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.