An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography Author: Visit Amazon's Paul Rusesabagina Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0143038605 | Format: EPUB
An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography Description
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. For former hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, words are the most powerful weapon in the human arsenal. For good and for evil, as was the case in the spring of 1994 in Rwanda. Over 100 days, some 800,000 people were slaughtered, most hacked to death by machete. Rusesabagina—inspiration for the movie
Hotel Rwanda—used his facility with words and persuasion to save 1,268 of his fellow countrymen, turning the Belgian luxury hotel under his charge into a sanctuary from madness. Through negotiation, favor, flattery and deception, Rusesabagina managed to keep his "guests" alive another day despite the homicidal gangs just beyond the fence and the world's failure to act. Narrator Hoffman delivers those words in a stirring audio performance. With a crisp African accent, Hoffman renders each sentence with heartfelt conviction and flat-out becomes Rusesabagina. The humble hotel manager not only illuminates the machinery behind the genocide but delves into Rwanda's complex and colorful cultural history as well as his own childhood, the son of a Hutu father and Tutsi mother. Hoffman successfully draws out the understated elegance of Rusesabagina's simple and straightforward prose, lending the story added vividness. This tale of good, evil and moral responsibility winds down with Rusesabagina visiting a church outside Kigali where thousands were massacred and where a multilingual sign-cloth now pledges, "Never Again." He once more stops to consider words, the ones he worries lack true conviction—like those at the church—as well as the ones with the power to heal. For the listener, the words of Paul Rusesabagina won't soon be forgotten.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
Rusesabagina . . . weaves his country’s history with his personal history into a rich narrative that attempts to explain the unexplainable. . . . The book’s emotional power comes from his understatement and humility. (The Boston Globe)
An extraordinary cautionary tale. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Rusesabagina’s story of survival amid manic slaughter is as awful as it is gripping. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Read this book. It will humble and inspire you. (Sunday Telegraph, London)
Extraordinary—horrific and tragic, but also inspiring, because Rusesabagina refuses to give up his belief in the basic decency of humanity. (The Times, London)
See all Editorial Reviews
- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (February 27, 2007)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0143038605
- ISBN-13: 978-0143038603
- Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
- Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Well written, provocative and emotionally captivating. "An Ordinary Man" should be required reading for everyone, especially young adults - our future generation. I had the pleasure of meeting Paul Rusesbagina when he spoke at a local college on April 10th to a crowd of over 1000. He is humble, bright and compassionate. He escaped death at least half a dozen times during the spring of 1994. I can only wonder if God's plan was not only for him to save 1268 lives, but to bring the whole issue of genocide to the forefront of the minds of the hundreds of thousands who will read this book.
I bought his book on the spot and have been consumed by it for the past week. I've stayed up late; I began researching genocide and I've been lost in deep thought and prayer for those who were murdered and those who are being murdered by genocide as you read this. I plan on reading it again, more slowly in a few months in order to digest all of his ideas, opinions and suggestions.
History was presented to me in a boring manner in high school, but the movie "Hotel Rwanda" and now this book, have caused me to stop what I am doing and take a good hard look at the whole issue of genocide.
Not only genocide, but I can see how the power elite (high level politicians in our country) try to build a case with rhetoric and faulty arguments to get Americans to unknowingly agree with some ludicrous and dangerous beliefs, such as support for the current war in Iraq and possible aggression toward Iran.
In 1994, I remember listening to radio commentary that suggested that the US stay out of Rwanda's affairs and I agreed because that's the case that was built and that's what I heard on the radio. Now I know differently.
An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography Preview
Link
Please Wait...