Strength in What Remains

Introduction

Strength in What Remains is a well written and engaging biography of Tracy Kidder, telling the story of Deogratias and his escape from Burundi to Rwanda and back again during the genocide in both countries. He ended up escaping to the United States where he struggled to survive and was eventually taken in by a couple who helped him to complete his education (Kidder (a), p. 124). He now works as a doctor. Kidder seems to have met Deogratias through Paul Farmer, whom he profiled in his previous work, Mountains Beyond Mountains. In this paper, I present my analysis of the book. In presenting the analysis, I first present a brief summary of the book, followed by a critical analysis and a conclusion coupled with my personal reflection about the learning experience for me.

Summarization of the book

Tracy Kidder writes brilliantly and simply about Deogratias (in Latin his name means thanks be to God), the agonies of fleeing on foot from civil war and genocide in his home country, Burundi, and neighboring Rwanda. Deo lands in the U.S. with $200, no English, knowing no one, and with memories of horror so fresh he is afraid to sleep. Through his strength of will and the help of strangers, he manages to survive. In two years, he is enrolled at Columbia University, well on his way to becoming the doctor he had studied for at home before life blew around him. The story is told through Deo's eyes and bounces between his life in New York City (working for $ 15 a day, sleeping in Central Park, meeting and being helped by a nun, then other people) and his former life in rural Burundi (helping tend his grandfather's cattle, living side by side with neighbours who become enemies overnight). Not until the last third of the book does Tracy Kidder insert himself into the tale, when Deo takes him and some colleagues from school and Partners in Health back home to retrace his steps and meet what family survived the slaughters.

This book is told in two parts. The first part details Deo's life and struggles from a young child to the present. The second part of the book allows others who had some part of his life, especially once he found assistance in the United States, to tell their sides of his story including why and how they became involved. In the second section we also spend some time with Kidder and Deo as they return to Burundi and spend some time going back to some of the sites mentioned.

Deo received numerous acts of kindness throughout his journey in New York City, each having a significant impact on him. The Hutu woman he met is one example. But Deo also received a lot of help from the people of New York. The first friend he made in New York was a man named Muhammad. Muhammad would provide a home for Deo, although it was hardly a place to call ...