Breakup: A Marriage in Wartime

by Anjan Sundaram

Award-winning journalist Anjan Sundaram must reckon with the devastating personal cost of war correspondance when he travels to the Central African Republic to report on preparations for a genocide hidden from the world, leaving his wife and newborn behind in Canada

After ten years of reporting from central Africa for The New York Times, Associated Press, and others, Anjan Sundaram finds himself living a quiet life in Shippagan, Canada, with his wife and newborn. But when word arrives of preparations for ethnic cleansing in the Central African Republic, he is suddenly torn between his duty as a husband and father, and his moral responsibility to report on a conflict unseen by the world.

Soon he is traveling through the CAR, with a driver who may be a spy, bearing witness to ransacked villages and locals fleeing imminent massacre, fielding offers of mined gold and hearing stories of soldiers who steal schoolbooks for rolling paper. When he refuses to return home, journeying instead into a rebel stronghold, he learns that there is no going back to the life he left behind.

Breakup illuminates the personal price that war correspondents pay as they bear witness on the frontlines of humanitarian crimes across the world. This brilliantly introspective, grounded account of one man’s inner turmoil in the context of a dangerous journey through a warzone is sure to become a modern classic.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Africa, War, History, Journalism, Biography Memoir

208 pages, Hardcover

First published April 11, 2023

About the author

Anjan Sundaram is the author of Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship and Stringer: A Reporter's Journey in the Congo. An award-winning journalist, he has reported from central Africa for the New York Times and the Associated Press. His writing has also appeared in Granta, The Guardian, Observer, Foreign Policy, Telegraph and The Washington Post. His war correspondence from the Central African Republic won a Frontline Club award in 2015, and his reporting on Pygmy tribes in Congo's rainforest won a Reuters prize in 2006. His work has also been shortlisted for the Prix Bayeux and the Kurt Schork award. Stringer was a Royal African Society Book of the Year in 2014. Anjan graduated from Yale University.

Reviews

[Jacqueline Nyathi · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://shonareads.wordpress.com/2023...

The temptation was very strong as I read this book to most uncharitably roll my eyes ("What was he even *doing* there??"), and I cringed mightily over the definite outsider's gaze in the author's approach to the Central African Republic (CAR); but I do have some empathy, in the end, for what Sundaram had been trying to do, and for his pain and trauma. After all, someone must tell the story, and maybe people will listen more if it's someone they respect, which would never be true of local (African/CAR) journalists. Sundaram was needed to bring the attention of the war to Western media, as was the Human Rights Watch worker identified as Lewis in the book. Still, those Heart of Darkness feelings stayed with me right up to the end of the book, and soured for me what is otherwise an interesting and heartfelt story.

Sundaram writes about how he felt compelled to go to the CAR to tell the little-known story of the war there, ostensibly between Christians and Muslims, but with a long colonial history (of course) involving France (–none of the colonisers are clean, no matter how much they try to sanitise their image). His experiences there, and various other things, led to the break-up of the book’s title, of his marriage to a fellow journalist. This is a memoir in every sense, with our exposure through it to a lot of the author's interiority; but it is also interesting for the historical details of his traumatic time in the CAR. I did learn a lot about the dynamics of the CAR from this book, and that was wonderful. The final section of the book (a chapter or two) details the actual end of Sundaram's marriage, and his attempts to make sense of what happened.

In all, a decent read, that will probably appeal to others more than it did to me. I am glad I read it, and I'm sorry I didn't like it more, which always makes me feel bad when I read a true story. Thank you to Catapult for the DRC.

[Barbara Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbing the sacrifices people have to make so the world can be aware of what's happening in remote regions. Eye opening.

[Izzy Quattrucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

An impactful story about sacrifices made to tell important stories when no one is listening. Excited for the Jaipur Literature Festival next week and to hear Sundaram speak.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

The spare prose left me feeling unsatisfied and yet he made me feel the cold of Shippagan and I felt his horror, if you will, of the brutal cold of his home. I could identify with his home life much easier than the war torn world he was reporting on. There is no question, however, of his dedication to reporting the atrocities of war.

Thank you to Goodreads for a copy for my review.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crazy stories from the reporter going to Central Africa to report on the war which rarely gets the mention in western countries including Canada where he resides with his wife and kid. Incredibly close calls on his travels and navigating the rebels and government to stay alive and take account of the situation. What I thought particularly disturbing was the value of a white person's life to hundreds of locals, where they managed to save hundreds of lives with mere presence there. And simultaneously navigating the personal life and coming to terms with priorities changing with a baby on the picture which caused the lives of him and his wife to drift apart, despite originally planning to maintain their careers in the journalism and travelling as part of it.

