Customer Reviews

Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak

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In Susan Sontag's powerful preface, she argues that "everyone should read Hatzfeld's book" in order to truly understand what happened in Rwanda. The most striking revelation that emerges from these interviews with Hutu farmers-turned-killers from the Rwandan genocide is that they don't really know why it happened; they were swept up in the crowd. Not swept up once, but day after day for months of arduous hunting and killing. While the farmers mention other motives (looting, old animosities), the repeated claim is that the organizers were responsible and that farmers like them just got caught up.

While the book grants some real perspective, and I'm glad that I read it, I have two major criticisms: Hatzfeld could definitely have fixed one and perhaps not the other. First, the book is choppy. Hatzfeld interviewed the Hutu killers in a Rwandan prison, and he interviewed with each one individually. However, the book is organized by themes, so the author presents a chapter entitled "The First Time" and there includes a couple of paragraphs from each prisoner describing their first killing. While this gives effectively expresses the variety of experiences, constantly jumping back and forth between the ten interviewees leaves the reader little opportunity to get to know any of them. Uninterrupted histories from each prisoner (a la Studs Terkel) would have allowed more of an opportunity to get to know each and understand them better as people.

Second, the prisoners seem so guarded that it is unclear how often we are hearing genuine insights. Of course we would expect these prisoners to be guarded, not wanting to risk damaging their chances of clemency. But Hatzfeld doesn't explain why he uses a Tutsi survivor as his interpreter; it doesn't seem to be the best choice to put the subjects at ease.

That said, the book yields flashes of insight. Ignace, an elderly Hutu who has long held bitter feelings towards the Tutsis, appears to admit genuine regret, at least of his own emotional discomfort: "I had not foreseen that this memory would work at me so viciously." It also highlights a number of themes: for example, the killers seem not to understand just how hard it would be for a survivor to forgive them. They feel that with some physical discomfort in the Congolese refugee camps and a note of apology sent to a survivor, forgiveness has been earned. (Hatzfeld provides an excellent analysis of this in the chapter "Bargaining for Forgiveness.")

Ultimately, what another killer says is true: "This truth is impossible to understand for anyone who was not there beside us." This book is frightening: it shows very normal people who allowed themselves to be swept up in and ultimately executors of a horrific series of events. I wish that the book were better, but as it is, Sontag is probably right that everyone can learn from trying to understand the bizarre experience of these farmers.

Two notes: first, the back of this book includes a photo of the killers and a short bio of each; reading this at the beginning can help you identify the speakers as you progress through the book. Also, an excellent general book on the Rwandan genocide is Gourevich's We Regret to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families. That provided excellent background for this book.

This is simply an AMAZING -- yet horrifingly stomach-churning --collection of testimonials by killers of Rwanda from the rural region of Nyamata. And like Sontag points out in her intro, "every one should read this book."

There have been innumerable books and documentaries of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda -- a highly controversial, long-obfuscated and often-misunderstood atrocity... However, very few of these accounts relate the actual perspectives or testimonials by ordinary Rwandans. Though several survivors have actually written testimonials of their experience, not one of them has yet been translated into English!!(eg. Yolande Makagasana's memoir in French), once again revealing the shameful Western ethnocentric attitude to this atrocity (Imagine for example if available accounts of Holocaust survivors had never been translated from German!) Hatzfeld's collection of testimonials therefore offers us a perspective that is completely lacking in the morass of publications about Rwanda, many of them written by journalists, academics or political attachees, who spent less than a month in the field in Rwanda... (And of course, who stayed at fancy White accomodations like the revamped Hotel Milles Collines during their visit... ) It offers a crucial and critical intervention necessary for understanding the human impact of the genocide in Rwanda...

Moreover, in this collection Hatzfeld presents us with the perspective of the KILLERS during the genocide. Imagine if the Holocaust was recounted from the perspective of the Gestapo or concentration camp personnel! Simply RIVETING reading.

In the complementary reading "Into the Quick of Life," Hatzfeld offers us survivors' perspectives. Instead of focusing on great saviours (eg. Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda) it again concentrates on the perspective of ordinary people who survived incredible odds in the marshes.

My only misgiving about this set of books is that from a scholarly perspective, I would have wanted to hear more from or about the translator/translation from kinyarwanda. And more about the actual collection of the testimonials, the ways the questions were asked, the interview sessions, the editing of testimonials etc.

