Customer Reviews

The Key to My Neighbor's House: Seeking Justice in Bosnia and Rwanda

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I just finished The Key To My Neighbor's House. Being a survivor of the Bosnian war of 1992, this book really brought some sense of justice and understanding for me. I've read many books about the war in Bosnia, but none were as accurate as The Key To My Neighbor's House. Most of the books I've read about the war in Bosnia mostly focus on the political side of the war. The Key To My Neigbor's House tells the real,true story behind the Bosnian war of 1992. Elizabeth Neuffer got the real story from the real people. Most authors would've gotten their information from the political figures or some sort of high ranking officials, but not Elizabeth Neuffer. I've learned a lot from this book, even though I went through the whole war experience, but there was a lot I didn't know. I would like to thank Elizabeth Neuffer for risking her life to write this book. I really appreciate all of her hard work. I would recomend this book to anyone wanting to learn the real sory behind the war in Bosnia and Rwanda.

Elizabeth Neuffer has written a poignant testament to the power of bearing witness, the responsibility of the individual to bear witness, and the healing power of bearing witness. Her book is also an examination into why so many refused to bear witness when it was in their power, and most certainly their responsibility, to do so.

By writing this book, Ms. Neuffer makes us witnesses too; not only to the genocide that took place in Rwanda and Bosnia, but also to the shameful conduct of our own American leaders, the Dutch, the United Nations, and many others; others who had the power to intervene, to save, to heal -- and, failing any of the preceding -- to bear witness themselves (rather than claiming ignorance, despite all documentation to the contrary).

When I was growing up, I heard over and over that genocide could never happen again (because, as the theory went, the world would not stand by to allow it). Well, the world did stand by. It stood by and failed the citizens of Rwanda and the citizens of Bosnia. But thanks to the courage of writers such as Elizabeth Neuffer and Philip Gourevitch (author of "We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families"); we readers must now be counted among the witnesses, and thus among those responsible to further their efforts by sharing these books with our friends in order to shed light; to stand accountable; to bear witness.

Hope - this book is about needed justice and the hope and healing it can bring.

My journey to Rwanda this year prompted me to delve into the tyrannical torture and terror that swept this small, poor nation in 1994.

In 1994, over a period 100 days, over one million people were butchered. It is such a staggering number that it is hard to comprehend. Just to write the first names of the murdered down would take you 2 ½ years, writing six names a minute for eight hours a day.

Although Elizabeth Neuffer's book is about the pursuit of justice and the delivery of justice, it is also about the grim and gruesome reality of killers, rapists and victims. Her clear, straight forward journalistic writing style is engaging. Of the books I have read on Rwanda's genocide (I highly recommend both Scott Peterson's 'Me Against My Brother' and Philip Gourvitch's 'We wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families') Neuffer is the only one that covers rape. She has dedicated chapters to the rape, and it need to be judged as a war crime. She exposes the effect that has on the victims. Her sensitivity and willing to disclose this little discussed topic is needed, refreshing and laudable. Kudos.

Rwanda now has 130,000 incarcerated, waiting for their genocide trials to begin. But, justice is extremely slow in coming. One case alone took 1.5 years. In three years Rwanda's courts have handed down 2,500 vertics. At that rate it will take the Rwandan courts 150 years to clear the dockets. "Perhaps what you end up with in a post-genocide society is not justice at all" Gerald Gahima, Rwanda's previous deputy minister of justice, stated. "Maybe we should think of another word for it."

In her book Bosnia get the lion share of her writing (400 plus pages) but her short sections dealing with Rwanda is alone worth the price of the purchase. This is an outstanding book, worth of any library and to be read by anyone interested in these topics. Highly Recommended.

I've read two books about Rwanda and served with the US contingent to the United Nations Protection Force that operated in the former Yugoslavia in the early-to-mid 1990s. Therefore, I am fairly well acquainted with the savagery that the author recounts with great empathy for the victims. I can still remember the day that I walked into my unit headquarters one April morning in 1994 and saw on CNN a Hutu hacking a Tutsi to death with a machete. Pre-occupied as I was on Bosnia and Croatia, it took years for me to realize that what happened in Rwanda makes just about everything except the Holocaust pale in comparison.

Anyway, I commend the author for writing a book that discusses the quest for justice and retribution against the legion of killers in the Balkans and Rwanda. I think that she writes with balance (as illustrated by her highlighting the case of two Bosnian Serbs who suffered greatly at hands of "Muslims" in a concentration camp that the Izetbegovic government established or at least tolerated).

My only complaint is that the author just about ignores the Croats, both as victims and victimizers. As one who toured the Krajina region of Croatia (where the Serbs used to be the dominant ethnic group), I saw the signs of ethnic cleansing everywhere, blown up houses, churches, and shops all belonging to Croats. I also know about the vicious war that the Bosnian Croats and Muslims fought in 1993. During that little conflict, the Croats showed that they could be bastards just as much as the Serbs were.

