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Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness by Tracy Kidder

This non-fiction story is an inspiring, amazing account of Deogratias "Deo", a young man from Burundi and of the Tutsi tribe. While a medical student, Deo survived civil war and genocide, taking a 6 month journey beginning in 1993 to arrive in New York at about age 25. He arrived with $200, no contacts, and unable to speak English (though he did speak French). He survived by camping in Central Park, working at a job delivering groceries and learned English by reading dictionaries. Along the way he met people who entered his life to help him. He eventually attended medical school in the US, became a doctor and a US citizen. After 14 years, he returned temporarily to Burundi and has started a medical clinic there. I believe he still returns to the clinic and Burundi off and on.

I just finished Say You're One of Them, by Uwem Akpan, a short story collection in which the title story was about the warring between the Tutsi and Hutu. This made the story of Deo (a Tutsi) all the more real.

I'm looking forward to reading this amazing story. I'm a sucker for inspirational books and find it remarkable when individuals transcend overwhelming odds to better themselves.

This is really a good one, Lisa, I've been recommending it. The power of one person is just amazing.

I knew a lot about the topic going into this book, so while I liked it very much, especially Kidder's easy writing style, it didn't give me a lot of "new" information. That said, I did find Deo's individual story interesting, it was more the big picture issue that I didn't learn much on.