Putting this list together, oddly enough, was inspired by a sweet, sad, lovely coming-of-age story about Mira Levenson, a twelve-year-old British girl of Indian and Jewish descent who's journaling the last month of her beloved grandmother's life (among many other things).
Mira in the Present Tense (Artichoke Hearts in the UK), by Sita Brahmachari
Although the Rwandan Genocide wasn't the primary focus of the book, it was an integral part of Mira's new, more complex understanding of the world (not to mention her crush, Jidé), her discovery and exploration of it was a huge part of her coming-of-age journey, and the scenes of her doing research made me wonder what fiction was out there. (Hence, as I said above, this list.)
In addition to all of the book's other virtues—seriously, it's so, so good—there's also a really nice thread about how her PARENTS react to and deal with Mira's maturation. On the one hand, they want to protect her from the horrors in the world, but on the other, they realize that she's growing up, and that learning about and understanding these hard things (as much as understanding is possible, anyway) is a part of that process. It's just really nicely handled.
I'm so very much looking forward to the sequel, which is out in September.
Broken Memory: A Novel of Rwanda, by Elizabeth Combres
This one is heavily based on interviews with Rwandan refugees, and chronicles the life of a young Tutsi girl who witnessed her mother's murder when she was five years old. Now fourteen, living with the Hutu woman who took her in, still wracked by nightmares, she has to decide whether or not to testify in Gacaca court. According to the reviews I've read, the prose is quite spare, but Combres doesn't pull punches about the subject matter.
Over a Thousand Hills I Walk with You, by Hanna Jansen
This fictionalized biography, translated from the original German, got multiple starred reviews as well as a Batchelder Award. It's about eight-year-old Jeanne d'Arc Umubyeyi, who was ultimately her Tutsi family's only survivor. The book doesn't only chronicle the violence, but the regular life leading up to it, and oddly enough, every review I've read has made me think of Meg Rosoff's How I Live Now, because the book is narrated by a child who is experiencing all of the trauma of a horrific event, but without any real understanding of the political situation that lead up to it.
Shattered, by Eric Walters
I Learned a New Word Today... Genocide, by Elizabeth Hankins
The descriptions of these sound somewhat didactic to me (the Hankins title alone is pretty cringeworthy), but they both seem to have had decently positive receptions, so, onto the list they go. The Walters is about a fifteen-year-old boy who develops a friendship with a homeless soldier whose last mission was as a peacekeeper stationed in Rwanda; the Hankins is about a fifth grader who discovers genocide isn't just something that affects far away people—it's something that has touched people he knows. These two and the Combres were originally published in Canada.
Others?
Deogratias by JP Stassen is a YA/Adult comic about life after, with flashbacks to the genocide. It also highlights the role of the French and post-colonialism.
Posted by: Jennie | 04 June 2014 at 10:52 AM
Oh, good call. Thanks!
Posted by: Leila | 04 June 2014 at 11:16 AM
"The Weaver's Scar: For Our Rwanda" by Brian Crawford.
"This is a story from the Rwanda of 1994. Life was difficult enough in Rwanda for a boy in the early 1990s, and Faustin's father did not make it any easier with inexplicable rules and dark secrets. Teachers at school began to emphasize the division between the Tutsis and Hutus, a division that made its way to the soccer field. As the terrible events of the genocide unfold in 1994, Faustin discovers the secrets of the past and of his father's disability, the cruelty of his schoolteachers, the full horror of neighbor against neighbor, and how only his running and the courage of one friend can possibly save him." --Back cover.
Posted by: Rebecca Moore | 04 June 2014 at 01:12 PM
I hadn't come across that one before: thank you!
Posted by: Leila | 04 June 2014 at 01:27 PM
The story collection Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan has at least one story that is about a family whose lives are disrupted by the genocide. Definitely for adult readers though, or very mature teens. That whole book is a kick in the head and a punch in the gut. It was an Oprah Book Club pick, but it was *way* outside a lot of people's comfort zone and didn't do as well as her choices normally do.
Posted by: Floating Lush | 04 June 2014 at 01:30 PM
Wow, even the title of the book has devastating implications. Woof.
Thanks for the tip!
Posted by: Leila | 04 June 2014 at 01:40 PM
It was good, although an uncomfortable read for several reasons, and I am glad I read it. But I don't think I'll be revisiting it any time soon! It really drives those First World Privileges we aren't even aware of taking for granted home, in a kind of devastating way.
Posted by: Floating Lush | 04 June 2014 at 01:47 PM
While I was putting this post together, I was trying to come up with a title, and since I (obviously) didn't want to go with something cutesy or pithy, I looked around for quotes. This one was too long to use, but it was a kick in the gut:
"I once spoke to someone who had survived the genocide in Rwanda, and she said to me that there was now nobody left on the face of the earth, either friend or relative, who knew who she was." --Christopher Hitchens
Full quote here.
Posted by: Leila | 04 June 2014 at 02:23 PM
The only thing I have read about the genocide is that part of The International Bank of Bob (microloans) in which he visits Rwanda...so not a good one for your list, but still educational!
Posted by: Charlotte | 04 June 2014 at 07:09 PM
There's also Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron. It won the Bellwether in 2010. From NoveList: "Rwandan runner Jean Patrick Nkuba dreams of winning an Olympic gold medal and uniting his ethnically divided country, only to be driven from everyone he loves when the violence starts, after which he must find a way back to a better life."
Posted by: Floating Lush | 04 June 2014 at 07:31 PM
Ryan O'Neill's brilliant short story collection, The Weight of a Human Heart (for adults: http://bit.ly/SvkKA2) touches on this within several of the stories.
Posted by: Sarah Tomp | 04 June 2014 at 08:01 PM
I'm Not Leaving by Carl Wilkins
Posted by: Mike | 05 June 2014 at 02:23 PM