50books_poc | #3, An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina

#3, An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina

An autobiographical memoir by the general manager of the Hotel Mille Collines in Rwanda, who sheltered over 1200 people in his hotel during the three months of the massacres.(In the interest of full disclosure: he worked with another writer on it, who may or may not have been of color. I really don't care. It's clearly his voice.)

It's a fascinating book, and he's a fascinating man. He makes no apologies for his Machiavellian approach to dealing with people who came into his office with blood splatters on still their clothing, how he could talk and smoothe and bribe them into letting the hotel's "guests" live one more day. An interesting blend of pragmatism and idealism, whose ability to read and manipulate people with his words saved over a thousand lives.

This book was a revelation to me--the descriptions of the massacres, of the pointless and horrible slaughter of neighbor by neighbor, the sheer numbers...and when I'd heard in the past of this man and the hotel, I always thought in some way they were hidden (though if I'd realized the number of the saved was so high, I would have abandoned that idea!), not that all of Rwanda knew that they were there and somehow this one man was able, with words and cases of cognac and a binder full of phone numbers he'd collected of people who owed him favors, to stand between them and the machetes.

A story at once horrible and wonderful...definitely worth the read.
peace,
J