A review by jaclyncrupi
Small Country by Gaël Faye

4.0

This beautiful book asks what effect war and genocide has on the identity of a young boy coming of age amongst unimaginable horrors. Set in Burundi and Rwanda in the early 90s it tells of the trauma of those places at that time. But it also highlights the beauty and innocence of life before war and the desire to return to it (the book is fairly evenly split in two). I have no doubt that in 20 years time I’ll be reading a similar story from a Syrian writer. The translation by Sarah Ardizzone is excellent.