Scan barcode
A review by pearloz
Igifu by Scholastique Mukasonga
4.0
A wonderful collection of short stories--I was most captivated by the first, Igifu, about hunger. The story was told with great power and had a unnerving visceral effect on me. Next was another story related at least tangentially to hunger and survival, the Glorious Cow--learning from their father about raising cattle and how important they are to the community, the cultural status and cache one has when they have cows. Next is a story called Fear which is literally about fear, how fear can be generational, how it can be taught, how it is necessary often for survival. We find this quote which seems to be the thesis of the story:
"'In Nyamata,' my mother used to say, 'you must never forget: we're Inyenzi, we're cockroaches, snakes, vermin. Whenever you meet a soldier or a militiaman or a stranger, remember: he's planning to kill you, and he knows he will, one day or another, him or someone else.'"
The story itself is infused with a gutteral tension that doesn't cease. The story's final moments, where the town have gathered together in a house after an alarm has sounded, signaling coming assailants. The next follows a night of deathly fear and tension, and the final line "They hadn't come this time, but we knew one day they would."
In "The Curse of Beauty" we are introduced to Helena and follow her life at a remove. The pretty girl with a bad (and basically unfounded) reputation who eventually turns to prostitution when she's is left with nothing as an adult.
We see her rise to a office worker, then a living display in a clothes shop, her life is filled with tragedy, and what was mistaken once for tenacity, now feels like a desperate attempt at survival. She was almost lynched at one point by townspeople that didn't like her arrangement with the man that displayed her. She became a prostitute.
The Burundian authorities feared the visits of President Mobutu of Zaire, the Leopard of Kinshasa. They wanted to dazzle him with a grand reception...and a woman to share his bed. Helena is of course chosen. They didn't want to choose a Burundian woman so they had to choose a refugee, a Rwandan. She was tested and prodded by military doctors and eventually rejected by the Leopard. She was taken by the aide-de-camp who said "I never mind taking the president's leftovers."
The tragedy doesn't end there and seems to get worse for Helena, she was dealt so many blows, it's as if she took all the punishment for a country of women. Quite a tragic tale.
Grief, tragedy, the long fingers of the memory of genocide permeate each of the stories here and make for an intense reading experience. Recommended as each of her books are.
"'In Nyamata,' my mother used to say, 'you must never forget: we're Inyenzi, we're cockroaches, snakes, vermin. Whenever you meet a soldier or a militiaman or a stranger, remember: he's planning to kill you, and he knows he will, one day or another, him or someone else.'"
The story itself is infused with a gutteral tension that doesn't cease. The story's final moments, where the town have gathered together in a house after an alarm has sounded, signaling coming assailants. The next follows a night of deathly fear and tension, and the final line "They hadn't come this time, but we knew one day they would."
In "The Curse of Beauty" we are introduced to Helena and follow her life at a remove. The pretty girl with a bad (and basically unfounded) reputation who eventually turns to prostitution when she's is left with nothing as an adult.
We see her rise to a office worker, then a living display in a clothes shop, her life is filled with tragedy, and what was mistaken once for tenacity, now feels like a desperate attempt at survival. She was almost lynched at one point by townspeople that didn't like her arrangement with the man that displayed her. She became a prostitute.
The Burundian authorities feared the visits of President Mobutu of Zaire, the Leopard of Kinshasa. They wanted to dazzle him with a grand reception...and a woman to share his bed. Helena is of course chosen. They didn't want to choose a Burundian woman so they had to choose a refugee, a Rwandan. She was tested and prodded by military doctors and eventually rejected by the Leopard. She was taken by the aide-de-camp who said "I never mind taking the president's leftovers."
The tragedy doesn't end there and seems to get worse for Helena, she was dealt so many blows, it's as if she took all the punishment for a country of women. Quite a tragic tale.
Grief, tragedy, the long fingers of the memory of genocide permeate each of the stories here and make for an intense reading experience. Recommended as each of her books are.