From the Publisher
The 2000 winner of the Goscinny Prize for outstanding graphic novel script, this is the harrowing tale of the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda, as seen through the eyes of a boy named Deogratias. He is an ordinary teenager, in love with a girl named Bénigne, but Deogratias is a Hutu and Bénigne is a Tutsi who dies in the genocide, and Deogratias himself plays a part in her death. As the story circles around but never depicts the terror and brutality of an entire country descending into violence, we watch Deogratias in his pursuit of Bénigne, and we see his grief and descent into madness following her death, as he comes to believe he is a dog.
Told with great artistry and intelligence, this book offers a window into a dark chapter of recent human history and exposes the West's role in the tragedy. Stassen's interweaving of the aftermath of the genocide and the events leading up to it heightens the impact of the horror, giving powerful expression to the unspeakable, indescribable experience of ordinary Hutus caught up in the violence. Difficult, beautiful, honest, and heartbreaking, this is a major work by a masterful artist.
Publishers Weekly
Deogratias means "thanks be to God," and it's the name of a boy coming of age in Rwanda in 1994. He is just figuring out what it means to be a man, and wrestling with the feelings he harbors toward two sisters, Apollinaria and Benina. The sisters are themselves struggling to establish their own place in society and understand the difficult decisions their mother, Venetia, has made-Apollinaria's real father is a white Catholic priest, and Venetia has been forced to leave the country in the past to save her daughters. But Deogratias is Hutu, and they are Tutsi, a simple fact that renders all of their internal battles irrelevant. This award-winning comic was originally published in Belgium in 2000 and has an introduction explaining the history leading to the Rwandan genocide. The heartbreaking power of Deogratias is how it keeps the reader distant from the atrocities by showing the trivial cruelties of everyday life before and after the genocide. Stassen is a journalist who lives in Rwanda, and his art is bold and clear, using different color palettes to seamlessly shift between before and after. There is no catharsis, only the realization that even justice turns its champion into a monster. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Rebecca C. Moore
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VOYA
In this Belgian graphic novel set in the 1990s, Deogratias is a young madman who often sees himself as a dog. Readers learn his story through extended flashbacks, which show how a feckless Hutu boy fell in love with a Tutsi girl just days before the devastating Rwandan genocide. Their fates are inevitably tragic, which leads Deogratias into the madness that now consumes him, sending him wandering the countryside, exacting revenge in search of a redemption that does not exist. In the end, the reader can only feel the same horrified sorrow, disbelief, and pity of a priest who laments of Deogratias, "He was a child of God." This dark, heartbreaking tale is simply and cleanly designed, beginning with a cogent synopsis of the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath. Its richly tinted comic strip-style panels are realistically drawn, and the story is easy to follow once readers realize that the aftermath story panels are outlined in black, whereas the flashback panels are not. Easy to follow, however, does not mean easy to read, although the story manages to convey its horror with a minimum of gore. Most of the atrocities take place off the page, in the mind of the reader, although there is enough blood and nudity to keep it out of middle school libraries. Recommend this book to students of recent African history or to readers compelled by Art Spiegelman's Maus books. As a condemnation of man's inhumanity to man, it will linger in the memory. VOYA CODES: 4Q 2P S A/YA G (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult-marketed book recommended for Young Adults; Graphic Novel Format). 2006, FirstSecond/Roaring Brook, 78p., Trade pb. Ages 15 to Adult.
George Galuschak
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KLIATT
In 1994, members of the ruling Hutu tribe of Rwanda used the assassination of their president as an excuse for genocide. The Hutus killed 800,000 members of the Tutsi, the second tribe in Rwanda; the murders were carried out mostly by hand (in 1993 the government ordered enough machetes from China to distribute to every third Rwandan male). While this happened, the world did nothing. Deogratias takes place after the massacre. The main character, Deogratias, is a troubled young man whose story is told mostly through flashbacks. Deogratias likes a pair of sisters--Benina and Apollinaria--who are Tutsis. He thinks that racial distinctions were invented by white people, but when the killings start he joins the mobs. Afterwards, traumatized by his actions, he roams the countryside, sometimes as a man, sometimes as a dog. Deogratias is less graphic than might be expected from its subject matter, but it doesn't pull any punches. This graphic novel's worldview is bleak; Deogratias is a tale with no heroes. The full-color art can be both brutal and beautiful, and is extremely effective. Deogratias contains profanity (f-bomb, s-bomb), sexuality, graphic imagery and violence. It is highly recommended for libraries with collections catering to older, more mature teens only; the best place for this graphic novel is the adult section. KLIATT Codes: A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. 2006, First Second Books, 96p. illus., $16.95.. Ages 17 to adult.
Kirkus Reviews
An award-winning graphic novel grapples with the unthinkable. Deogratias, a Hutu youth barely out of his teens, now appears as a shambling wreck in ragged clothes, drinking steadily and barking like a dog. But a series of seamless flashbacks reveals a younger, happier Deogratias, remarkable only for his mundanity. Despite poverty, prostitution and racial condescension, his friends enjoy a lively multiethnic culture; Deogratias romances a Tutsi girl while secretly yearning for her mulatto half-sister. Meanwhile, a steady background drumbeat of ethnic hatred builds to a horrific crescendo in the genocide of 1994, when 800,000 Rwandans are butchered by their neighbors. Neither hero nor villain, Deogratias tries to spare himself and his loved ones, trapped in a shocking spiral of violence, betrayal and madness. While Stassen's simple layout and spare images may appear static at first, the uncluttered art, reminiscent of jewel-toned woodcuts, serves to underscore the erupting brutality. Only a few of the panels depict the actual massacre; still, the ghastly subject matter, sexual themes and coarse language, along with the elliptical narrative structure, restrict this title to a mature audience. Nonetheless, the importance of the story and the heartbreaking beauty of its presentation make it an essential purchase. (Graphic novel. YA)
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