Customer Reviews

Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda

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I work in an independent book store. For a year I have been communicating with a Rwandan woman, a Tutsi who survived the genocide and now would like to come to America with her 6 year old daughter to study Social Work. I have been reading as much as I can about Africa, Rwanda in particular. I read Philip Gourevitch's "We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: stories from Rwanda," and Julian Pierce's novel "Speak Rwanda." Of course I devoured Barbara Kingsolver's "Poisonwood Bible." Then I noticed this biography "Land of a Thousand Hills, My Life in Rwanda," by Roz Carr. I was totally captivated by this incredible woman and completely taken in by her story of her life in Africa over the past 50 years. Rosamond Halsey Carr went with her husband to live in the Belgian Congo in 1949, 5 years before Barbara Kingsolver's fictitious family. As time went on, even though her marriage did not last, she chose to stay in this part of the world making it her home. She moved to Rwanda when the white settlers were forced out of Zaire in the early 1960's. Not only did she survive, she is still there, at age 88 running an orphanage for children who lost their families during the genocide. This book describes as nothing else has the reality of 20th century life in the Congo and Rwanda from the perspective of an "ordinary" white settler. I cannot recommend it strongly enough.

This book is an excellent read. It provides an interesting perspective of the history and culture of Rwanda from the first hand. For those of us who have never been really sure what the Hutu/Tusi conflict was about, this book provides a clear explanation.

High Praise for whom? Is it Madame (Ros), or Ms. Halsey (Ann), or maybe Sembagare, or Kenneth who sparked the flame, or the multiple thousands of lives touched by Ros and who in turn touched her life? Or all of the above? Truth may not be stranger than fiction but it sure is more interesting. As one who lived and worked in Africa for many years, much of it in the Congo, I just want to say this is a marvelous work of art befitting the subject(s). Kwa heri, Madame. God Bless!

In order to learn more about Rwanda and its tragic 100 day genocide, I have read:

When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda by Mahmood Mamdani

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch

Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda by Romeo A. Dallaire

Antecedents To Modern Rwanda: The Nyiginya Kingdom by Jan Vansina

The Rwanda Crisis by Gérard Prunier

The Great Lakes of Africa: Two Thousand Years of History by Jean-Pierre Chrtien

Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwanda Genocide and the International Community by Linda Melvern

In the Kingdom of Gorillas: Fragile Species in a Dangerous Land by Bill Weber, Amy Vedder

Paul Kagame and Rwanda: Power, Genocide and the Rwandan Patriotic Front by Colin M. Waugh

Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda by Rosamond Halsey Carr, Ann Howard Halsey

All ten books are excellent.

Carr and Halsey's book, Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda, is exceptional in that it is based on Carr's experiences in Rwanda since 1949. Her story is told in a clear and interesting manner. Especially to be appreciated is her deep and even handed understanding of all of Rwanda's people: Bahutu, Batutsi, and Batwa.

Reviewed by David S. Fick, Author of Africa: Continent of Economic Opportunities, STE Publishers, Johannesburg SA, May 2005, www.ste.co.za

In 1949, South Orange socialite and Manhattan fashion designer Rosamund Halsey Carr worries that her marriage is going to fail. Trying to save it, Rosamund accompanies her spouse Kenneth, a renowned African hunter and explorer, to live in Rwanda. Though her efforts for marital bliss fail, over the next five decades Rosamund finds passion and love for THE LAND OF A THOUSAND HILLS.

This biography provides readers with much insight into the recent and not so recent deadly war between the Wahutu and Watutsi. Rosamund Halsey Carr brings five decades of East Africa to life through the author's first hand experiences. Anyone who expects sexual exploits and scandals in personal narratives need to look elsewhere. However, those who want an insightful look at a people and a land, this biography is worth reading.

