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ursulamonarch's review
5.0
I'm surprised at the low ratings. I thought the story was stunningly powerful and the artwork was wonderful, from the change in Deogratias's eyes "before" and "after" to the dog/human hybrid at the end. I also appreciated the illustration of horrific atrocities at times somewhat indirectly, which added to the realism and awfulness.
readingwithk's review
3.0
The illustrations in this novel were absolutely stunning and really leave an impression. Some parts were confusing due to continuous time jumps and time jumps are sometimes hard to represent in a graphic novel. Prepare yourself to read this book; it's disturbing, but it's supposed to be.
saralynnburnett's review
3.0
Even though it grates against my bibliophilic tendencies I am looking for ways to incorporate graphic novels into education and had hoped that this one about the Rwandan genocide could be a possibility, but I'm not so sure. While I know that a majority of 9th graders are somewhat immune to violence and language and wouldn't bat an eye at the lines/graphics/racial slurs in this book, I'm not convinced that their parents would be so open minded. I also wish that this particular story wasn't told in flashback. I found it confusing at times I know this history of Rwanda pretty darn well. There is a great, though brief introduction that gives an overview of the entire conflict and there are some great potential comparisons to be made between France's policies in French speaking Africa, and America's policies in Latin America, AND the book packs an emotional punch... but I wish there was less sex/graphic language, and more history to make it a little friendlier to the classroom. I would need a second opinion and perhaps parental permission slips before asking 9th graders to read it :-/
micah_thelibrarian's review
4.0
Great tale of the Rwandan genocide. If you enjoyed watching Hotel Rwanda back in the day, this is a nice in-depth follow up behind the scenes.
daggry's review
1.0
This was not a white Belgian's story to tell, and it shows. Both the characters and the context are flat and intensely othered. It's no wonder that among the reviews of this graphic novel you can find references to "tribal strife" and "civil war," neither of which are appropriate terms. The historical overview in the foreword was important, but the story failed to demonstrate the formative and deadly impact of that colonial history. Nor, sadly, is there a sense of the vibrance and realness of lives and communities outside of the genocide. There's more to Rwanda than violence and trauma, but the story needed fuller, more realized characters to show that.
anti_christie's review
3.0
The art and comic style of this graphic novel was fine, but there was something about the storytelling itself that left something to be desired. I honestly enjoyed the prologue more than the meat of the story itself, which probably lends itself to the fact that the characters were written in such a distasteful manner. Everyone who is 'fleshed out' (primarily Deogratias and the men he encounters frequently) are rather disgusting, and the more sympathetic people are barely touched upon. I think that the subject matter is important, but I do wish it gave a bit more than this book does.
doyoudogear's review
2.0
Originally, I requested this on NetGalley to read, but the PDF expired before I could get to it. It wasn't the book itself, but the content that made me hesitate to pick this one up. Deogratias isn't something you grab for a little light reading. The Rwandan genocide "lasted 100 days and took 800,000 lives." I decided to buy the book after stumbling across a copy, and I almost wish I hadn't.
I hate to say this, but I was disappointed with the overall story. The forward was the most interesting and informative part of the book, and it's only a few pages long. I felt like it really set the tone for the story, while also conveying the severity of the situation. The forward also mentions that Stassen didn't go to Rwanda with the intention of writing a book about the genocide, but he did, and he's profiting from it. I think this story needs to be told by those who were there and experienced what happened firsthand, or at least by someone who was affected by what happened. It seems like Stassen told his version of events through a character that he himself is unable to relate to. How can you write about something like this as a white male with an outsider's perspective?
Speaking of perspective, the main character was an unreliable narrator. We see the boy he was before (someone only interested in having sex with girls), to the broken shell of a person he is after. When the Hutu started killing Tutsi, the author didn't show us how Deogratias felt, only that he chose to participate in what was happening around him. I couldn't connect with Deogratias and what he was experiencing, because it felt like everything that happened to him was out of his control. There was no depth to him or what he was feeling as the world fell apart around him.
It's clear that Deogratias has been through something traumatic, and it's impacted his mind and how he perceives himself and the world, but the author still uses him to mention female mutilation and dogs devouring bodies (always random and without warning). When we finally discover what happened to him, it's very choppy, and also disturbingly graphic. There's no explanation of his actions, and we're not given any information that would help us understand how certain parts of the story unfolded. We're just supposed to infer based on broken conversations, and images that I won't describe.
I have very little experience with this topic, so I went into this without any expectations. I do know that children were often made to do things they wouldn't normally do, and they did them to survive. I'm not sure how old the main character was supposed to be, but I think we're supposed to believe that his actions were mostly forced. However, the author doesn't even pretend to give him a choice, but makes one for him without giving us any relevant information.
None of the other characters were expanded on either, which made the story feel somewhat flat. The author has a full cast of diverse people, yet chooses to focus on other aspects of the story. The illustrations felt like caricatures of people, which felt wrong when the author was depicting graphic scenes from the genocide. The violence was often sudden and unexpected, and while it may be accurate, felt like it was included to shock an audience instead of inform them.
The Rwandan genocide is something that happened fairly recently, and I disagree with how this author chose to depict the horrific events that occurred. His story feels like an insult to the people who were there, and to those who lost loved ones to unfathomable cruelties.
Originally posted at Do You Dog-ear? on June 16, 2019.
I hate to say this, but I was disappointed with the overall story. The forward was the most interesting and informative part of the book, and it's only a few pages long. I felt like it really set the tone for the story, while also conveying the severity of the situation. The forward also mentions that Stassen didn't go to Rwanda with the intention of writing a book about the genocide, but he did, and he's profiting from it. I think this story needs to be told by those who were there and experienced what happened firsthand, or at least by someone who was affected by what happened. It seems like Stassen told his version of events through a character that he himself is unable to relate to. How can you write about something like this as a white male with an outsider's perspective?
Speaking of perspective, the main character was an unreliable narrator. We see the boy he was before (someone only interested in having sex with girls), to the broken shell of a person he is after. When the Hutu started killing Tutsi, the author didn't show us how Deogratias felt, only that he chose to participate in what was happening around him. I couldn't connect with Deogratias and what he was experiencing, because it felt like everything that happened to him was out of his control. There was no depth to him or what he was feeling as the world fell apart around him.
It's clear that Deogratias has been through something traumatic, and it's impacted his mind and how he perceives himself and the world, but the author still uses him to mention female mutilation and dogs devouring bodies (always random and without warning). When we finally discover what happened to him, it's very choppy, and also disturbingly graphic. There's no explanation of his actions, and we're not given any information that would help us understand how certain parts of the story unfolded. We're just supposed to infer based on broken conversations, and images that I won't describe.
I have very little experience with this topic, so I went into this without any expectations. I do know that children were often made to do things they wouldn't normally do, and they did them to survive. I'm not sure how old the main character was supposed to be, but I think we're supposed to believe that his actions were mostly forced. However, the author doesn't even pretend to give him a choice, but makes one for him without giving us any relevant information.
None of the other characters were expanded on either, which made the story feel somewhat flat. The author has a full cast of diverse people, yet chooses to focus on other aspects of the story. The illustrations felt like caricatures of people, which felt wrong when the author was depicting graphic scenes from the genocide. The violence was often sudden and unexpected, and while it may be accurate, felt like it was included to shock an audience instead of inform them.
The Rwandan genocide is something that happened fairly recently, and I disagree with how this author chose to depict the horrific events that occurred. His story feels like an insult to the people who were there, and to those who lost loved ones to unfathomable cruelties.
Originally posted at Do You Dog-ear? on June 16, 2019.
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