So as heartbreaking as episodes like this are, as painful to examine carefully, it is necessary that we do open our hearts and minds to these situations and the people who become victims of them. It's possible for us to do that. Our hearts can be stretched wide. There's no limit to the compass of the human heart. We can ask ourselves and expect ourselves to care about all 7 billion humans alive today. It's not beyond our capacities in the least, we just have to accept and open our minds and hearts to receive it.

The book is very well-written and allows the reader to become immersed in the story and forget all about her local time and place, even one that contains seven devastatingly cute 5-week-old kittens. The story is a true one. The implications of it are broad. It gives me a whole lot to think about, how the human mind and spirit overcome impossible trauma, how it's possible to bring to pass great good out of horrible evil, how to transform things that are grievous beyond understanding into building blocks for good things in our future. For, make no mistake, that is the task at hand for the human species today. There have been many genocides throughout our history, but sooner or later, one way or the other, there will be a last genocide. Let's make it come true today. (less)

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Jul 30, 2012 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, new-york-city, racism, survival, biography, africa, immigrant-experience, genocide, burundi, rwanda

Kidder is considered the master of non-fictional narrative. He lets his subjects tell their own story, in effect crafting their autobiography. In this case, his subject is Deo, a medical student who survived the bloodbaths of the Burundi and Rwanda and makes it to America only to face a prolonged period of challenges in surviving in Harlem. Yet, with timely help from key people along his way, he gains an education and ends up doing public health work with Paul Farmer's Partners in Health organiz...more

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Mar 07, 2010 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history-current-events-non-fictio, africa, favorites

Fabulous, moving and complex-- it takes you between NYC and Burundi and Rwanda through the life of Deo, who was medical student when the massacres of Tutsis began in Burundi (Oct 1993- about 6 months before the genocide in Rwanda). It is not easy to describe this book, but Tracy Kidder with his usual understated gift manages to allow us to begin to enter the unimaginable world of Deo, in ways that don't ever reduce anything to simple. It is a must read if you care about being human, and maintain...more

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Aug 26, 2010 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

Despite the awkward title (a quote from Wordsworth) this is a great book about good and evil, even better than "Mountains beyond Mountains," although it is in way a sequel to Kidder's essay on Dr. Paul Farmer, the man who single-handedly took on tuberculosis and the World Health Organization.

The tale of Deo, a survivor of tbe Burundi holocaust (a lesser-known adjunct to the Rwanda slaughter), is more accessible as Deo, a medical student refugee, is (at first) less heroic than Dr. Farmer, Deo is...more

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Jan 23, 2012 Suzy rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: you-can-borrow-it-from-me

This not-exactly-a-memoir-memoir went from depressing to more depressing to most depressing. The story is of Deo, a young man who escapes the genocide in Burundi in the 1990's. Through a combination of hard work and good fortune, he ends up graduating from college in the US and working toward a career in medicine. This seemingly uplifting tale was marred by both dry writing and the author's insistence of visiting Deo's troubled past again ... and again ... and again. This could have worked in a...more

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Feb 19, 2011 Marie rated it 4 of 5 stars

It is story of an African refugee, Deo and his struggles, both in America and his native country of Burundi. I was glad I read this following Man's Search for Meaning as it recomfirmed that when man is faced with the most unimaginable atrocities of human creation he still has the ability to choose how he will react. His story showed the best and worst of humanity. Unfortunately his story was all too familiar, whether it is set in Africa, Guatemala or Nazi Germany. Are we fated to keep repeating...more

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May 09, 2013 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, ebook, library

This was an incredible story. It defies my understanding or imagination (thankfully). But - I realize I'm in the minority in this - I found the actual writing to be clunky and lacking flow.

You know how at some point you usually get into a story and it doesn't really feel like reading words anymore, but actually seeing the action play out in your imagination/mind? I had a few times where that happened during this book, but mostly I was very much just reading words - and having to force my way th...more

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Jan 24, 2013 Liz rated it 4 of 5 stars

You can always learn something good in a hard time if you survive it. Likely you will never be the same and within you will lie the old you and the the person you have become. Sometimes at odds with one another but always trying to move upward. With no real formula on how to do so. Just trial and error. We are never complete T any one moment. Deo is to the epitaxy of gratitude when one could easily say he didn't have to be grateful. It's hard to imagine how he has survived all that he has. Survi...more