Harriet Klausner

What a well-written book! It reads like the memoir that it is, and memoirs require special storytelling skills when they cover an entire 50 years. And this is what the book does--covers 50 years of the author's life and Rwandan history.
The way the author describes her friendship with Dian Fossey, her marriage to Kenneth, the people she met and shared her home and land with, and the circumstances of ethnic strife in Rwanda are incredibly touching and fascinating.
The author moved to Rwanda in the waning years of colonialism. At first, it appeared like this unique lifestyle of privilege the colonialists lead will last for a very long time--yet it seemed to vanish overnight. Most of the author's friends were killed or lost everything when the Congo (now Zaire) and Rwanda made their transitions to independence.
From there, Rwanda seems to have a bright enough future as the government invests in environmental and educational progress. However, all the while displaced Tutsi refugees were fermenting across the border in Uganda, Burundi, and the Congo.
As war and revenge tears apart the progress that's been made since independence, the author struggles to maintain her humanity, home, farm, and physical safety. Like so many people, she lost nearly everything in the genocide that occurred in 1994--many of her workers and friends, all her possessions--even the plumbing was ripped out of the walls of her house. Not to be daunted, she rebounds later that year by remaking her farm into an orphanage.
This book was an amazing look at the struggles, triumphs, and tragedies the Rwandan people faced over a span of about 50 years. It helped me understand the transition to independence and the genocide so much better than news reports. The author tells the story in a refreshingly human light--helping imagine what it might have been like.

My interest in Rwanda was spurred by watching the movie "Hotel Rwanda" and reading "The Poisonwood Bible" (which is set in next door Congo). This book follows the life of a young woman that marries an African adventurer and goes there at a fairly young age. She winds up spending practically the rest of her life there, and provides a unique and interesting perspective on Rwanda's history. Watching "Hotel Rwanda" gave me only a snapshot - leading me to think that Hutus were crazy blood thirsty savages going after Tutsis. Well, many of them were, but this book gave me a little of the background as to why the Hutus are so crazy and militant. Rwanda certainly has had a turbulent history.

The book itself is a fascinating look at life on a flower farm in Rwanda over several decades. Diane Fossey plays quite a role, as her gorilla camp was not far from the main character's house. Good story overall.

Land of A Thousand Hills is an autobiography by Rosamond Halsey Carr. She lived in Rwanda from 1949 until her death in 2006. Originally the owner of a flower plantation, she went on at 82 to open an orphanage for children left parentless during the Hutu-Tutsi genocide.

I had higher hopes for this book. Which isn't to say that Land of a Thousand Hills is a bad book. It isn't. It is certainly interesting biographically. Carr was a fascinating woman. The sheer strength of her decision to stay in Africa after the collapse of her marriage in order to run a flower plantation on her own is really impressive-- more so considering the time. At 82, I hope that I'm the kind of woman who will return to a war zone to start an orphanage. It was also fascinating to read her stories about Dian Fossey. Carr certainly knew some very interesting people.

I suppose that I was mostly disappointed because I expected it to say more about Rwanda as a country. Given her obvious personal strength, I expected her to be a more unbiased observer. She clearly was not that, and to her credit I guess that she never pretended to be. I didn't feel as though I learned much about the politics of the time that she lived through. Worse, I didn't really feel that I trusted much of what I did learn.

One exception to this is that so few people are willing to write about the Tutsi at all critically, following the genocide. Carr actually builds a hesitant case for the defense without excusing Huti excesses, something that probably took a fair amount of personal courage. That was interesting.

The book is not terribly well written, although the prose is generally clean. They may have done better to have it co-written by someone with better credentials than being a relative of the primary author.

If you have some time to spare, and are interested in the fading days of European empire in Africa, you may well find this a good use of time. But walk, don't run, to the book store.

I really enjoyed this book. To say Rosamund Halsey Carr is resilent is an understatement--founding her orphanage after turning 80. The book had value to me for two reasons--Ms. Carr is extraordinary in her own right and the glimpse she gives to a very different culture as it evolves from colonialism to independence.

I just finished reading this book last evening, and cannot remember when I enjoyed a book more. I am partial to books about life in Africa. I was able to visit East Africa, Tanzania and Kenya, when I was a teenager, and I still cherish those memories after nearly 20 years. The beauty and mystery of Africa are intoxicating, and reading about other people's adventures takes me right back. Ms. Carr's book is absolutely wonderful, and I'm so glad that she decided to share her story. She is an amazing, courageous woman with a huge heart, who will undoubtedly touch many many people with her memoir.