95 pages âą 3 hours read
Immaculée IlibagizaA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
âI believe that God had spared my life, but Iâd learn during the 91 days I spent trembling in fear with seven others in a closet-sized bathroom that being spared is much different from being saved...and this lesson forever changed me. It is a lesson that, in the midst of mass murder, taught me how to love those who hated and hunted meâand how to forgive those who slaughtered my family.â
Faith and spirituality, specifically Catholicism, are at the heart of ImmaculĂ©eâs story. This quotation contains a snapshot of the trauma she endures during the Rwandan genocide in 1994: not only does she bear witness to the âslaughterâ of her entire family, she spends over three months hidden in a âcloset-sizedâ bathroom with seven other women. ImmaculĂ©eâs understanding of what happened to her during the genocide is told through a spiritual lens.
âMy name is ImmaculĂ©e Ilibagiza. This is the story of how I discovered God during one of historyâs bloodiest holocausts.â
As a spiritually-oriented biography, Left to Tell is told from ImmaculĂ©eâs unique perspective. Stating her name at the outset of the book sets the tone that the story to follow is largely subjective. Not everyone believes in God or is religious, and so this accommodates readers of all backgrounds.
âHow ironic that I was the one left to tell our family story.â
In the first chapter, it is revealed that ImmaculĂ©e will be one of the very few survivors in her family, foreshadowing the violence to come. The âironicâ part of this sentence is a nod to Rwandaâs patriarchal society, where women are meant to be seen not heard. It is ironic that ImmaculĂ©e, a woman, is the only one left with a