A review by coys
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch

5.0

Wow. I think any attempt by me to summarize or properly review this book would just be completely futile and borderline irresponsible. Just horrific, senseless violence and arguably even more horrific attitudes displayed by the "West" toward Rwanda. standing by and watching because it's not the 'right' type of victim is one thing (one thing that I would like to be clear is abhorrent), but France actively supported the genocidaires! What the actual ffffff! This was in my lifetime! Asking my parents about this, they were just like 'oh yeah I didn't know anything about this when it was happening' and it's not like many of us know a ton more about it now. Anyway, Gourevitch's writing is stellar, even if it contributes to the book being just unfathomably sad (though I suspeeeeeeeect that may have been the case regardless). Part of this is that there is not a ton in terms of pure recitation of facts, or even secondary sources -- the book is largely primary sources, stories directly from the mouths of survivors, which makes it all the more powerful. A must-read if you want to understand what is likely more about the world than I'd like to admit, or at the very least learn about a genocide in our very recent past, or at the very very least just be really sad and disgusted for about 350 pages. Five stars.

An aside: it does warrant mention that the Paul Kagame parts in this book have aged.......interestingly? We'll go with interestingly, or maybe 'thorny' is the way to go. There's a lot to unpack there, too much for my limited knowledge of the situation to take a side on. Thorny it is.