LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
A microcosm for the competing powers and influential groups in Rwanda, A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali looks at those involved in one of the most tragic events of the twentieth century. It is a powerful political novel, a poignant love story and a stirring hymn to humanity. With an Introduction by Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi.
Reviewed by Sarah BroadhurstSarah Broadhurst spent her early working life in the book trade in both retail and wholesale until the arrival of children forced her to look for freelance work she could do from…
More reviews by Sarah Broadhurst About A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali
In the middle of Kigali is a swimming pool at the Hôtel des Mille-Collines. It is a magnet for a privileged group of residents, a place where middle-class Rwandans drink with melancholy expatriates and prostitutes. But beyond the walls of the hotel exists a chaotic society in which millions live in poverty, surrounded by violence and disease. In this troubled world, Valcourt, a Canadian journalist, falls for Gentille, a beautiful Hutu waitress.A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali is a poignant love story, a stirring hymn to humanity and a modern classic of spellbinding power, confronting the nightmare that ravaged Rwanda in the 1990s.
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A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali Synopsis
In the middle of Kigali is a swimming pool at the Hôtel des Mille-Collines. It is a magnet for a privileged group of residents, a place where middle-class Rwandans drink with melancholy expatriates and prostitutes. But beyond the walls of the hotel exists a chaotic society in which millions live in poverty, surrounded by violence and disease. In this troubled world, Valcourt, a Canadian journalist, falls for Gentille, a beautiful Hutu waitress.
A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali is a poignant love story, a stirring hymn to humanity and a modern classic of spellbinding power, confronting the nightmare that ravaged Rwanda in the 1990s.
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Press Reviews
Gil Courtemanche Press Reviews
'A Heart of Darkness for today Astounding - It's no surprise that this book has won so many prizes'. - Daily Mail
'Exceptional ... you must read it - or allow it to read you' - Sunday Times
'This powerful and astonishing novel is one of the most important to be set in Africa since Camus'
The Plague - Scotsman
'An intense affair, urgent and nerve-wrackingly ominous, with a surprisingly boisterous humour - Financial Times
'Corrosive, denunciatory ... and beautifully written.' - Le Devoir, Montreal
'A voice that evokes humanity in all its depth and breadth, where the executioner and victim are brother and sister, where death is a daily occurrence. A voice I implore you to listen to ... Through a felicitous mix of reportage and fiction, Courtemanche has powerfully portrayed a lucid character deeply engaged in a humanist quest.' - Le Journal de Montreal
Author
About Gil Courtemanche
Gil Courtemanche is an author and journalist in international and third-world politics. He has written many non-fiction works and also made the award-winning documentary, The Gospel of Aids. When his first novel, Un Dimanche ala piscine a Kigali, was originally publishing in 2000 it spent more than a year on the Quebec bestseller lists and won the Prix des Libraires, the booksellers award for outstanding book of the year. He currently lives in Quebec where he works as a political columnist for Le Devoir.
Patricia Claxton is one of Canada's foremost translators, winning the Governor Genera's Award for translation on two separate occasions.
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