Strength in What Remains

Posted on 26 August 2018 by Tracy Kidder

Strength in What Remains is a wonderfully written, inspiring account of one man s remarkable American journey and of the ordinary people who helped him a brilliant testament to the power of will and of second chances.Tracy Kidder, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of the bestsellers The Soul of a New Machine, House, and the enduring classic Mountains Beyond Mountains, has been described by the Balti Sun as the master of the non fiction narrative In this new book, Kidder gives us the superb story of a hero for our time Strength in What Remains is a wonderfully written, inspiring account of one man s remarkable American journey and of the ordinary people who helped him a brilliant testament to the power of will and of second chances Deo arrives in America from Burundi in search of a new life Having survived a civil war and genocide, plagued by horrific dreams, he lands at JFK airport with two hundred dollars, no English, and no contacts He ekes out a precarious existence delivering groceries, living in Central Park, and learning English by reading dictionaries in bookstores Then Deo begins to meet the strangers who will change his life, pointing him eventually in the direction of Columbia University, medical school, and a life devoted to healing Kidder breaks new ground in telling this unforgettable story as he travels with Deo back over a turbulent life in search of meaning and forgiveness An extraordinary writer, Tracy Kidder once again shows us what it means to be fully human by telling a story about the heroism inherent in ordinary people, a story about a life based on hope. Best Download eBook Strength in What Remains By Tracy Kidder – kino-fada.fr I wanted to like this bookthan I did I normally love Tracy Kidder books And this book had an incredibly compelling story to tell, about a man who escapes genocide in Burundi and amazingly goes on to complete his education and even return to Africa to help rebuild his country Yet somehow the author keeps getting in the way of the story At first, describing the main character s journey to America, he is a little condescending, making Deo seem a little simple when in reality he is a bi li I wanted to like this bookthan I did I normally love Tracy Kidder books And this book had an incredibly compelling story to tell, about a man who escapes genocide in Burundi and amazingly goes on to complete his education and even return to Africa to help rebuild his country Yet somehow the author keeps getting in the way of the story At first, describing the main character s journey to America, he is a little condescending, making Deo seem a little simple when in reality he is a bi lingual former medical school student Later, Kidder switches to a first person narrative when he follows Deo on a trip back to Burundi This last third of the book is muchabout Tracy Kidder than it needs to be Also, throughout the book, the narrative keeps jumping through time in a way that isn t exactly confusing, but is annoying and unnecessary Still, the book is gripping simply because the story being told is so remarkable and inspirational I recommend...Kidder is considered the master of non fictional narrative He lets his subjects tell their own story, in effect crafting their autobiography In this case, his subject is Deo, a medical student who survived the bloodbaths of the Burundi and Rwanda and makes it to America only to face a prolonged period of challenges in surviving in Harlem Yet, with timely help from key people along his way, he gains an education and ends up doing public health work with Paul Farmer s Partners in Health organiz Kidder is considered the master of non fictional narrative He lets his subjects tell their own story, in effect crafting their autobiography In this case, his subject is Deo, a medical student who survived the bloodbaths of the Burundi and Rwanda and makes it to America only to face a prolonged period of challenges in surviving in Harlem Yet, with timely help from key people along his way, he gains an education and ends up doing public health work with Paul Farmer s Partners in Health organization His heart is big enough to forgive the perpetrators, and those who helped Deo come to feelbenefits from him than they render These include an ex nun working among the homeless and a Soho couple, a sociology professor and his artist wife The task of understanding the origins of the mass killings in these small countries is confounded by the Tsutsi and Hutu sharing the same language, ...Fabulous, moving and complex it takes you between NYC and Burundi and Rwanda through the life of Deo, who was medical student when the massacres of Tutsis began in Burundi Oct 1993 about 6 months before the genocide in Rwanda It is not easy to describe this book, but Tracy Kidder with his usual understated gift manages to allow us to begin to enter the unimaginable world of Deo, in ways that don t ever reduce anything to simple It is a must read if you care about being human, and maintain Fabulous, moving and complex it takes you between NYC and Burundi and Rwanda through the life of Deo, who was medical student when the massacres of Tutsis began in Burundi Oct 1993 about 6 months before the genocide in Rwanda It is not easy to describe this boo...Where are we today at the beginning of the 21st Century Where are we headed I have been reading books that focus on ethnic cleansing and genocide It seems to me there isandof this with each year that passes What does this say about the way the world is run today How do different books tackle these questions When The Stars Fall To Earth was very good, albeit simple, but with an important message It was fiction It dealt with the problems that continue today in Darfur I kept th Where are we today at the beginning of the 21st Century Where are we headed I have been reading books that focus on ethnic cleansing and genocide It seems to me there isandof this with each year that passes What does this say about the way the world is run today How do different books tackle these questions When The Stars Fall To Earth was very good, albeit simple, but with an important message It was fiction It dealt with the problems that continue today in Darfur I kept thinking, why did I like it so much even if it is simple and fictional, but I did I liked it because it spoke of today s world and it spoke with clarity.Strength in What Remains A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness by Tracy Kidder is equally good This one is biographical The author lets Deo, a survivor of the Rwandan Burundi genocide, speak of his experiences This is non fiction, but it too speaks with clari...It s not easy to write an effective genocide memoir At first, it shocks and moves the reader to see people turn on each other, bodies burned, and children slaughtered As the bodies start piling up, we start feeling numb and removed from the violence, which seems cartoonish at a certain point Tracy Kidder takes a different approach by starting the story in the middle, as Deo is leaving Burundi We suffer with Deo as he struggles to find his feet as a penniless illegal immigrant in New York wit It s not easy to write an effective genocide memoir At first, it shocks and moves the reader to see people turn on each other, bodies burned, and children slaughtered As the bodies start piling up, we start feeling numb and removed from the violence, which seems cartoon...Despite the awkward title a quote from Wordsworth this is a great book about good and evil, even better than Mountains beyond Mountains, although it is in way a sequel to Kidder s essay on Dr Paul Farmer, the man who single handedly took on tuberculosis and the World Health Organization The tale of Deo, a survivor of tbe Burundi holocaust a lesser known adjunct to the Rwanda slaughter , isaccessible as Deo, a medical student refugee, is at first less heroic than Dr Farmer, Deo is Despite the awkward title a quote from Wordsworth this is a great book about good and evil, even better than Mountains beyond Mountains, although it is in way a sequel to Kidder s essay on Dr P...This is a readable but mediocre book that gets a lot of praise because it s about an impressive person and a tragic topic Deogratias grew up in rural Burundi with few advantages, but made it to medical school, until he got caught up in the genocide in Rwanda and Burundi in 1993 A friend helped him flee to New York City, where despite a job delivering groceries he found himself homeless at first, until making friends who helped him get back on his feet He then went to college and medical schoo This is a readable but mediocre book that gets a lot of praise because it s about an impressive person and a tragic topic Deogratias grew up in rural Burundi with few advantages, but made it to medical school, until he got caught up in the genocide in Rwanda and Burundi in 1993 A friend helped him flee to New York City, where despite a job delivering groceries he found himself homeless at first, until making friends who helped him get back on his fe...I have read most of what Kidder has written, and this is my least favorite of his books The others I could have read purely for the subject matter or because I love the way he writes My favorites include House, Among Schoolchildren, and The Soul of a New Machine because they satisfy both cravings I liked Mountains Beyond Mountains because it gave me so much new information far outside my normal interests.This book did not hold as much fascination for me It is really two books, one about the I have read most of what Kidder has written, and this is my least favorite of his books The others I could have read purely for the subject matter or because I love the way he writes My favorites include House, Among Schoolchildren, and The Soul of a New Machine because they satisfy both cravings I liked Mountains Beyond Mountains because it gave me so much new information far outside my normal interests.This book did not hold as much fascination for me It is really two books, one about the Burundi Rwandan civil wars and genocide The other is about Deogratias, a Burundian refugee who ended up in the US The genocide I cannot get my mind around Eleven thousand dead in a day by machete and clubs ...Tracy Kidder s Strength in What Remains is a compelling and compellingly told story, certainly worthy of any reader s effort, but, in the end, somewhat incomplete or vaguely disappointing Simply put, the story ends too soon and we never quite find out what his protagonist accomplishes relative to his new life vision We leave him as he s just begun to attempt it, which feels premature after the significant and moving ground that we have covered with him to that point The subject hero of this Tracy Kidder s Strength in What Remains is a compelling and compellingly told story, certainly worthy of any reader s effort, but, in the end, somewhat incomplete or vaguely disappointing Simply put, the story ends too soon and we never quite find out what his protagonist accomplishes relative to his new life vision We leave him as he s just begun to attempt it, which feels premature after the significant and moving ground that we have covered with him to that point The subject hero of this book is Deogratias and his story is truly one of the amazing, only in America var...I m about 4 5 of the way through this book, and I wanted to record my impressions I love this book It s heartbreakingly sad but also enheartening and healing, in some inexplicable way I love Deo, the person whose story this is I ve felt since the genocide in Rwanda and Burundi that my understanding of and response to this episode was pathetically inadequate I know that that particular time and place was not special or odd Things like that can happen anywher...

English
26 August 2018

Tracy Kidder