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Overview
The young life of Daoud Hari–his friends call him David–has been one of bravery and mesmerizing adventure. The Translator is a suspenseful, harrowing, and deeply moving memoir of how one person has made a difference in the world, an on-the-ground account of one of the biggest stories of our time: the brutal genocide under way in Darfur.
In 2003, Daoud Hari, a Zaghawa tribesman, was among the hundreds of thousands of villagers attacked and driven from their homes by Sudanese-government-backed militia groups. Though Hari’s village was burned to the ground, his family decimated and dispersed, he himself escaped, eventually finding safety across the border. With his high school knowledge of languages, Hari offered his services as a translator and guide. In doing so, however, he had to return to the heart of darkness–and he has risked his life again and again to help ensure that the story of his people is told while there is still time to save them.
Synopsis
The young life of Daoud Hari–his friends call him David–has been one of bravery and mesmerizing adventure. The Translator is a suspenseful, harrowing, and deeply moving memoir of how one person has made a difference in the world, an on-the-ground account of one of the biggest stories of our time: the brutal genocide under way in Darfur.
In 2003, Daoud Hari, a Zaghawa tribesman, was among the hundreds of thousands of villagers attacked and driven from their homes by Sudanese-government-backed militia groups. Though Hari’s village was burned to the ground, his family decimated and dispersed, he himself escaped, eventually finding safety across the border. With his high school knowledge of languages, Hari offered his services as a translator and guide. In doing so, however, he had to return to the heart of darkness–and he has risked his life again and again to help ensure that the story of his people is told while there is still time to save them.
The Washington Post - David Chanoff
The Translator, by Daoud Hari, a native Darfurian, may be the biggest small book of this year, or any year. In roughly 200 pages of simple, lucid prose, it lays open the Darfur genocide more intimately and powerfully than do a dozen books by journalists or academic experts. Hari and his co-writers achieve this in a voice that is restrained, generous, gentle and—astonishingly—humorous. He is not an Elie Wiesel or a Simon Wiesenthal speaking the unspeakable in words so searing as to be practically unbearable. I, for one, am grateful for that. In these times, when news of carnage and atrocity comes at us so insistently, Hari's tone allows the vastness of Darfur's suffering to seep into the reader's consciousness in a way that a raw, more emotional telling might not.
Editorials
David Chanoff
The Translator, by Daoud Hari, a native Darfurian, may be the biggest small book of this year, or any year. In roughly 200 pages of simple, lucid prose, it lays open the Darfur genocide more intimately and powerfully than do a dozen books by journalists or academic experts. Hari and his co-writers achieve this in a voice that is restrained, generous, gentle and—astonishingly—humorous. He is not an Elie Wiesel or a Simon Wiesenthal speaking the unspeakable in words so searing as to be practically unbearable. I, for one, am grateful for that. In these times, when news of carnage and atrocity comes at us so insistently, Hari's tone allows the vastness of Darfur's suffering to seep into the reader's consciousness in a way that a raw, more emotional telling might not.—The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly
Hari's harrowing and stunning memoir recounts life in the Sudan during one of the most widely neglected and horrifying events in human history. Mirron Willis brings a subtle reality to the touching story through his simple yet incredibly understated performance. Read with a just-right Sudanese dialect, Willis becomes Hari from the very beginning, bringing listeners into the story slowly by relating the beauties of his former home before the helicopters arrive late one night in 2003. The result is a story of survival in the midst of an intense genocide, heartbreaking yet stunningly uplifting. Willis speaks directly and captivatingly to his listener. This is an important story that speaks to everyone. Simultaneous release with the Random House hardcover (reviewed online). (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Library Journal
A Sudanese tribesman who has worked as a translator and guide for journalists reporting on the conflict in Darfur, Hari offers a moving account of his experiences in his troubled homeland, rendered in spare and direct prose. With quiet power and gripping immediacy, Hari eloquently describes the devastating genocide in Darfur and the resulting human suffering. Hari's dangerous mission as a translator was to give voice to the silenced victims of Darfur; with his memoir he continues this important work by clearly explaining and humanizing the causes and consequences of the conflict within the context of his own story. Even amid great personal danger and hardship, he steadfastly maintains an inspiring degree of compassion for all sides of the conflict, never wavering in his burning desire to raise worldwide awareness of the unchecked genocide in his homeland. This memoir raises fundamental questions about the global community's moral responsibility to act, leaving the reader with unsettling questions about humanity's capacity for evil. With parallels to works such as Paul Rusesabagina's An Ordinary Man(with Tom Zoellner) and John Bul Dau's God Grew Tired of Us(with Michael S. Sweeney), this wise and compelling autobiography is highly recommended for all public libraries.
—Ingrid Levin