A review of the novel Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2012.
This novel set in Rwanda at the time of genocide aptly
evokes the pernicious slide of that society into hatred, violence and mass
murder. The story is told by recounting
the life of Jean Patrick a Tutsi youngster endowed with the gift of speed. He first appears as a child, the son of a
teacher, but one who already feels discrimination because of his
ethnicity. All is magnified when Jean
Patrick’s father dies and his family is compelled to move in with an uncle. Life in rural Rwanda is accurately described
as are the emotions arising from incidences of ethnic animosity. Some folks are good, others not.
The story advances when Jean Patrick’s running abilities are
noticed. As a teenager and then as a university student he gets groomed for the
Olympic Games. Being a minor celebrity he meets President
Habyarimana, who is alternately
portrayed as a protector and persecutor
of Tutsi. Striving to stay above the
ethnic fray causes mixed emotions in Jean Patrick who vows that his personal
objective is not ethnic politics, but running.
The coach who pushes Jean Patrick to greatness has a mysterious side,
yet he stands by his protégé, even at the last.
Jean Patrick meets and falls in love with a Hutu activist
while at university. Their romance is
doomed as the ethnic rancor engulfs the nation and spirals out of control. Our hero narrowly escapes death and finally
finds some solace years afterward.
This novel lays out the looming genocide and impact it had
on families- before and after - in detail.
For readers who know exactly what is coming next, the story might move
slowly. It did for me. The setting,
however, is impeccable and the use of Kinyarwanda, descriptions of towns, foods
and local traditions accurate. The only discrepancy I found was the allegation
that one could travel by boat across Lake Kivu to Burundi. In fact, the nation across the lake is the
then Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Movement to Rwanda’s southern neighbor Burundi
requires an overland jaunt as the Ruzizi River is not navigable.
Running the Rift
is an intense novel that succeeds in its effort to educate readers about the
genocide and to evoke at a personal level the enormous human cost of that
tragedy.
