This book narrated by Eric Irivuzumugabe a Tutsi genocide survivor and written by Tracey D. Lawrence. This is a non fiction. It is not a novel as you may expect, it is a narrative. It is the story of a Tutsi boy (Eric) in Rwanda and his family, how they were persecuted by the Hutus and ended up victims of genocide. Eric miraculously survived with other few members of his family by hiding for 15 days on a cypress tree. This book narrates how he surrendered his life to Christ and ask him for redemption and forgiveness for those (Hutus) who have taken away what most he loved on earth.
Eric narrates about his spiritual healing after a very evil (if evil is bad enough to describe it here) experience, how he got the courage to put his life together and move forward instead of falling apart. How he was able to unburden the grudges from his soul and install love, the love of Christ that made it possible for him to forgive those who intensely hated him and slaughtered his family.
This is a book written in a very christian religious way, it is about forgiveness and the love of Christ. On each step of his spiritual healing he quotes verses from the bible that helped him.
This is an easy read, I read it in 3 or 4 days if not less. I have to admit I was expecting a novel, maybe something like a A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, but they are totally 2 different book written from different perspectives, that was why it received 3 Stars. I learnt a lot from this book that I felt an urge to investigate about Rwanda and the 1994 Genocide that took place, leaving a death toll of over a million which made it the most killed per day in any war of history to date, no enough medical aid to tend to the sick, nor was there counselling available to help with their hidden wounds.The genocide left 120,000 Rwandan children without parents making it the country with the largest orphan population of any country. This is a book about a spiritual healing. During Eric spiritual healing he said the following that I so much love and I have always held unto for a very long, reading it from him reinforces my ideology "Most people would say that persevering through a problem made them a bitter person, but one must make a conscious choice to see it as an opportunity to grow instead of allowing a bitter root to take over"
I recommend this book especially if you are spiritual person or a devoted christian or going through any process of forgiveness or just want to know a bit more about the 1994 Rwanda genocide. I also recommend this book if you are interested in knowing more about genocide and peace.
