Running the Rift

Naomi Benaron HarperCollins Runners who recall the gut-wrenching media coverage of the 1994 Rwandan genocide will appreciate Naomi Benaron’s insightful and heartfelt story of a young Olympic hopeful 800m runner, who persevered through one of the worst atrocities in modern times. Benaron’s first novel, Running the Rift, sheds light on this devastating tragedy by revealing the Rwandan reality gradually t hrough the eyes of Tutsi boy Jean Patrick Nkuba. A naive and trusting 9-year-old at the start of the story, Jean Patrick lives through the tensions of the Hutu-Tutsi ethnic conf lict, and as a young man chooses to fight for his people through running, rather than combat. He dreams of being the first Rwandan to win gold at the Olympics.

Running is not only Jean Patrick ’s life focus, but also his escape from all troubles, be it the impending political storm that’s brewing or the travails of love and love lost. Barefoot or in his precious Nikes, on the trails or at the track, running carries Jean Patrick through a desperate time in a country he struggles to understand.

The book takes the reader inside Jean Patrick ’s heart, to run with him and experience his pain and healing along the way, and runners will certainly identify with his need to hit the roads at the best and worst of times. Benaron portrays the violence, grief and desperation without graphic depictions, which may be reassuring to readers. Running the Rift sheds light on the history and political nature of Rwanda, but more importantly, it humanizes the war that tore apart the fabric of the country.– Dianne Kapral