19. The Translator: A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari (2008)
Length: 200 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction; Memoir
Started: 10 February 2008
Finished: 10 February 2008
Summary: Daoud Hari is a Zaghawa tribesman from North Darfur. After fleeing from his village when it was attacked by the Sudanese Army in 2003, he began working as a translator for NGOs and journalists in refugee camps in Chad, and as a guide for journalists who wanted to make the dangerous crossing into Darfur to report on the conflict. After many near-death experiences, including a several-month ordeal in which he was captured by the Sudanese government as a spy, he has written his story into this simple and heartfelt plea for action to stop the genocide of his people.
Review: How can you properly review a book like this? All of my usual turns of phrase fail; I can’t really say that I enjoyed the experience of reading it. However, while it didn’t blow me away or reach new literary heights or anything, it did simply and quietly break my heart. Daoud’s voice is simple but powerful, and immediately draws you in, as though you were sitting down to talk over spiced tea. He tells his story in such a straightforward manner that it is impossible not to be drawn in, and horrified by what he describes. The most compelling parts are the most personal - in objective terms, the mass grave of eighty one young men is “worse” than the death of a single family member or friend, but the emotions (and thus the impact on the reader) come across most clearly when it is something that the author experienced instead of observed. The one thing I think would have most improved this book would have been a clearer picture of life in Darfur before the genocide - pieces filter through the rest of the story, but since the story begins with Hari out of the country when the attacks started, it would have benefitted from a little more scene-setting.
This book is not an easy read from a mental and emotional point of view, but it is a fast read, almost more like an extended magazine article. Daoud makes his point quickly but effectively, in a way that is deeply personal and moving but still infected with a quiet sense of joy, and friendship, and hope - hope that his words and the words of others will help make things better for his people and his home. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Should be read by everyone; It doesn’t require much of a time commitment, just a commitment of the human spirit.
This Review on LibraryThing | This Book on LibraryThing | This Book on Amazon
Posted in 4.5 stars, Non-Fiction | Tags: book, book review, daoud hari, darfur, early reviewer
