How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child

I half read/half listened - because the audio is read by Sandra herself but the book contains the pictures and notes. I learned from her story and her co-author helped her structure her narrative in a compelling way. I particularly appreciated her honesty and analysis on attempting to understand being black through the lens of American racism/classim/colorism. Her story is inspiring and ongoing. Have an ELL group reading this story for lit circles now and it's generating amazing conversation and connections. Powerful stuff.

This is a tricky book to review. Sandra Uwiringiyimana's story is difficult and important. I wasn't familiar with the Gatumba massacre before, so this definitely did the job of bringing awareness to the story. And as difficult as it was to read, the beginning part of the book including the massacre and the aftermath was descriptive and really takes the reader there. However, a lot of the rest of the book seemed to be a case of telling rather than showing. Uwiringiyimana rushes through a lot of the ups and downs of her life in the U.S. in the second half of the book.

This is a compelling memoir from a young woman who suffered incredible trauma and tragedy, and who then learned to navigate America as a young black woman. A truly unique set of experiences that sheds light on the realities of life in Africa, the truth of immigration to the US, the experience of growing up black-but-not-American-black in New York, and the stress of coping with PTSD and depression as a result of trauma in college. She sheds light on cultural differences and common misconceptions she ran into during her young life. Truly a captivating read.