Cockroaches: The addictive second Harry Hole novel from the No.1 Sunday Times bestseller.

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What I read was a story of someone who is angry, disillusioned, marginalized, scraping by on wits and putting no value on his life. He takes beauty or pleasure in any moment that offers itself, without scruples. But somehow it is not all bleak. I can't explain why. It is just a snapshot of someone's reality. Using clear, unadorned diction, and written with an unflinching honesty, Mukasonga exposes the horrendous crimes committed against a people. The brutality is hard to stomach. She has understandably been traumatized by the experience and continues to be haunted by the faces of her family. Her very powerful, heart-wrenching memoir serves as a testament to the lives lost during a tragic, shameful, and bleak chapter in human history. It also serves as a painful reminder of how easily human beings can slip into barbarism. The Rwandan government put severe limitations on the number of Tutsis who could attend secondary school, but the author was one of those who did gain a place, boarding in a school 45km from her home. When returning home in the school holidays, she dreaded crossing a particular bridge which was always guarded by soldiers. The girls returning home would be forced to line up, at which the soldiers would spit in their faces, hit them with rifle butts, stamp on their bare feet with their Army boots etc. I think part of the explanation for this is simply that some people gain satisfaction and a sense of status from demonstrating their power over others. This book adds nicely to my growing affection for Oslo Detective Harry Hole and admiration for Nesbo. This is the second in the series, though only published in English in 2013. It’s an away game like the first one, set in Bangkok this time, Sydney for the first. Odd as that seems for founding a series, it works for me to effectively highlight Harry’s essential character as a lone man deserving to brought in out of the rain before he gets too alienated. Malard F, Dore J, Gaugler B, Mohty M (2021) Introduction to host microbiome symbiosis in health and disease. Mucosal Immunol 14:547–554

All of her friends, too, lived in a state of permanent denial of the bad smells from sewers, infested slums, unheated apartments, single mothers on welfare, worn-out clothing. No, everything had to be perfect, every morsel of food had to be well served — presentation, always presentation, the ultimate mask." I know that I have been woefully ignorant of the scope of what happened in Rwanda over the years and in 1994. This book was overdue for me and I believe so many others should read it. As has been said innumerable times before, if we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. This is difficult but necessary reading as Mukasonga takes us through to her return after the genocide to the destroyed village and the remnants of her childhood.Siddiqui R, Qaisar R, Goswami N, Khan NA, Elmoselhi A (2021a) Effect of microgravity environment on gut microbiome and angiogenesis. Life 11:1008 Beautifully written in the graceful, lilting prose that dominated Our Lady of the Nile.” – Eileen Battersby, Irish Times(Best Books of 2016)

Mukasonga] describes with humility the daily inferno that was her family’s existence during the years before the massacre in the spring of ’94…Sholastique Mukasonga cannot obtain reparations for the horrors she endured, but here she accomplishes a feat of memory and a story of surprising sobriety.” –Urobepi, Coups de Coeurs Littéraires (Et Plus)The story ends in a bizarre act of violence that does not ring true to anyone's mind. Yet when you really think about it, it's entirely possible.

Lucas, Julian (February 22, 2018). "Fatal beauty". The New York Review of Books. 65 (3): 27–29. - Cited: p. 28 It is disappointing that Hage falls for a similar indifference like his protagonist while treating this novel. Alburquenque C, Bucarey SA, Neira-Carrillo A, Urzúa B, Hermosilla G, Tapia CV. Antifungal activity of low molecular weight chitosan against clinical isolates of Candida spp. Med Mycol J. 2010; 48:1018–1023. doi: 10.3109/13693786.2010.486412. [ PubMed] [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar] when I ask my paternal uncles why the government used to kill in this unhuman way they used to answer me because the thought of us as a subhuman and so we don't have the right to be treated like human or the right to exist. But books like this also seem to strengthen our intolerance for intolerance itself. Intolerance based on superficialities (Tutsis are taller, thinner, and have straighter noses than Hutus!) can lead to the ultimate horrific profundity.The writing is eloquent, fluent and lively, giving the opportunity to the readers to go deep into Harry’s inner world and to bond with him.

My only beef is that the epilogue is a little light - with so much carnage in this story one wants a little more loose end tying and (at far as I can recall) Redbreast does not confront these at all (aside from searing criticisms from various colleagues which is a common feature of Hole novels) This passage stands out the most for me. This book is a powerful look into the life of a refugee in Canada. The cab driver who was tortured for fighting for democracy, the waitress who was brutally raped every day for years in jail, while her torturer now has diplomatic immunity in Canada, the bus boy with PTSD over the death of his sister. All of these people are displaced and trying to come to terms with living in a new country with a new language and unspoken codes of conduct. Lee S, Siddiqui R, Khan NA (2012) Animals living in polluted environments are potential source of antimicrobials against infectious agents. Pathog Glob Health 106:218–223

I don't know why it is very much loved and praised, maybe because it feeds certain propaganda and stereotypes. It was okay at first, but then I just despised it and lost all interest. Bird A. Perceptions of epigenetics. Nature. 2007; 447:396. doi: 10.1038/nature05913. [ PubMed] [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar] The soldiers demanded that President Kayibanda’s portrait be hung in every house. The missionaries made sure the image of Mary was put up beside him. We lived our lives under the twin portraits of the President who’d vowed to exterminate us and Mary who was waiting for us in heaven. This memoir is written by Scholastique Mukasonga. She lives in France, but was born in 1956 in Rwanda. The book was written in French and translated to English.