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The Barefoot Woman

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( 1,787 ratings, 246 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Barefoot Woman by Scholastique Mukasonga is a poignant memoir that pays tribute to the author's mother, Stefania, and the resilience of their family in Rwanda amidst the looming genocide. With a focus on cultural traditions and familial bonds, the book offers a deeply moving reflection on love, survival, and loss.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate powerful memoirs that delve into personal and historical narratives. It offers a poignant glimpse into the author's experiences and memories of her mother during the Rwandan genocide, providing both a touching tribute and a vivid depiction of cultural endurance.

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It was while we were weeding the sorghum field thatMama taught me most of her memories of the Rwandathat used to be. Alas! I've forgotten so many of thesecrets Stefania told me, the secrets a mother tells onlyher daughter.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

From the author of the critically acclaimed novel Our Lady of the Nile, comes a haunting, delicately wrought work of non-fiction, memorialising a lost childhood, community and way of life.

When Scholastique Mukasonga's family are killed in the genocide of the Tutsis by the Hutus in Rwanda, she is unable to fulfil her mother Stefania's wish to shroud her body with pagne. So instead, she now weaves her mother's shroud with words, drawing on inherited traditions of storytelling to offer a devastating, unforgettable tribute.

In beautiful, lucid prose, Mukasonga lays before us the fierce courage and strength of her mother as she fought for her children's safety, her family's exile to the Burundi border, and her community's efforts to maintain ritual and tradition. Vivid, evocative and deeply moving, this is a remarkable work of art and act of love.

'A powerful work of witness and memorial, a loving act of reconstruction, and an unflinching reckoning.' - Zadie Smith

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Barefoot Woman by Scholastique Mukasonga has been praised for its poignant and moving portrayal of the author's mother and their shared experience of survival during the Rwandan genocide. The memoir beautifully captures the strength, resilience, and enduring love in the face of unimaginable hardship, with evocative prose that honours Mukasonga's mother's memory. Critics have highlighted its emotional depth and the powerful way it personalises a broader historical tragedy.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781914198083

Publisher: Daunt Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 07 April 2022

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Daunt Books

Contributors:

  • Translated by Jordan Stump
  • Translated by Jordan Stump
  • Translated by Jordan Stump

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Weight: 250g

Pages: 153

About the Author

Scholastique Mukasonga was born in Rwanda in 1956. She settled in France in 1992, only two years before the brutal genocide of the Tutsi swept through Rwanda. In the aftermath, Mukasonga learned that thirty-seven of her family members had been massacred. Mukasonga has won many prizes, for individual books and for the body of her work. Among those for the latter are the Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Women's Freedom, an American Academy of Arts and Letters award and the Seligmann Prize from the Chancellery of the University of Paris.

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    Longlisted for The National Book Critics Circle Awards for Barrios Books in Translation Prize. In four beautifully woven parts, Mukasonga spins a marvellous recounting of the clash between ancient Rwandan beliefs and the missionaries determined to replace them with European Christianity. When a rogue priest is defrocked for fusing the gospels with the martyrdom of Kibogo, a fierce clash of...
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