Strength in What Remains - Tracy Kidder

Strength in What Remains

By Tracy Kidder

  • Release Date: 2009-08-25
  • Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Score: 4
4
From 53 Ratings

Description

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY:
Los Angeles Times  San Francisco Chronicle Chicago Tribune • The Christian Science Monitor • Publishers Weekly

In Strength in What Remains, Tracy Kidder gives us the story of one man’s inspiring American journey and of the ordinary people who helped him, providing brilliant testament to the power of second chances. Deo arrives in the United States from Burundi in search of a new life. Having survived a civil war and genocide, he lands at JFK airport with two hundred dollars, no English, and no contacts. He ekes out a precarious existence delivering groceries, living in Central Park, and learning English by reading dictionaries in bookstores. Then Deo begins to meet the strangers who will change his life, pointing him eventually in the direction of Columbia University, medical school, and a life devoted to healing. Kidder breaks new ground in telling this unforgettable story as he travels with Deo back over a turbulent life and shows us what it means to be fully human.

BONUS: This edition contains a Strength in What Remains discussion guide.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Named one of the Top 10 Nonfiction Books of the year by Time • Named one of the year’s “10 Terrific Reads” by O: The Oprah Magazine

“Extraordinarily stirring . . . a miracle of human courage.”The Washington Post

“Absorbing . . . a story about survival, about perseverance and sometimes uncanny luck in the face of hell on earth. . . . It is just as notably about profound human kindness.”The New York Times

“Important and beautiful . . . This book is one you won’t forget.”—Portland Oregonian

Reviews

  • Emotionally challenging

    5
    By "Lee$@"
    What a fantastic book that attempts to bring most readers into a life experience vastly different from their own! Reading this book I was asking questions similar to the main character's, philosophical questions, with no clear textbook answers. Perhaps it's because of this lack of definition - a hard to understand case of human behavior - that makes the book hard to put down and at the same time emotionally difficult to continue reading. Despite the tragedies in Burundi and neighboring Rwanda, Tracy Kidder brilliantly incorporates a feeling of hope and revitalization.