Jean Hatzfeld (1) (1949–)

I have mixed feelings about this anthology of interviews from the Hutus who performed genocide in Rwanda and the Tutsis who survived it. On the one hand. the interview material is well presented and fascinating, documenting the attempted reconciliation following a mass release of nearly all of the Hutus involved in the genocide from prison into an uncomfortable coexistence. On the other, the author makes broad statements, such as those about 'Africa' (alluding to an entire continent through a single country's history), and seems to miss out on many of the important cultural and social points that are apparent in the interviews (the adjustment of attitudes of the guilty; the repeated importance of reconciliation by all sides; the foreign involvement that helped to cause this atrocity). As a documentation of characters and interviews this is worth a read, but as a literary exploration it becomes disappointing, particularly in the later chapters.… (meer)