[Livre_monde · Rating 2 out of 5]

One can only imagine how a first-hand witness can be affected by a war. We have had numerous stories written on how a soldier or a prisoner of war gets affected by the cruelty of war. However, it was the first time I came across a book discussing the effects of a war on a war correspondent at a personal level. 


Anjan Sundaram, who worked as a freelance war correspondent and reported about some of the unknown, dangerous, and remote wars in Central Africa, has given a detailed account of his experiences in war-torn Africa while juggling between his duty as a war correspondent, a husband and a father of a newborn. 


While the book's title gives an impression that the book is focused on the Author's marriage, nearly ¾ of the book is about the war, with a few bits and pieces about how it was building circumstances for the breakup. Only the last chapter of the book is about marriage. I am just sharing this information so that you can make a conscious decision about reading this book accordingly. 


From a writing style perspective,  I felt this book was less engaging and unable to hold the attention for long. I had to strain myself to keep reading. The content felt haphazard to me, with information thrown here and there. There is no premise building in the beginning to engage readers and no evident effort to structure the information, which gives a feeling of raw editing. While I duly respect the author's experiences. As a reviewer and a critique, I must be honest that the writing needed more work to make it engaging.

[myliteraryworld · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Breakup: A Marriage in Wartime" presents an emotionally charged memoir, offering a personal account of the author's life as a war correspondent in the Central African Republic. Sundaram's decision to leave his wife and newborn daughter in Canada while he ventured into the heart of conflict adds a layer of vulnerability to the story. It's more than war reporting; it's a soul-searching journey that reveals the profound impact of war on personal life. The author's vivid descriptions provide an intimate view of a war-ravaged nation, shedding light on a conflict often overlooked by history. Sundaram delves into the emotional toll of journalism, offering a rare look at the personal sacrifices made by reporters. This exploration of the emotional aspect of journalism is a noteworthy addition to the genre, making the book a valuable historical document and a must-read for those interested in the human side of conflict reporting.

[Andrew McKee · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the journalism alone, five stars. Sundaram boldly and masterfully reports on a small country that you might not have heard about (if you don't live in Africa). It's one that rich countries don't include in their news reports, but...they do muck around quite a lot with the local politics because of the rich resources of the country. Second, the writer shares vulnerably about the tolls on his marriage of international, danger-ridden reporting. Third, you'll learn a lot about the CAR and the history of colonialism and post-independence strife by reading this tautly-written, succinct book.

[ಥ_ಥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me on a journey. While there were moments that made me unsure about the author's perspective as an outsider on the Central African Republic (CAR), I also understood his desire to bring attention to the conflict there. Sundaram's storytelling succeeded in highlighting the CAR's war in Western media, where local journalists might have struggled. Despite my mixed feelings, I appreciated the insights into the CAR's history and complexities. The author's personal story, including the dissolution of his marriage, added depth to the narrative.

[Brianna King · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was such an interesting read. It provided a perspective that I have never considered exploring: how individuals who choose to travel and record war crimes, war information, and so on have to leave their families behind and the toll this can take. Although this work is extremely important, how does human life come into play? How does the mundane tasks included in marriage and parental duties become impacted? I learned a lot regarding the political climate in Central Africa and about the various war crimes/ human rights violations committed. I enjoyed this book and would recommend.

[Tiffany Teng · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful for understanding the danger of reporting during a war; far less about the actual dissolution of his marriage. The title and flyleaf position you to think the book is about the latter; the majority of the book is a first person account of war reporting. Insightful to that end.

[B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrilling and heartbreaking narrative. Unexpectedly, one of my favorite books of the year.

[Ayushman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sundaram’s poor writing lets down both the Central African Republic and his family. The disinterested acknowledgements, effectively a bulleted list, perfectly encapsulates his detachments.

[Anushri Nanavati · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a shockingly average read, because despite the very eventful nature of the book, the narration strangely fell flat. I couldn't resonate with all the action and emotion that went on in it. But still, three stars because it's a story that needs to be told...the Central African one, that is. Not sure I gauged much about the personal relationship the journalist has/had with his ex-wife.