Into the Quick of Life
The Rwandan Genocide - The Survivors Speak
by Jean Hatzfeld
, Translated by Gerry Feehily
Category: History / African
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
Publication date: 8 September 2005
Number of pages: 224
Description:
Five out of six Tutsis were hacked to death with machetes and spears by their Hutu neighbours. In the villages of Nyamata and N'tarama, where, in the first two days of the genocide, over 10,000 Tutsis were massacred in the churches where they sought refuge, Jean Hatzfeld interviewed some of the survivors. Of all ages, coming from different walks of life, from orphan teenage farmers to the local social worker, fourteen survivors talk of the genocide, the death of family and friends in the church and in the marshes of Bugesera to which they fled. They also talk of their present life and try to explain and understand the reasons behind the extermination. These horrific accounts of life at the very edge contrast with Hatzfeld's own sensitive and vivid descriptions of Rwanda's villages and countryside in peacetime. Into the quick of life brings us, in the author's own words, as close to the event as we can ever get.
What the papers say:
"'This harrowing work in its entirety is surely among the most powerful pieces of journalism of our generation' Herald 'Only Primo Levi gets closer to what genocide means' Venue 'Into the Quick of Life tells the stories of the Tutsi survivors of the genocide. It is as compelling a read. Sad, bewildered, pathetic people who lost kith and kin - often because they thought only of saving themselves. They are trying hard to forget, while forgiveness is an alien notion. A decade on, victim and perpetrator are still frozen in those 100 days the world ignored' Irish Independent"
In Stock: 4 copies
