LostLegend
Senior Member
This one, 'Cockroaches' by the fantastically named 'Scholastique Mukasonga' is an absolute gut-punch of a book. One of the most upsetting and harrowing reads I've had in a while.
It's about the Rwandan genocide in the early 90's and follows the author, who is a Rwandan Tutsi, covering her life from childhood in the 60's/70's and what it was like growing up as a member of this oppressed minority, to when she was smuggled out to Burundi at the orders of her parents, the Genocide itself when she was living in France, finally to her return to Rwanda in 2004 searching for what fate befell the 31 family members she lost.
There's this theme she speaks about, the idea of 'closure' and being able to move on from such a traumatic event and what prevented her from doing so.
The lack of any hope for justice, when it was nearly and entire country that was killing its own people to not knowing the final fate of her parents and even where their bodies are to mourn them. There's a powerful passage with her questioning whether some of the un-named bones in the memorial crypt near her childhood home could be them, whether they still lie in an as yet undiscovered mass grave or if scavaging animals got to them.
Later, as she travels back to Rwanda and hears some of the frankly horrific fates that befell some of her other family members and friends (the details of her younger sisters death probably ranks as one of the most awful things I've ever read
), a new question arises - "Is it better to know or not to know"Despite being pretty short at 160 pages, this is a very tough one to read in terms of the content, but I think an important one given this year marks the 30th anniversary of the genocide.
Something a bit more light hearted next methinks