Finally, I found a couple of passages exceedingly grisly. I would not recommend reading the part of the book that discusses the exhumation of mass graves around Srebrenica if you have a weak stomach or a low tolerance for horror. But I wouldn't say that the gruesome descriptions are a flaw in the book, just an awful reminder of the hell that war can be and usually is.

Neuffer has written a great companion to the works of Gourevitch and Samantha Power. A Key... is somewhat more intense, powerful reading. It is a primary source compilation of the horror stories that were Bosnia and Rwanda.
Keeping track of all the players and respective groups is a little difficult, but it is for anyone covering the former Yugoslav episode. What is lacking there, is more than compensated for, with the emotionally wracking first hand accounts of the suffering. Neuffer takes you in the heart of the fracas, and I guarantee, you wont return unmoved.
This is an exceptional work, by an exceptional person. Her recent passing leaves all of us a little poorer.

The book is outstanding! Neuffer follows individuals' experiences of the events, which makes the story more human for the reader. And at the same time she demonstrates a very sophisticated understanding of even some of the most esoteric legal issues involved. I also appreciate the fact that the bibliography and endnotes are exhaustive, which makes the book invaluable to anyone doing research on the topics involved.

What is `justice', especially when so many have been so grievously wronged? And can a UN Tribunal deliver it? These questions are not entirely answered in this book, nor could we really expect that. But the discussion is well advanced in these pages.

As far as the UN and the international community are concerned, the verdict appears mixed. There is some discussion in this book regarding the questions of why no one stopped the violence when it happened. But also once the tribunals were formed, how well did they work? And what diplomatic and political factors contributed to their success or failure? Many authorities are pleased with the developments in the new field of international humanitarian law. Everything is precedent-setting. But is this what the societies and victims need?

The question of what constitutes `justice' for these victims is the core of the book. Justice is not limited to a guilty verdict for the perpetrators. The tribunals only have had marginal success in this area. But as the book explores, the victims have other needs that are also only partially met. There is the need for victims to find and bury their loved ones, to say good-bye (p.218). There is a need to match the perception of justice with its delivery (340). Is it punishment and retribution? Is it acknowledgemnt of the truth throughout the society? Can revelation and discussion of the truth prevent future conflict? What about restitution?

For me the most poignant passage was on p.264. Rwandan survivor Antoinette was raped by five men, one of whom fathered her son, whom she chose to name Emmanuel. This is not commented on in the book, but I know that the meaning of that name is `God with us'. It is also likely that Antoinette is aware of this, being a Christian. The naming of her rape-produced son is a testament to me of the resilience and character of that woman in the most awful of circumstances.

The book is written with a reporter's eye and ear. It has an observational style and develops in detective-like manner. Other reviewers have questioned the quality of her research. I am not knowledgeable enough to comment. But it seems to me that the late Ms. Neuffer did credit to her profession with this book.

My trip to Africa in the spring has led me to a great deal of reading about the continent and the political histories of the various nations. I picked up this book as highly recommended for a look at the recent atrocities in Rwanda. Elizabeth Neuffer was a foreign affairs reporter for The Boston Globe during the period that she gathered material for this book. It was in part based on a ten-part series of articles that she wrote about Rwanda and Bosnia called "Buried Truth". (Sadly, Neuffer died in a car accident in Iraq in 2003.)

The Key to My Neighbor's House is often described as being about the atrocities that happened in the two countries. In fact, it is about something more specific than that. Neuffer writes about the question of justice in the face of genocide and tracks the progress of victims and perpetrators as the stories unfold in front of international war crime tribunals.

Why do people kill in this way? How can you really bring justice in the wake of such a situation? What are the relative values of truth and justice when their interests may conflict? Can a country that has been so divided against itself ever be reconciled? Neuffer asks the important questions that those of us who can only witness from a distance would like to ask. The fact that she does not come closer to a definitive answer doesn't make the questions less important.

The Key To My Neighbor's House: Seeking Justice in Bosnia and Rwanda is smart and moving. Neuffer manages to bring the reader into the human side without belittling or overly simplifying the subject matter. An excellent book, if you can say such a thing about a terrible subject.

Sadly, it must be reported that Elizabeth Neuffer died last week, while covering the war in Iraq. May she be at peace.

Overall the book is a great read. It's clear that the author spent some time in Bosnia and is familiar with her material. Unfortunately there are many typos in the English portion of the book, as well as misspellings in the names of local people or places (Ceca, Konjic, et al) The portions on Rwanda are pretty skimpy. I liked the book, but the obvious sloppiness makes me wonder how many of her other facts are just thrown in without checking.