Strength in what Remains [Paperback]

Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind; William Wordsworth

Rarely does an introductory quote capture the essence of a book as well as Tracy Kidder's choice of the above poem, and rarely does irony reach the intensity of genocide survivor Deogratias' name (Thanks be to God, in Latin).

The star rating system for books can be frustrating and misleading. Does a five star rating mean a new Jane Austen is on the loose? Does a four star rating mean a merely decent read? In the case of Kidder's Strength in What Remains Behind, my four star rating means a fascinating, thought-provoking, big-hit-with-your-book-club read. With serious books, and this is one, sometimes I get the sensation that I've put myself in harness, and in the effort to get the fruits of my labor I will be forced to trudge forward until the job is done. Strength in What Remains Behind is the opposite: once attached to the book by the first few pages, it will draw you wide-eyed and enthralled rapidly towards its conclusion.

Tracy Kidder's book, briefly, is the non-fiction tale of Deogratias. Raised in Burundi (neighbor to Rwanda), Deo lives a nearly idyllic life until the outbreak of ethnic violence in his country replaces Wordsworth's "of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower" with a living hell that makes Dante's Inferno look like a pleasant winter destination resort. Deo, a Tutsi third year medical student, flees Burundi, arriving at age 24 in New York City with $200 in his pocket, the clothes on his back, and his will to survive. Kidder artfully alternates between Deo's fight for survival in the United States and scenes of the genocidal massacres that Deo witnesses in Burundi. Deogratias emerges as a complex and rich personality, more a testament to human resilience than a hero (though certainly not lacking in heroic qualities).

So many books, so little time... What will you get if you devote a few hours of your life to this book? Here's a sampling: a well told tale; repeated examples that support the premise that no matter how ragingly black the night of human behavior, some amongst us will light candles, and fight vigorously to protect that fragile light; a truly fascinating view of New York City's underbelly; and finally, you will get a detailed examination of modern African genocide. Kidder's description of the madness of the violence in Burundi and Rwanda is never pornographically detailed, but is nonetheless devastating. Genocide is an ancient human story, with Antarctica the only continent that has escaped its bloody stain. Kidder's somewhat labored search for the causes of genocide in Burundi and Rwanda may be the weakest part of his book. He cites one authority who claims that genocide in Burundi was caused by fear, as opposed to Rwanda, where it was caused by prejudice. Um.....is there an essential difference between fear and prejudice as root causes of genocide? Experts in primate behavior, including human, suggest that prejudice IS fear, of "the other". And do we truly care about whatever tiresome reason is being used THIS time to justify genocide, rather than about why it happens at all (consider reading Sex and War: How Biology Explains Warfare and Terrorism and Offers a Path to a Safer World) for an interesting take on human-on-human violence), or the profound slumber of the developed nations when it occurs outside of their spheres of interest?

Fans of Kidder's also fascinating book Mountains Beyond Mountains will be intrigued by the intersection of the lives of Paul Farmer MD (controversial and hyper-dedicated founder of Partners in Health) and Deogratias that is described in Strength in What Remains.

There is inherent tension in store for the reader of Strength in What Remains, and not just in the suspense of the story itself. The triumph and the tragedy of human behavior are contained between the front and back covers of the book. You, and if you belong to one, your book club, will be stretched between these two poles: Deogratias (Thanks be to God) and the unattributed quote "Tell me God, should I thank you, or forgive you?". May a rich discussion ensue!

Tracy Kidder's latest triumph follows in the footsteps of his masterwork, Mountains Beyond Mountains. The true story of Deogratias from Burundi to New York and beyond is for everybody, not for any particular special interest. The title, Strength in What Remains, is from Wordsworth's romantic "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Reflections of Early Childhood". There are many other good reviews if you want to hear more of the particulars, so I want to instead introduce the author to those unacquainted.

