The Translator by Daoud Hari

Cross-posted from Library Thing

February 4, 2008

A disturbing, suspenseful, emotional success!!!!!! Prepare to stay in your seat when you begin this book. I received my Early Reviewer copy in the mail in the afternoon and couldn’t go to bed until I had finished this book. Daoud has written a masterful memoir about his homeland Darfur and what life, survival and death is like in his region of the Sudan. He takes you through his travels as a translator risking his life to get the story out. You feel his pain and suffering as he is a spectator to the sick senseless loss of family and friends. Often he is the unwilling bystander to the complete annihilation of villages and people. He will have you quickly turning pages as he describes the way of life for the villagers, their fears of looming death and the brutal sadistic torture they endure. Chills and trepidation abound as they face the thunderous approach of the ruthless rebels. He observes all the chaos and continues to risk his life to help his people. In the book he escapes one day from rebels and, you weep for him when he sees a little girl, waving goodbye. He knows she will not survive the day. He cannot save her. Then you also weep for the little girl and all the other pointless dead. I was not prepared for the contents of this book, but I am grateful to Daoud Hari. His memoir is a requisite read for the world toward gaining a better understanding of the plight of the people of Darfur.