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Jan 16, 2013 Mike Schwartz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Every so often I’ll finish a book in tears, feeling like all my defenses have been stripped away, completely sensitive to the world around me and my fellow citizens. This happened when I finished Richard Power’s The Time of Our Singing and Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and it also happened when I finished this book. Tracy Kidder is simply amazing. That he would produce such a stunning, emotional tour de force this late in his career is not so much a surprise as is the fact that he’s able to prod...more Every so often I’ll finish a book in tears, feeling like all my defenses have been stripped away, completely sensitive to the world around me and my fellow citizens. This happened when I finished Richard Power’s The Time of Our Singing and Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and it also happened when I finished this book. Tracy Kidder is simply amazing. That he would produce such a stunning, emotional tour de force this late in his career is not so much a surprise as is the fact that he’s able to produce books like this year in and year out. Like John McPhee, Kidder churns out exhaustively researched and beautifully written journalism with himself often part of the story. Kidder found his way into this story after writing his book “Mountains Behind Mountains” about Dr. Paul Farmer and his crusade to eradicate preventable diseases. While researching that book, he stumbled across a young African medical student named Deo, who fled from his native Burundi during the war between the Hutus and the Tsutsis, which spread to his country from neighboring Rwanda. Deo deserved a book of his own and this amazing tale of his courage and survival is the story of his escape from his war-torn homeland, to the hard streets of New York, and on to his current position, helping to build medical clinics in East Africa. From the heartbreaking tale of his escape during that civil war to his scavenging for survival on the streets of New York with no ability to speak English, Deo is nothing if not resilient. Deo’s story of survival, abetted by many wonderfully kind-hearted people, and his will to succeed and ambition to help others, is truly inspiring. The last third of the book reveals the full horror of Deo’s escape and I challenge any reader to read this section without experiencing utter terror and shame. It’s hard to imagine anyone surviving what Deo survived. But the book ends with Deo’s apotheosis: his work with Dr. Paul Farmer, in helping to start up a medical clinic in Burundi. I thank god that people like Deo (and Farmer) exist and you will too after reading this important book(less)

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Oct 19, 2012 Brandie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 4-stars, nonfiction, review-book, read-2009

What a heartbreaking and yet uplifting book. There were parts I didn't want to read, and yet I couldn't look away. Deo's story is a powerful one and Kidder does a remarkable job of showing us - not only his struggles in Burundi, but in his struggles of trying to start a life in America.

I admit, I didn't even know much about Burundi before reading this, let alone the fact that war happened there - Rwanda was all I heard about in the news, and sadly never enough to fully understand what was actual...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Catherine rated it 5 of 5 stars

I bought this book after reading another book from Tracy Kidder, Mountains beyound Mountains (Pullizer Price).

The author uses here the same journalistic techniques and his excellent writing skills for a similar result: a powerful anf moving journey in space and in time where we follow a man struggling in a context of poverty - and this time, the context is an ethnic war in Africa opposing Hutus and Tutsis.

The story starts with the arrival of a young war refugee, Deo, in New York and from there...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Gale Jake rated it 1 of 5 stars

Did not like it. Listened via audio. Story of a man who lived through ethnic civil strife and genocide in his African homeland of Burundi. He immigrated to the US and bootstrapped his way up. He had a great at deal of assistance from others who apparently saw his sharp mind and determination to succeed. He had begun medical school in his homeland and eventually completed his MD in the states, then went on to found clinics in Burundi Africa and assist his country in expanding medical coverage. It...more

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May 02, 2012 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: law-policy-and-justice

The more I think about this book, the more I realize what a great book it was.

The storytelling in the first two-thirds or so was amazing. I love the way the New York narrative was told: the toggling between two continents and two eras was disorienting, in a way that shadowed Deo's own experiences re-living his trauma after fleeing Burundi. Although the last third of the story, when Deo returns to Burundi, doesn't have the same page-turning intensity of Deo's flight from Burundi to Rwanda back to...more