Mr. Tracy, like John PcPhee and precious few others, is at the tiny top tier of journalistic authors of books, as opposed to articles of immediacy. Two years he spent listening to Deogratias tell his story and spent in other research. Years ago at the beginning of my technology career I read his "Soul of a New Machine", the story of the skunkworks of Data General Corp. at the dawn of mini-computers and client-server architecture. From then on I learned just to buy whatever he wrote. You teachers might start with his "Among Schoolchildren".

Mr. Kidder is the selfless writer. He does not choose topics to sell books. He has no ideological drum (or horse) to beat. He is not attracted to fads or celebrity, power or the rich. Those are left for the sycophantic, the mediocre, those unencumbered by talent and skill. He uses some sort of dowsing rod for profundity. He is also something of a phenomenologist, letting the truth bubble up from his uncompromising observation of people and circumstances. He does not editorialize or advocate. He does not pretend to understand more than he can show. But he introduces you to all the best people, besides his central figures, taking time to capture them fully.

In "Strength in what Remains, Mr. Kidder appreciates that he is is taking us places we do not know. So he includes all things of importance from different points of view. He himself does not appear until Part II, where he is finally comfortable explaining himself and his approach. He has a good historical section and five pages of sources. Here we meet again the sainted star of an earlier landmark opus, Mountains Beyond Mountains, the redoubtable Dr. Paul Farmer of Haiti and Harvard (Kidder's alma mater). Also, cameo appearances by Chaucer, Hanna Arendt, Primo Levi and St. Benedict.

It is instructive to point out that nowhere does Mr. Kidder mention his earlier book. He refuses to hawk his own stuff. He describes the episodes of Deogratias and Farmer without any mention of his own connections. He merely mentions Deogratias, Deo as called by others, at the library encountering a work called Infections and Inequalities. Deo must meet the author, I instantly recalled from the prior book. Sure enough, there is the great doctor himself, scourge of the self-absorbed. I almost want to say read Mountains Beyond Mountains first because you will wish you had, once you do. Besides, these monumental gifts do not last long. This is the kind at 3:00 a.m. where you are saying "Just one more chapter, dear" when finally a shovel turns out your lights. When I came to, I found her with the book, "just one more chapter, dearest".

I close with a short anecdote he tells of an Auschwitz survivor, who when asked about the blue numerals tattooed on his forearm replies that he always had trouble remembering his phone number. This book is an antidote to the bloated, grasping self-obsession which has infested our America.

With so many fine, worthy books we are showing each other in these pages, competing for our limited time, do not let these pass unconsidered.

This is the story of Deo, a survivor of the Tutsi-Hutu genocide in Burundi and Rwanda and how he fared after escaping to America. Even though he was a medical student in Burundi, he started life in America as a homeless person living in New York's Central Park, who made a subsistence living delivering groceries. Through a series of almost miraculous encounters, he was able to lift himself up, graduate from Columbia University, and build a medical clinic in his native Burundi. Deo's is a life still in progress, and although his clinic is a triumph, we know he still has great things ahead of him.

This is to some extent a sequel to Kidder's earier book Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World, about Dr. Paul Farmer and Partners in Health. Farmer is one of the people who Deo meets, and Deo begins working with PIH.

Kidder's writing is very vivid and immediate, and is told from Deo's point of view, so you feel as if you are traveling and experiencing all this with Deo. In particular you feel that he's not much better off as a homeless person in America than he was on the run in Africa, except that in America no one is trying to kill him.

On the other hand, because events are presented out of sequence, the vivid writing does not build much tension--the narrative starts in 2006 with Deo's return to Burundi, so we know that he has survived all the events that are detailed later and has prospered in his new country.

In Kidder's earlier book The Soul of a New Machine, the action was presented chronologically, and the book was always a cliff-hanger: you never knew until the end whether the team would succeed. In the present book the narrative tension is not in the arc of the story (which we know almost from the beginning) but in the anticipation of learning further, possibly horrifying, details about the kinds of lives most of us know nothing about.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 149 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars