|
She was as good a hostess as she is a story teller. She also paints a vivid picture of life there. I spent four years in Rwanda, at Mudende, less than 1/2 a mile down the road from where Roz Carr lived. Her love of the country and its people truly come through in this book. I would recommend it to anyone who loves to read about winners and survivors. My wife and I got to know her quite well. This book brought back a lot of memories.
If visiting Rwanda a visit to her loved home and orphanage 'Mugongo' makes this book come alive. To start up an orphanage in one's 80's is amazing. Great to see her good work continuing since her passing. A fascinating read and historical insight into Rwanda and it's neighbours. Ros Carr's fortitude and life described in the book was truly inspiring.
I think the more we learn about other countries and their history a better understanding we will have of the people.I plan to do more reading in this area. Even though we hear negatives about many places- it was nice to see both sides for a change. I chose this book to learn more about Rwanda and it's history. I learned alot in addition to the account of the author's life there.
It was also fascinating to read her stories about Dian Fossey. They may have done better to have it co-written by someone with better credentials than being a relative of the primary author.If you have some time to spare, and are interested in the fading days of European empire in Africa, you may well find this a good use of time. Which isn't to say that Land of a Thousand Hills is a bad book. Worse, I didn't really feel that I trusted much of what I did learn.One exception to this is that so few people are willing to write about the Tutsi at all critically, following the genocide. Land of A Thousand Hills is an autobiography by Rosamond Halsey Carr.
Carr actually builds a hesitant case for the defense without excusing Huti excesses, something that probably took a fair amount of personal courage. It is certainly interesting biographically. That was interesting.The book is not terribly well written, although the prose is generally clean. But walk, don't run, to the book store. Carr certainly knew some very interesting people.I suppose that I was mostly disappointed because I expected it to say more about Rwanda as a country. She clearly was not that, and to her credit I guess that she never pretended to be.
She lived in Rwanda from 1949 until her death in 2006. Carr was a fascinating woman. I didn't feel as though I learned much about the politics of the time that she lived through. Originally the owner of a flower plantation, she went on at 82 to open an orphanage for children left parentless during the Hutu-Tutsi genocide.I had higher hopes for this book. Given her obvious personal strength, I expected her to be a more unbiased observer. At 82, I hope that I'm the kind of woman who will return to a war zone to start an orphanage.
It isn't. The sheer strength of her decision to stay in Africa after the collapse of her marriage in order to run a flower plantation on her own is really impressive-- more so considering the time.
Carr and seen the beauty of her adopted country that she saw for over 50 years. Bravo. I always read everything I can get my hands on about Africa, having had the luxury of visiting Kenya & Tanzania a few years ago. This book is at the top of my list, along with Mark Ross' "Dangerous Beauty." I commend Ann Howard Halsey for helping her aunt write this story about life in Rwanda. The authors do a great job explaining the politics and culture of the country as well. Carr lost during the tragic events of the genocide (and all the people she loved who were killed by senseless murders), happily, Rosamond Halsey Carr's heroic story will last forever. I only wish I could have known Ms.
I enjoyed Carr's stories about her friend Dian Fosse, too--she didn't romanticize the truth. Most of the book is of the 40-50 years she spent in Rwanda which lead up to the events of the genocide--there are plenty of happy times, but it wasn't an easy life.
With all the material things Ms. What a horrific, under publicized period of history she lived through (and miraculously lived to tell the story).
Once you visit, you'll always want to return, even if it is only through the eyes of others. (I would have a thousand questions to ask her, too).
This book is worth the read. What a treasure.
This book reads "like butter."--beautifully written, yet deep and provocative; never boring.
|