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Mar 14, 2012 Joan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I could not put this book down. Kidder takes the title of this inspiring tale from the words of William Wordsworth. It is an amazing, true story of a young man, Deogratias (or Deo), who is displaced by the genocide and civil war in his country, Barundi. He was a medical student in 1994 when the fighting forced him to flee. He was lucky to have the help of a fellow medical student, who provided him with a plane ticket to NY. He arrived knowing no English (his medical education had been conducted...more I could not put this book down. Kidder takes the title of this inspiring tale from the words of William Wordsworth. It is an amazing, true story of a young man, Deogratias (or Deo), who is displaced by the genocide and civil war in his country, Barundi. He was a medical student in 1994 when the fighting forced him to flee. He was lucky to have the help of a fellow medical student, who provided him with a plane ticket to NY. He arrived knowing no English (his medical education had been conducted in French) with $200 in his pocket and no connections. At first, he lived in abandoned tenement buildings in Harlem or slept in Central Park, eking out a meager living as a grocery delivery boy.
The conflict in Barundi, which is a tiny country just south of Rwanda, was intertwined with the genocide there. Deo is a Tutsi, and Tutsis were being murdered by the thousands by Hutu militiamen. While on the run, before he was able to escape to the United States, Deo witnessed unspeakable suffering and horrible atrocities.
This remarkable book shows Deo’s courage and determination to do something good, to help the impoverished people of his country and his refusal to buy into the ethnic hatreds that had caused so much death and destruction. But without the generous help of some very good people he met in NY, he never would have achieved his dream. He went to Columbia University and eventually founded a public health clinic in his home town in Borundi. He finished medical school in the U.S. and became a U.S. citizen.
Kidder does a good job of telling the story and staying out of the way. He provides enough historical background so that the reader gets a sense of the context of the violence, including the role of the colonial powers in sowing the seeds of the terrible crisis. As horrible as it is to contemplate the mass slaughter that occurred in Rwanda and Borundi, it is also uplifting to read Kidder’s compassionate account of this incredible, bright young man and the good-hearted people who helped him to succeed.
(less)

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Jan 17, 2012 Tomek rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I suppose there are a decent number of memoirs about tragedies. Without looking at what it says about us, more importantly, I want to say this one stands out as a unique style of memoir.

It does give the details of Deogratias's life. But...it travels through this in a tasteful flow, moving from america to Burundi, and back and forth. In this way it's more than a chronological recreation from memory of the past, the way you might expect it to be. In a sense, if I'm not being overdramatic, it is a...more

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Oct 13, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book,and what it represents. I am so grateful to the author and to Deo for letting us in to this part of African history. It is not a light read,and I fear there will always be a part of me that is haunted by this story. The fact that I know so little about these genocides, is no excuse, but it is true . I knew nothing of such death, destruction ,violence ,mistrust. This is unfamiliar territory in most of our worlds ,and my head is spinning with all this tragedy, that has occurred a...more

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Aug 14, 2011 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am always taken by a good memoir- and this one is just that. Deo is a man from Burundi in Africa. He has fled the genocide and civil war between the Hutus and Tutsis. As a medical student, he was in school at the time the violence began and through fear and physical strength as well as his wits he escapes the city and travels to Rwanda, where the fighting is even more intense. While fleeing and traveling he comes upon atrocities that haunt him through out his life. He is also helped by a varie...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Bonita Sim rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was mind blowing. I definitely gained a new perspective of Africa after reading this book. The book explains the tragedy of genocide that spans two countries and how ethnic groups can fight each other and kill even though they are the same people. Families are heavily affected by the civil war. People are killed from right to left. The worst part is innocent civilians being killed. Strength in What Remains follows the life of a boy who escapes this nightmare and tries to live a new one...more

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Apr 05, 2011 Spencer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

It is hard to comprehend the amount of death and destruction that occurred during the genocides in Rwanda and Burundi during the early 1990s. How is it possible to mentally digest the fact that hundreds of thousands of people were slaughtered, often times by their own neighbors, over the course of a few months and years? This book tells the equally hard-to-believe story of a young man that managed to escape the chaos of Burundi in 1993, and found himself in New York City with no friends, only $2...more

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Mar 13, 2011 Rachel Rueckert rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: africa, biography

Strength in What Remains is a tragic and moving story about a Burundian man, Deogratias, who escaped genocide in both Rwanda and Burundi.

I am embarrassed to say that I had never heard of Burundi until I read this book. It is a country right next to Rwanda and Tanzania, and the country underwent the same thing that Rwanda did but with less coverage and less aid after the fact. Tutsi's and Hutus, the dueling tribes (this book argues that they are more "relative categories", especially since they s...more Strength in What Remains is a tragic and moving story about a Burundian man, Deogratias, who escaped genocide in both Rwanda and Burundi.

I am embarrassed to say that I had never heard of Burundi until I read this book. It is a country right next to Rwanda and Tanzania, and the country underwent the same thing that Rwanda did but with less coverage and less aid after the fact. Tutsi's and Hutus, the dueling tribes (this book argues that they are more "relative categories", especially since they share the same language, religious practices, and are not really distinguishable by physical features now (263)), also make up the population of this country like Rwanda.

