"In Rwanda in the 1990s, Bernard Valcourt, a Canadian, spends time at a hotel frequented by many other foreign nationals. Valcourt is trying to set up a television station and to draw attention to the AIDS crisis that is raging, officially ignored, in Kigali and elsewhere in Rwanda. However, he finds himself in a precarious position. He does not truly understand the crisis he is committed to exploring. He does not understand, for example, the complicated social rules that make people willingly pass on the virus – sometimes indifferently, and sometimes as part of a plan for revenge. Valcourt also finds that despite his hard work, he has a hard time getting the television station going, even after years of trying.
Valcourt's life is made even more complicated by two events. First, civil war seems imminent in Rwanda as some individuals start spreading propaganda about the Tutsi ethnic group. Secondly, Valcourt falls in love with Gentille, a Hutu waitress who looks very much like a Tutsi. As tensions and violence build in Kigali, Valcourt courts Gentille, hoping to make her his wife. However much Gentille and his friends try to persuade Valcourt to leave the country with the other white nationals, Valcourt refuses. He has fallen in love with Rwanda and its beauty as much as he has fallen in love with Gentille. Once the plan for genocide starts to be implemented, though, Valcourt realizes that the beautiful Gentille is threatened by her Tutsi appearance and he needs to find a way to keep both Gentille and himself safe in an increasingly hostile environment. "
A. A., Resident Scholar
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Review Analysis of A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- very sensitive (sigh)
Time/era of story
- 1980's-1999
Inside culture (main char)
- Black
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Outside culture (society)
- African Black
War/Revolt/Disaster on civilians
Yes
Ethnic/regional/gender life
Yes
Conflict:
- War, Civil
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- journalist
Age:
- 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Canadian (Aboot!)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Main Adversary
Identity:
- an organization
Profession/status:
- politician/elected ruler
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- almost none
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 4 (a fair amount)
Africa
Yes
Kind of Africa:
- Black Africa
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- very explicit references to deaths and torture
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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