Aisha Bain (director)

I am finding this book very hard to read. Not that it is bad, but because I am not that great at reading non-fiction. I really don't know what to rate this book so far...the subject matter and the need for people to understand what is going on in Darfur deserves at least four stars, but the way this is written and its ability to hold my interest is more a two star rating.

I decided to read this book because it sounded like it would focus more on the individuals' stories. This appealed to me and sounded right for what I need to stay interested in a non-fiction book. Unfortunately, the focus is more on the authors, the ones who went to Darfur to film their documentary rather than on the people they were talking to. The stories are about how they got to Darfur, how they met with these people, their thoughts on what they said, etc.

I think I need to see the documentary to see the stories, listen to the voices of those affected.

I have not given up on the book quite yet. I pick it up and read a few more pages now and then. I want to read it. I want to be more informed. It is just taking me longer to do than I thought it would.… (més)

The concept of this book was interesting enough; three people go on a mission to Darfur to make a documentary about the lives of the people who live there. I have to say, I didn't even finish this book. I had such high hopes! But I found the book very biased and honestly a bit boring. I think I would find the actual documentary much more interesting. These three had a lot of guts to sneak into the area, but I found they were a bit arrogant about the whole thing. Like, what they were doing was so great and wonderful. They could have died. There is a reason that people don't go there, and people are being forced to leave. Don't get me wrong, the stories of the people they met were indeed fascinating. I think actually seeing these people on camera might be a lot more powerful than their stories told through than these authors. But, I just didn't like the writing style of the book. That being said, I did enjoy the history aspect of the book. I admit, I hardly knew where Darfur was when I started reading this, so I found all of the historical, political and geographical information very useful.… (més)