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Broken Memory: A Story Of Rwanda (2009)

by Elisabeth Combres(Favorite Author)

3.46 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0888998929 (ISBN13: 9780888998927)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Groundwood Books

review 1: April 1994. Rwanda is at war with itself. The Hutus and the Tutsi's. On April 6th, after the assassination of the Rwandan president, the Rawandan army begins massacring the Tutsi population. Almost one million Tutsi citizens are killed. Emma's mother is one of them.Emma is five years old when her mother is brutally murdered by Hutu rebels. When they arrive at her house, Emma's mother hides her behind the sofa telling her "you must not die, Emma!" These last words stay in Emma's mind and make her determined to survive, no matter what the odds. After her mother's death she finds herself swept along in a sea of refugees - ending up at the door of an old woman who takes her in.Mukecuru becomes Emma's substitute grandmother and gives her a sense of family. Slowly Emma begins to... more reach out to others, especially a boy named Ndoli, who has also lost everything and was horribly injured during the massacre. Ndoli befriends and old man and eventually so does Emma. The Old Man is someone who has been sent to Rwanda to help refugee children return home and begin healing the injuries of the past.After a long time, he takes Emma home, where she sifts through what is left of her burned down house. As she sifts through the rubble, she picks up some of her mother's possessions and turns them over in her hands. This triggers memories from her past that had been buried for a long time. She begins to remember her mother's face, which had faded in her mind, and she breaks down amongst the rubble. This is a turning point for Emma. Her life will never be the same.Recommended for ages 12 and up
review 2: I really liked this book. What an incredible story about a young girl and all she has to deal with after hearing the murder of her mother when she is only five years old. After listening to the death of her mother, Emma runs to find safety. She finds herself on the doorstep of an old woman who risks her life to hide and take care of Emma. As the years pass, Emma's dreams are haunted by what happened that awful night. However, her memories of her mother are fading, she remembers less and less about her mother. Emma finds friendship in a boy who was tortured during the war and an old man who strives to helps these children survivors heal. I liked this book. I think Elisabeth Combres did a good job portraying the awfulness of the war and it's aftereffects. While at the same time this book is written well for a young audience. less

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