Over a Thousand Hills I Walk With You

by Hanna Jansen

Book Review

Publishers Weekly :

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Starred Review. Smoothly translated, this hard-hitting book chronicles the experiences of Jansen's adopted daughter, Jeanne d'Arc Umubyeyi, the sole member of her Tutsi family to survive the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Jansen first depicts Jeanne's happy, secure life with her educator parents, older brother and younger sister. Yet the early chapters hint at trouble ahead, as the eight-year-old overhears her mother and a friend discussing political unrest in Rwanda and news of the persecution of Tutsis. As Jeanne listens to this, "the sense of an approaching calamity crept up to her like a predator." Jansen's description of the brutal massacre that follows is candid and horrifying, especially when Jeanne witnesses the murders of her mother and brother. Some readers may feel that the opening notes for each chapter, from Jansen to her daughter, disrupt the narrative flow as the author reflects on the vastness of Jeanne's loss and the depth of her strength and resilience (she likens the girl's resolve to that of her namesake: "Jeanne d'Arc of the thousand hills, you are a fighter!"). But the account of Jeanne's survival is remarkable and inspiring, as she indeed proves herself a fighter in many ways, battling sadness, extreme physical discomfort and an acute sense of loneliness. The heroine's story ends on a welcome note of hope, as the author describes a girl riding on an airplane, bound for Germany, where after "a time of getting to know each other" she will know "that she belongs to us." Ages 12-up. (Apr.)

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School Library Journal :

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Starred Review. Gr 9 Up–The patient encouragement of the author to help her adopted daughter, Jeanne d'Arc Umubyeyi, come to terms with her memories provides the frame for this account of genocide in Rwanda in 1994. When Jeanne was eight, Hutu neighbors massacred her family and destroyed her home; she witnessed the murder of her mother and brother, as well as other Tutsis, strangers and family friends. Beautifully crafted and smoothly translated, this searing novel is all the more remarkable for the sense of place it conveys through vividly remembered details of an African world where the mundane experiences of daily life were cataclysmically interrupted by a few months of unimaginable violence. Jeanne's courage, will to live, and understandable anger come through clearly, leading readers to wonder how a person or a country can ever recover from such events. The young woman's adoptive mother's childhood memories, mentioned in one of the chapter introductions, make explicit the connection between Rwanda and Germany. The title, taken from a story Jeanne's grandmother told, also reminds readers of the importance of human connections and continued trust. Painful to read, but unforgettable, this book will provoke thought and discussion.–Kathleen Isaacs, Towson University, MD

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*Starred Review*

Gr. 7-10. Eight-year-old Jeanne was the only one of her family to survive the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Then a German family adopted her, and her adoptive mother now tells Jeanne's story in a compelling fictionalized biography that stays true to the traumatized child's bewildered viewpoint. Jeanne is witness to unspeakable horror, but the tragedy isn't exploited in her narrative. Nor is Jeanne sentimental about the world she loses: she feels jealous of her sister and distant from her father, and she takes her comfortable Tutsi Catholic home in Kibungo for granted. Readers unfamiliar with the history may be somewhat bewildered. Who are the Tutsis? Who are the Hutus? Why were almost a million people massacred? But that confusion is part of the story. An appended time line fills in some of the facts, but of course, there's no explanation. Woven into the child's story are brief, contemporary commentaries, set in italics, by the Jeanne's German mother, who speaks to her child about loss, fury, survivor guilt, and healing. Occasionally, the narrative is too detailed, especially about daily life before the massacre, but Crawford's translation from the German is always clear and eloquent. An elemental account of perpetrators, victims, and bystanders (“And the world looked on. Or looked away”), this book is an important addition to the Holocaust curriculum.
HazelRochman.

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