I don’t want to brag, but
Philip Gourevitch and I once had a really stimulating conversation at the
Continental Club here in Austin during our book festival. I remember it
perfectly:
Me: Uh, hey, uh um, I uh der
uh….der der der. You write good. Sign book please?
PG: Thank you.
Not as bad as I remember now
that I look back! I wonder if he thinks about that night. Probably.
I don’t write about
Gourevitch as much as I should, but I really think he’s amazing. He’s written
two books that have absolutely ruined my life. The 1998 classic, We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will
Be Killed With Our Families, is an unflinching, heart wrenching, account of
the over 800,000 deaths during the Rwandan genocide (and those who stood on the
sidelines).
The second book of his that
wrecked me was The Ballad of Abu Ghraib
(previously published as Standard Operating Procedure). Yes, it’s as dark as you can imagine. It
not only paints a portrait of torture, but a reality check of what war does to
people. Back home we have a hard time reconciling the pictures of the nice
young men and women we patted on the back and sent off to ‘fight for our
freedom’ and the photographs of them grinning ear to ear as they torture
another human being.
Both of
these books make my all time favorite non-fiction list, absolutely. They were
two of the most difficult books I’ve ever had to read, but you have to read
them. You have to be a witness.
I think of
him as a more intense Jon Krakauer, so if you’re a Krakauer fan, Gourevitch won’t
disappoint.
No comments:
Post a Comment