"astonishing real-life story"

This story of a refugee, Deo, from the genocide in Burundi starts off really strongly. I thought it would be one of the best books of the year, but it does lose some of its pizazz before it ends. Nonetheless, it is a riveting story of one man's escape from an African civil war through a flight to New York City, where he landed with $200 and no English skills. Within two years he had enrolled at Columbia University, from which he eventually graduated. He then went to medical school at Dartmouth but had not yet finished med school at the time of the book's publication. It's an incredible story and well worth the time it takes to read. ( )

Kidder shows here once again that he does narrative non-fiction as well as anyone ever has. By turns both horrific and hopeful, this story of a Burundian refugee is a true hero's journey. ( )

Another fantastic Tracy Kidder book. The true story of Deo who comes to America after survivng civil war and genocide in Burundi. Reading his remarkable story makes me appreciate all the advantages I've had growing up safe and peaceful in the United States. This book also portrays how individuals can make such a stunning difference in a person's life. It's also a story about a man trying to live with his demons while always selflessly giving of himself to others in need. ( )

This is the inspiring story of Deo, a Tutsi who flees Burundi for New York City in 1994 after the start of genocidal violence there between the Hutus and the Tutsis. He was studying to be a doctor there, but he has to struggle just to survive in New York, sleeping in Central Park at night and working in a grocery store on the Upper East Side, as a delivery boy for $15 a day. He meets a woman in a church rectory while making a delivery, a former nun who decides to help. She finds him a benevolent couple who let him live with them in their Soho loft and help pay for his education at Columbia.

At first, it is difficult for him to even talk about what he saw and what happened to him in Burundi, how he survived. But, eventually we hear about it. When the violence broke out, he fled on foot for Rwanda, avoiding the Hutu militias on the way. There he lived in refugee camps for months, hiding among the mostly Hutu refugees by keeping quiet and to himself. He was so ill that people left him alone for the most part. The last part of the book describes a trip he took with the author back to Africa in 2006, revisiting many of the areas that he passed through and stayed in during that time.

This book is an excellent account of the horrors that occurred in that part of Africa at the time. You feel the fear and deprivations that Deo experienced as if you are there with him. I have not read any of Kidders other books, but based on this one I will read more of his work.

Deo survived in part out of sheer luck, that occurs several times over the course of the time he was fighting to survive in Africa and New York City. But, maybe that is what it takes to avoid a genocide that killed so many. He often just happened to meet the right person, who was willing to extend to him just a small bit of help at a crucial time. Or, just dumb luck, like the time when he returned to Africa to visit and was not able to change his plane ticket for a short flight from Rwanda to Burundi for a bus ticket to travel with a friend, and then the bus was destroyed. It makes me think hard about how I should live my life, and I think I am more likely now to try to help people who desperately need it, even if only in small ways. You never know the full effect that your efforts can produce. ( )