I caution readers who may not be familiar with the genocide in Rwanda, that this book is not a textbook that will explain the events moment by moment or analyze the UN, US role etc. Rather it is a collection of perspectives by ordinary people, as speculative and subjective as individual povs usually are...
And extremely graphic and disturbing at that.

I disagree that the book is "confusing" because of its thematic approach. Genocide is not a linear experience, nor is a person's traumatic narration a blow-by-blow account. Instead, with his thematic approach, Hatzfeld offers some of the complexity, nuance and critical analysis of these testimonials.

I also disagree that these confessions seem specious, contrived or 'unreal.' This book is not CSI or Law and Order, where genocide and people's motives or memories as serial killers are collapsed into a 1 minute of logical explanation or confession... Rather this collection proffers various perspectives, half-truths, observations... in yes --the most candid, and yet also most harrowing descriptions of killing that I have ever read. As such is the most compelling account of the banality of inhumanity that I encountered.

As one survivor explains "The things that happened in Nyamata, in the churches, in the marshes, and on the hills, were the abnormal actions of perfectly normal people." (225)

If we were born in Rwanda, and were Hutu, these killers' stories could easily be our own...

It is crucial to remember the facts in the case of Rwanda -- the banality of genocide. Neighbors killed neighbors. On the streets. With machetes. 1/8th of the population of Rwanda was exterminated. Almost one million children were orphaned. As a result more than 120 000 were imprisoned for crimes of murder In the Arusha TRC tribunal, only 26 have been convicted... Thus, since it has been ten years, 50 000 killers have since been released. Victims thus must live as neighbors with the killers of their families. All of these facts, again, affirm the the crucial importance of this book -- which questions the possible future of ordinary Rwandans for generations to come...

I visited Rwanda twice after the genocide, and I've read quite a bit of the history behind the 1994 killings, but this is the first detailed account I've read from the killers' perspective. The author interviewed 10 Hutu men convicted for their involvement in the genocide--all friends from the same community. Hatzfeld organizes his short chapters by topic--such as How It Was Organized, The First Time (their first victims), Looting, etc--and devotes considerable space to verbatim transcripts from his interviews. Machete Season reveals how nearly every Hutu man in one community joined, either willingly or through coercion, in hunting down and killing every Tutsi man, woman and child. The book explores what the men were thinking and feeling at the time of the killings and how they feel now about guilt, repentance and forgiveness.

The book is not as graphic as others I've read, but there are new horrors here, such as the fact that the men continually refer to the killings as "work," and even today they seem to have almost no empathy for their victims and survivors. For most, confession and seeking forgiveness from survivors seem to be merely the means to get out of prison as quickly as possible.

One killer told Hatzfeld, "I think the possibility of genocide fell out as it did because it was lying in wait--for time's signal, like the plane crash, to nudge it at the last moment. There was never any need to talk about it among ourselves. ... We knew full well what had to be done, and we set to doing it without flinching, because it seemed like the perfect solution." After reading this book, I was left believing that all the evil that came out in 1994 is still there, lying dormant.

I appreciated Hatzfeld's style of letting the killers speak for themselves and refraining from parceling out blame or otherwise injecting his own opinions. While giving the reader adequate background on the genocide, he focuses narrowly on one group's experience and as a result has put together an especially compelling narrative.

Machete Season recounts the story of 10 men that were responsible for horrific murders and atrocities in Rwanda. Acts that are difficult to fathom for most of us. Mr. Hatzfeld's writing is wonderful and his interviews with the killers help shed light into the horrific mindset of these men. This is a very important book to read since it makes clear the peril of group thinking and how easily the corruption of the human being can descend lower than that of the worst beasts. To dismiss these actions as pure evil is both simplistic and terribly dangerous. There are great lessons to be learned by the atrocities that were committed in Rwanda. We ought to feel a certain amount of shame for not getting involved, as a country, sooner, and we should seriously consider the utter ineffectiveness of the United Nations in conflict resolution.

For any people who say that genocide could not happen in their country, read Machete Season. Even though Rwanda was not a functioning democracy with a long history, how did ordinary people become killers and destroy 800,000 people in the process.
This destruction was more efficient than Nazi Germany and the result was a thirteen week bloodbath.