The main character in this story, Deo, is a Tutsi who ends up escaping genocide under extremely rare circumstances by getting to America on the pretense of selling coffee. He goes from homeless in Harlem to a medical student at Dartmouth, and this book chronicles that adventure as well as the road that took him there. Half of the book is told in Deo's perspective, narrating his story and his experience first coming to America. The second half is told from the point of view from the author, Tracey Kidder,once he has become acquainted with Deo and has traveled back to Burundi and Rwanda to retrace the main characters steps.

One of the questions I think this book raises is one that I just might be highly sensitive to after finishing Volatire's Candid, but that is the idea of God in a world that allows such awful things like genocide to happen. I think that juxtaposed to this horrendous account are several great individuals who saved Deo on many occasions. One Hutu woman who had lost her son, claiming that her ethnicity was a "woman and a mother," claimed him to be her son so that he could have a chance to escape. Others were strangers he met in New York who financed his education and gave him a place to stay. The author reluctantly remarked that "someone must have been looking out for Deo." Reluctant because of this tension and question about all of the others that made up the million people who were massacred. Did God not love them?

One of theses angels that aided Deo, Sharon, has a theory on this that seemed to tie the two contradictions together. She says that "we're loved infinitely for however little bit of time we have" and it is "not ultimately tragic to die at any age...I just think there isn't ultimate tragedy except for evil, and God doesn't will any evil. And we're surround by this tremendously loving presence" whether or not we realize it (177).

I think that you need to have a very strong testimony of the afterlife and of God to trust in that, but I am not sure where I would be if I did not have that knowledge. I am grateful for my own religion for helping me to reconcile the evil in the world with the goodness of humanity. Especially when you get talking about some of the examples like the Holocaust and tragedy of Burundi and Rwanda. Can God allow these things to happen?

My thoughts are that he is not responsible for it, as Sharon suggests. He loves us all and he has given us free agency. There is opposition in the world that we have to live in. I believe he has plans (not one plan, but plans) for all of us based on our decisions. Of course, he can intervene, and does in certain circumstances, like Deo's, but that does not mean that all of us get a free easy life card.

These are difficult thoughts, but this is what I am starting to believe more firmly. This was a really informational book and I think anyone, especially someone who thinks that genocide stopped after WWII, should read it.(less)

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Sep 08, 2010 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer/Disclosure. I don’t cope well with reading about pain and torture inflicted on people (especially children) and animals. I had to page past certain sections in everyone’s favorite potboilers by Steig Larsson. This informs my review of Tracy Kidder’s book Strength in What Remains. Just so you know.
This is a painful read about a survivor (Deogratias) from the Burundi ethnic wars who manages to escape to the U.S. where he regains his former profession as a doctor, meets and works with Pa...more

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Aug 19, 2010 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, african-american, africa, medical, immigration, genocide, civil-war, non-fiction

Tracy Kidder is best known for Mountains Beyond Mountains, which won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. His newest creation, Strength in What Remains only reinforces his gift for storytelling and evoking powerful emotion in his readers.

Our protagonist Deo escapes a grim civil war in Burundi, a small, African country bordered by Rwanda and Tanzania. The country’s genocide ended in 2005, claiming over 300,000 lives. Deo somehow managed to escape his village, while his friends and...more Tracy Kidder is best known for Mountains Beyond Mountains, which won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. His newest creation, Strength in What Remains only reinforces his gift for storytelling and evoking powerful emotion in his readers.

Our protagonist Deo escapes a grim civil war in Burundi, a small, African country bordered by Rwanda and Tanzania. The country’s genocide ended in 2005, claiming over 300,000 lives. Deo somehow managed to escape his village, while his friends and relatives were being slaughtered. Several strokes of good luck get him on a flight to the United States. But upon his arrival, he is plagued by poverty, illness and an inability to communicate in English.

In Burundi, Deo had been a trained medical professional, being schooled at a prestigious university. But in New York City, he is resigned to accept a low-paying job delivering groceries in order to stay afloat. Through the kindness of strangers and chance encounters, Deo is given opportunities to continue his education. He eventually finds himself at Columbia University, enrolled in their medical school.

But the journey is not an easy one for Deo. He is consistently plagued by nightmares and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Having witnessed so many violent crimes against humans, he is cautious of kindness and tries hard to forget the atrocities he cannot erase from his mind. There is a term in the Kurundi language called gusimbura, which reflects a victim’s unwillingness to bring up painful memories. Deo and Kidder converse about this concept:

“It’s a bad word. You are reminding people….it’s so hard to understand, because in the Western world…”
“People try to remember?”
“Yah”
“Here in Burundi, they try to forget?”
“Exactly”

Kidder chronicles Deo’s life, from childhood in his village, through adolescence, to the attack on his village, and his eventual escape to the United States. Kidder then accompanies Deo on a reconnaissance trip to Burundi, where Deo painfully revisits his past and works tirelessly to create new hope for the future.

