"Left to Tell" Book Review

Looking for a good book to read?  I highly recommend "Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust" by Immaculee Ilibagiza.  Immaculee was a young university student in 1994 when the Hutu government in Rwanda began slaughtering the Tutsi minority in the country.  Because she was Tutsi, Immaculee was forced to go into hiding or be killed.  This book tells the amazing true story of how she survived and dealt with the heartbreak that followed. 

I loved this book!  I've read multiple books about people's experiences from the Holocaust in Germany and other similar tragedies but I'd never really felt the emotion behind them until I read Immaculee's story.  The sheer horror of the events that took place were almost overwhelming. 

The book was a huge eye-opener for me because I had never heard about the Rwandan genocide; Immaculee Ilibagiza does a very good job of weaving the history behind the genocide and her personal story together.  I was asked to read the book for a class so at first I was a little skeptical because most books professors ask you to read are informative but not at all interesting.  This book is definitely and exception to that rule, I couldn’t put it down!

Immaculee Ilibagiza has become one of my heroes after reading this book.  I don’t know how she found the strength to forgive the people who killed her family but it inspired me to be more forgiving of those who have wronged me.  If Immaculee can find it in her heart to forgive then I certainly can.  I know some people aren’t religious but I am and this book definitely increased my faith in God.  Through her faith, Immaculee was able to make something good come out of a horrible situation. 

I would recommend this book to anyone, religious or not.  Not only is it a huge eye-opener about what happened in Rwanda in 1994 but I also believe that you could learn a lot about life from it.  Forgiveness and hope are not purely Christian virtues but can offer peace and comfort to anyone who needs it.  The book raises a lot of questions about humanity and how people can do such horrible and senseless things but it also offers a plan for a brighter future.