The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After by Clemantine WamariyaMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This memoir was beautiful. It followed Wamariya as she and her sister flee civil war in Rwanda, survive several refugee camps throughout Africa, and eventually make their way to the United States.
What I most liked about this is that embarrassingly, the majority of my knowledge of the civil war in Rwanda was based on the movie Hotel Rwanda. This was a great education on what happened after - how did the people who escaped make their way, what kind of difficulties did they have, how did resettlement feel to people, what did it do to relationships among refugees?
Wamariya was generous in sharing a wide swath of her experience - from the pain and disappointment, to the people who helped her, to the complex relationship she had with her sister, and even the dark side of appearing on Oprah. Truly a lovely, honest, and wonderful memoir.
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