The Strength in What Remains painfully reminds us of the effects of genocide. They are a devastating reality to many innocent victims and the practice is still being employed at alarming rates. This book provides a glimmer of hope for a world that is troubled by human violence, war and oppression.

If you like books about refugees, Dave Egger's What is the What is an engrossing tale of genocide and the Lost Boys of Sudan.(less)

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Jun 24, 2010 Sherry rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Tracy Kidder, you continue to rock my world with your humble talent, your ability to listen deeply and your passion for sharing the real--and the hopeful. I tired of this story in the middle--oh no, I thought, I can't read more of the horror of the Burundi/Rwanda Hutu/Tutsi massacre. Silly me to tire for all I had to do was read with you as you followed Deo through his nightmares, to New York City, Columbia, Dartmouth, the federal office building in Manhattan where in 2007 he became a US Citizen...more

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May 31, 2010 Ellyn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

This fabulous book tells the story of Deo, a young medical student who survives genocide and war in Burundi and escapes, only to find himself struggling to make it from day to day on the streets of New York City. The book begins with Deo's arrival and early months in New York. Little by little, the author goes back in time to reveal first Deo's childhood and adolescent years in Burundi, spent in a typical family in a typical village, his high school and medical school years, and ultimately, his...more

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May 02, 2010 Linda (Evanston) rated it 5 of 5 stars

In this book Tracy Kidder chronicles the path of Deo, a young man studying pre-med in Burundi at the beginning of the Rwandian genocide. Through miracle after miracle, Deo escapes massacre, eventually finding himself in New York, where he befriended by a woman working at St. Thomas More, Sharon McKenna, and a couple from Greenwich Village, Charlie and Nancy Wolfe. Deo learns English by studying at the New York Public Library and working at low-end jobs such as delivering groceries. After graduat...more

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Apr 28, 2010 Nicole rated it 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I normally love Tracy Kidder books. And this book had an incredibly compelling story to tell, about a man who escapes genocide in Burundi and amazingly goes on to complete his education and even return to Africa to help rebuild his country.

Yet somehow the author keeps getting in the way of the story. At first, describing the main character's journey to America, he is a little condescending, making Deo seem a little simple when in reality he is a bi-li...more

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Apr 13, 2010 Andrew Ludke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Completely ignorant of the ruthless hate in the whispers he hears from his neighbors in Burundi, Deo is caught completely off guard as he witnesses the slaughter of his friends and family at the start of the Genocide. Who can you trust if you don't even know who's a Tutsi or a Hutu. The only safe course is to run and hide. Through the generosity and support of a few strangers Deo, a sheep herder and medical student at the only medical college in the country, escapes the genocidal madness only to...more

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Apr 08, 2010 Kdevoli rated it 5 of 5 stars

A truly inspiring book about a young medical student named Deo who lives in Burundi (adjacent to Rwanda) in the 1990's who gets caught up in the civil war between Tutsis and Hutus and needs to escape for his life after the president is assinated. He literally needs to run out of the hospital where he is treating patients to escape machete-wielding madmen. His months on the run are harrowing, but eventually a wealthy friend with ties to America gets him a fake work visa, and he is able to come to...more

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Mar 22, 2010 Judy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: listened-to

Deogratias was born in Burundi and grew up during the horrible civil wars between the Tutsis and Hutus that has been so movingly documented in "Hotel Rwanda." Deo was a medical student in the capital city when he was forced to flee for his life. After an impossible journey, he ended up in NYC with no sponsor and unable to speak English. He lived first in a boarded up tenement and worked as a delivery boy for almost nothing, then decided the homeless life in Central Park was better than what he h...more

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About Tracy Kidder

Tracy Kidder is an American author and Vietnam War veteran. Kidder may be best known, especially within the computing community, for his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Soul of a New Machine, an account of the development of Data General's Eclipse/MV minicomputer. The book typifies his distinctive style of research. He began following the project at its inception and, in addition to interviews, spent c...more

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Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World

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“... "You may not see the ocean, but right now we are in the middle of the ocean, and we have to keep swimming.” — 5 people liked it

“I do believe in God. I think God has given so much power to people, and intelligence, and said, 'Well, you are on your own. Maybe I'm tired, I need a nap. You are mature. Why don't you look after yourselves?' And I think He's been sleeping too much.” — 5 people liked it

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Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness

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