Writers of Color 50 Books Challenge

4. Left to Tell by Imaculee Ilibaziga

This is a really lovely book, although it's probably not for everyone.  The book is an autobiography of a young Tutsi woman who survived the Rwandan genocide hiding in a pastor's bathroom with six other women for 3 months.  Through the power of prayer and her deep faith, she was able not only to survive the genocide but actually forgive her enemies.

The book was not what I expected--there was actually fairly little actually about her time in the bathroom, largely because it sounds like she at least, and probably the other women as well, spent much of that time in such deep prayer and meditation that they were in an almost trance-state.  Her perception of time during those months sounds like it was severely altered--being in a state of dehydration and near starvation probably didn't help that much either.  And the narrative is full of what I'd call "God-talk"--as a devout Catholic, Imaculee's faith permeates every aspect of her life and thinking, and this comes out in the writing.  She places a lot of trust in the whole "power of positive thinking" form of prayer and visualization, where she envisions what she believes God has in mind for her and focuses wholly and deeply on it, and in case after case it actually comes to be. (I haven't read it, but isn't this sort of what's behind that bestseller "The Secret"?)  Her "voice," in fact, reminds me of a similarly-minded friend I had in college, whose prayers tended to be so specific and demanding that I sometimes felt like saying, "Okay, hon, God doesn't need an instruction book, just pray and then let go."  Imaculee's prayers tend to be in this highly specific vein, and I'm not always comfortable with it--even when they come true. :-)

For the record, I am a Christian believer, and I do believe in the power of God in our lives--and I also believe that humility and gratitude is a far better way to accept wonderful and miraclous things that come our way than egotism and pride.  But as an outsider, I have to say that Imaculee sounds like an extraordinarily intelligent woman with an uncanny ability to focus her mind on a task--she taught herself English (though without pronunciation guidance her spoken command of the language was probably not great) from dictionaries and books while in the bathroom, she learned to touch type enough to get a job in something like 3 or 4 weeks, she achieved a level of education that Tutsis in Rwanda (especially women!) seldom could achieve, even before the massacres.  An extraordinary young woman who would likely have risen to high things under any circumstances; that she gives the glory to God is just another aspect of her character. 

The narrative style is fairly simple and straightforward, almost over-simple sometimes.  And anyone who respond with annoyance to God-talk will probably be put off.  But if one can get past that, this book is a pretty amazing story of an amazing woman.  Worth the read.

peace,
J