Rwanda 1994: Le camp de la vie

by Pat Masioni (Illustrator), Cécile Grenier, Alain Austini

A graphic novel depicting a dramatized and abridged version of life in the refugee camps post-Rwandan genocide.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am deeply interested in the Rwandan Genocide, and in improving my French. 'Twas for those reasons I picked up "Rwanda 1994." To keep it short, this BD/Graphic Novel does an OK job of painting a picture of Rwanda in the days and weeks following the main machette onslaught. You get to see how horrible life was in the camps and for those struggling to survive on the outside, and you get to see it in decently-illustrated colour. Unfortunately, the two main stories presented are strangely paced, as if edited at random, and it is hard to feel empathy beyond the basic human empathy of 'oh my god this is horrible' for the poorly-written characters, while many events seem to be stuck in a soup of slurpy progress. Moreover, the dialogue is at times powerful, at times reflective, and, more frequently, confusing or inane. I can't give it less than two stars because there is a prequel which I haven't read, which might solve questions about the characters and make everything a bit clearer, and some of the events aren't supposed to make sense, because, in some ways, the Rwandan Genocide didn't make sense and probably never should. Really, most of the book is quite feasible, and its faults are the result of sub-par writing.

True rating: 2.5 Stars