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A journey of remembrance and forgiveness
by Tracy Kidder
For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Burundian Genocide and our BookBrowse Review of Strength in What Remains.
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
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Note to Teachers
Strength in What Remains (hereinafter Strength), recounts the story of Deogratias (Deo) his flight from civil war in Burundi and Rwanda to homelessness in Central Park, New York City, to graduation from Columbia University, and to the fulfillment of the dream of his youth: to build a health care clinic in his homeland, free to those who can't pay. Deo grows up in Burundi, and eventually becomes a United States citizen.
In September, 1993, while Deo is in his third year of medical school, the president of Burundi is assassinated. Ethnic civil war ensues. Through the recounting of Deo's experiences of survival against all odds, Kidder provides us a window into the devolution of a country and a people. While it's difficult to read about such tragedies, Kidder compels the reader to be a witness to the inhuman conditions that afflict many of the impoverished regions of the world. Deo's experience is also one of redemption, of overcoming the morbid absurdities of human nature to become what he always has been a healer.
Notably, Kidder, while astute and thorough in recounting and substantiating Deo's story, is not the detached observer of events for this book. Through writing about his own fear and reservations as Deo guides him on a tour of six months of terror, the reader is allowed to witness, to some extent, the horrors Deo also endured. By communicating to the reader his own attempts to conceal his reactions from Deo, and by acknowledging the intrusive nature of his own questioning, Kidder gives us the latitude to accept and work through our own emotions, misconceptions, and misunderstandings as we address some of the profound social, psychological, and political issues raised in Strength.
This guide is separated into three sections, Style and Structure, Comprehension and Discussion, and Personal Essays. The prompts in the first two sections are constructed for the purpose of fostering classroom and group discussion. The intent of the Personal Essay section is to cull in-depth reflective and/or investigative individual responses.
Finally, as you read this account of life over death, please take the time to visit Deo's Village Health Works clinic at http://www.villagehealthworks.org/. There, you will realize that Deo's youthful, "primal sympathy which having been must ever be" is an enduring strength.
Style and Structure
Comprehension and Discussion
FLIGHTS
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Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Random House. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
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