The author interviews a group of young Rwandian Hutus who were imprisoned as a result of their activities. Their crime was hunting down their Rwandan Tutsi neighbors and then cutting them. Cutting is the name for murder, but in their eyes they were just cutting something other than bananas. After the cutting, they raped Tutsi women and stole their wealth. These men had no doubts about what they did. In fact, the Hutu state government forced them to participate in the murders. They adapted to these new circumstances well. The search for Tutsi became a hunt and the cutting was like farm work. Most enjoyed the looted goods as a result of their killings.

This book is a fascinating perspective on how the Rwanda genocide occurred. One has read the history, and wondered why. This shows the inside of the mind working from the killer's perspective. An interesting though tragic read.

This book remains the most difficult read I have ever endured. It is harrowing in the scope of it's horror and deceiving in the simplicity of how it depicts how such an atrocity could be enacted. The voices speak for themselves, and one must be careful after awhile to recognize they are speaking of going off to work each day to slaughter other human beings not to plow the fields. I actually had to put this one down for stretches of time on a couple of occasions.

Judgements on the format aside, this is indeed one that should be required reading. Yes, the culprits are reluctant to admit their guilt, but one must bring something to this tome. It is in their denial that you can recognize how such a tragedy could transpire. Faced with difficult choices, most human beings will do what they must to survive. That instinct can conceal a plethora of evil deeds. These are flawed people that commited monsterous deeds when confronted with these choices. They succumbed and learned to minimize their role in this tragedy rather than face being ostracized or much worse by their friends and neighbors. A powerful, powerful book.

This book is not for the weak. The story is told so vividly you can almost feel and hear the screaming. Since they are accused killers, you have to read between the lines in the narratives. We killed because we wanted and weren't force became we had to do it. The women only looted and never killed became they also killed when necessary-necessary as they were stealing from the people murdered. In the words of a survivor it was the human becoming inhuman. It will make you cry and it will anger you. They tell about the UN coming in and only taking the non-Rwadan citizens which fueled their (Hutus) desire to further extinguish the Tutsis. The inability of the west to finally call it a genocide is appalling. The author also compares the genocide to other atrocities such as Bosnia and the Holocaust. He also gives a brief historical timeline on the conflict before April 1994. Along with this book, I recommend viewing the movie "Hotel Rwanda" and the additional DVD commentary.

Tough material. Well written and tactfully managed but the fact is that this was a terribly violent episode in African history thus is not an easy subject to read about. The author does a superb job of getting the convicted murderers to open up and gives a descriptive insight to the events that took place in April of '94. Gripping, hard to put down, even harder to comprehend.

I love the way the book was presented (a stylistic choice suitable to the topic and not at all structurally flawed as another reviewer suggests).

If you are expecting to come away with some definitive answers about the genocide... think again, as it is not the purpose of this book. The beauty of this book is that is illuminating, but somewhat open. Hatzfeld does not spoon feed the reader and he keeps the book's focus on the voices of the men he interviewed. There is a rawness about the process of human self-reflection and this book captures it, laying bare the truths and lies people tell themselves while recounting their role in the past. The human psyche is fascinating, and what people choose to share is as interesting as what we see them refuse to share. For example, some passages reveal a shocking frankness -sometimes as much a shock to the speaker as the reader. Yet, some passages reveal a distance, a cold detachedness... a refusal or incapability of the soul to either publicly or privately connect and unburden. All this said, Hatzfeld acknowledges that beyond inner turmoil, legal and other reprecussions influence what is shared and what is not.

This is a MUST READ for those who study genocide and mass violence. It is recommended for all interested others who have the maturity, respect, and the stomach to handle it.

For those not familiar with the Rwandan genocide: If you are looking for an excellent book that will help you understand a little something about what happened and why see "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda" by Philip Gourevitch. Read Gourevitch first and Hatzfeld's book afterward. You can't understand and fully appreciate this book properly -and its significant contribution -unless you have some background knowledge of the genocide.

The author interviewed in prison a group of friends,a seemingly ordinary crosssection of Rawandan Hutu farmers, who willingly and enthusiastically participated in the brutal extermination of their Tutsi neighbors. The book draws parallels with previous genocides such as perpetuated by the Nazi's and others thruout history. The killers seemed to look upon the massacres as pretty much of a job. With an added benefit often of rape and plunder. An incredibly disturbing, but true story. An interesting sidenote was the significant role played by radio broadcasts in inciting the mobs. Also, how The Church and U.N. and the rest of the world pretty much left the victims to their fates. Amazing as it may seem there were virtually no instances in which Hutus tried to save Tutsis who had been former friends. This whole dark blot on history must not be forgotten.