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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Based on the true story of Jeanne, an 8-year old girl who survived the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the only member of her family who did. Here her adoptive mother Hanna Jensen retells her story with a clarity and honesty that is at once moving and inspiring. It was one of the world's most recent and bloody periods of history.
It is not clear how much of this book comes from the real experiences of Jeanne and how much of it is fictionalised. In an age where fictionalised memoir seems to be the norm, it's refreshing to see that the author is not claiming that all of this is fact, but given the horrors that were going on at the time and given that part of the avowed purpose of this book is to help Jeanne relive the events and move on, it's disquieting to not know where the line is drawn. I also felt that Jansen doesn't quite get the balance right when addressing the atrocities that were perpetrated. For example, much of the violence occurs off-page, with Jeanne seeing only the after-effects and when Jeanne is confronted by violence, Jansen tones down the language to try and make it more palatable for the reader. This to me is a mistake compared with the stark way in which other YA authors have addressed the horrors of the Holocaust. Part of the problem is that we're told right at the beginning of the book what happened to Jeanne's family. This robs the reader of any suspense or feeling of horror when the story gets going and I think that it also suffers for the fact that Jeanne's parents (especially her mother, who we're constantly told Jeanne was very close to) are actually shown as being emotionally distant. This lack of connection I felt for Jeanne's parents reinforced my lack of ability to really connect with what was happening to them.
In spite of this, I think that Jansen does well in conveying what everyday life was like in Rwanda before the genocide began and using Jeanne's young eyes to view the political situation (notably her reaction to the repeated singing of a catchy song about cockroaches) is a credible one. Jansen has a good eye for scenery and recreates the lush Rwandan countryside and its towns and roads in rich detail. I also admire her ability to bring in Rwandan and French words into her dialogue in a way that feels naturalistic (and a glossary is provided in the back to enable readers to look up words they might not know). She depicts the way in which friend turns against friend and family member against family member in a clinical way that was too detached for me but which I recognise has a chilling aspect to it. The depictions of the pointless looting that goes on was in my view the most horrifying part of the text and a scene where Jeanne seeks to reclaim a poncho from another child is very moving.
Jansen begins each chapter with a short first person view of her relationship with Jeanne and how the book came to be written. Personally, I could have done without these sections as I think they interfere with the telling of the story and the prose has a distinctly purple tint to it. In addition, I found that it raised a number of questions that go unanswered - most notably around the fact that Jeanne goes to Germany to live with her aunt, but her aunt passes her on to Hanna who later adopts her. The reason why the aunt gives Jeanne up is never given and I think this creates a major hole in the story.
On the whole, I enjoyed Crawford's translation work, although there are times when I think she stays too close to the original German, which meant that sentence construction sometimes seemed a little clumsy, particularly regarding repetition of words.
Given the amount of children's and YA fiction out there that deals with the Holocaust, it's surprising that there's such a dearth of authors willing to address more recent atrocities committed in the world. To this extent, Hanna Jansen's book (translated by Elizabeth D. Crawford) is an important one, not least because the Rwandan genocides took place within living memory of the target audience. However, I did feel that too-thick a veil was cast over the worst events and given the questions regarding the extent to which this is fictionalised, I'm not sure that readers will find it sufficiently convincing.
The Verdict:
It feels churlish to say that this is an 'okay' book when it deals with a serious historical event that doesn't get a lot of 'play' in YA fiction. However, that's what it is - okay. Perhaps it's because it is dealing with recent history that makes Jansen pull her punches when it comes to describing the atrocities committed (something that's shown up by the depictions of suffering inflicted in Holocaust based novels such as The Book Thief by Markus Zusak ), but there is definitely something lacking in the text, which makes it very difficult to connect with what's happening to the young heroine.
Based on the true story of Jeanne, an 8-year old girl who survived the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the only member of her family who did. Here her adoptive mother Hanna Jensen retells her story with a clarity and honesty that is at once moving and inspiring. It was one of the world's most recent and bloody periods of history.
It is not clear how much of this book comes from the real experiences of Jeanne and how much of it is fictionalised. In an age where fictionalised memoir seems to be the norm, it's refreshing to see that the author is not claiming that all of this is fact, but given the horrors that were going on at the time and given that part of the avowed purpose of this book is to help Jeanne relive the events and move on, it's disquieting to not know where the line is drawn. I also felt that Jansen doesn't quite get the balance right when addressing the atrocities that were perpetrated. For example, much of the violence occurs off-page, with Jeanne seeing only the after-effects and when Jeanne is confronted by violence, Jansen tones down the language to try and make it more palatable for the reader. This to me is a mistake compared with the stark way in which other YA authors have addressed the horrors of the Holocaust. Part of the problem is that we're told right at the beginning of the book what happened to Jeanne's family. This robs the reader of any suspense or feeling of horror when the story gets going and I think that it also suffers for the fact that Jeanne's parents (especially her mother, who we're constantly told Jeanne was very close to) are actually shown as being emotionally distant. This lack of connection I felt for Jeanne's parents reinforced my lack of ability to really connect with what was happening to them.
In spite of this, I think that Jansen does well in conveying what everyday life was like in Rwanda before the genocide began and using Jeanne's young eyes to view the political situation (notably her reaction to the repeated singing of a catchy song about cockroaches) is a credible one. Jansen has a good eye for scenery and recreates the lush Rwandan countryside and its towns and roads in rich detail. I also admire her ability to bring in Rwandan and French words into her dialogue in a way that feels naturalistic (and a glossary is provided in the back to enable readers to look up words they might not know). She depicts the way in which friend turns against friend and family member against family member in a clinical way that was too detached for me but which I recognise has a chilling aspect to it. The depictions of the pointless looting that goes on was in my view the most horrifying part of the text and a scene where Jeanne seeks to reclaim a poncho from another child is very moving.
Jansen begins each chapter with a short first person view of her relationship with Jeanne and how the book came to be written. Personally, I could have done without these sections as I think they interfere with the telling of the story and the prose has a distinctly purple tint to it. In addition, I found that it raised a number of questions that go unanswered - most notably around the fact that Jeanne goes to Germany to live with her aunt, but her aunt passes her on to Hanna who later adopts her. The reason why the aunt gives Jeanne up is never given and I think this creates a major hole in the story.
On the whole, I enjoyed Crawford's translation work, although there are times when I think she stays too close to the original German, which meant that sentence construction sometimes seemed a little clumsy, particularly regarding repetition of words.
Given the amount of children's and YA fiction out there that deals with the Holocaust, it's surprising that there's such a dearth of authors willing to address more recent atrocities committed in the world. To this extent, Hanna Jansen's book (translated by Elizabeth D. Crawford) is an important one, not least because the Rwandan genocides took place within living memory of the target audience. However, I did feel that too-thick a veil was cast over the worst events and given the questions regarding the extent to which this is fictionalised, I'm not sure that readers will find it sufficiently convincing.
The Verdict:
It feels churlish to say that this is an 'okay' book when it deals with a serious historical event that doesn't get a lot of 'play' in YA fiction. However, that's what it is - okay. Perhaps it's because it is dealing with recent history that makes Jansen pull her punches when it comes to describing the atrocities committed (something that's shown up by the depictions of suffering inflicted in Holocaust based novels such as The Book Thief by Markus Zusak ), but there is definitely something lacking in the text, which makes it very difficult to connect with what's happening to the young heroine.
