Celeste+L

Celeste L's Book Review



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Forgiveness, a hard thing to do for most. This girl Immaculee Ilibagiza the author of Left to Tell has done what most of us think of as impossible. After her whole family was killed in the Rwanda genocide she went to visit the man who slaughtered all of her family. And instead of giving him slap in the face he deserved, she did the unthinkable and forgave him. I love this book and would recommend it to everyone because what she did and what she went through is so amazing and so many of us could learn from her and her struggles. Us human beings let a long line at the grocery store get us down, but not her. She wouldn’t even let genocide get her down. She had and instilled hope through out it all, never giving up.

Immaculee grew up in what seemed like a wonderful community. It was a safe area where the kids would walk about 4 miles to and from school each day without parents having to worry about anything happening to their kids. This was a place where everyone knew everything about everyone, and neighbors were like family. Immaculee was hidden from the little discrimination that was amidst her. This discrimination was between the Tutsis and the Hutus, two of their cities major tribes. They had been at it for years but never truly managed to break the peace. So who knew that the breaking point would be only a few years later. All that Immaculee knew as a child would be corrupted and shattered. The fields she once played on now was the home of dead bodies, instead of walking into church and seeing a choir she would see people lined up to die, the friends, teachers, and neighbors that she once knew are now the murderers of her family.

This story is amazing not only because of the miracle that she forgave the killers, but also the miracle that she survived. In this genocide about 1 million people were killed in 100 days. For 91 of those days Immaculee was hiding with eight other girls in a 3 by 4 foot bathroom with only scraps to eat and almost no room to move. Immaculee had everything against her, she could have starved to death, she could have easily died by the common cold, and even more likely then that she could have been slaughtered and/or beaten to her death. With all of this going against her she never lost hope that she was going to make it out alive. Not even when she would encounter the killers, which happened on more then one occasion. Any time that she would accidentally come across a pack of killers and had no way of hiding or turning and running away she would hold her head up high, show no fear and walk right past. They would spare her because of her strength and bravery. She did not quiver and run away or look for the protection of a man or anyone else, no she faced them and any other situation head on with nothing but her un-dieing faith. And she prevailed. To me that’s a miracle.

The characters in this book are very real and they make you feel like your in the Africa right along with them. The main character Immaculee really takes you to that tiny bathroom that she shared with 7 other girls, she takes you to the time that she was being hunted like she was some animal. This book and the characters hook you into it so you feel like you are actually there in this genocide. This brave woman shows and proves through her story what faith and hope can do and how far it can take you. She is an inspiration and truly a miracle herself.

I would recommend this book to everyone I have and will ever meet. Because it has not only changed my out look on life, but it has given me a new appreciation of the things that I have and my life as a whole. This is an amazing book and probably one of the only books I would consider picking up twice.