3,5

Sister Deborah is a black American prophetess and healer, who gathers a following in Rwanda, where her message that God is a black woman who will soon return to Earth and liberate the women of Rwanda finds a willing ear. It is a short novella, but we get the story of Sister Deborah from a number of different perspectives.

It was interesting, also thanks to the setting and time, but I was not as captivated by it as I was by its predecessor 'Kibogo'. The two books share common themes, chiefly the mingling of Christian religion brought by the Belgian padri with existing myths and beliefs.

I am so glad I picked this up. I had heard of Our Lady of the Nile before but didn’t even realize this was the same author.
The narrative voice is so easy to read and the book just flies by. The story of Sister Deborah changes and morphs depending on who is telling the tale. The changing of POVs was done seamlessly.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC

Rwanda, in my dreams, is a land of green beauty, proud and resilient people, and majestic great apes. I long for the day I can travel there to see it for myself. Until then, though, I turn regularly to the wondrous rendering of Scholastique Mukasonga. She never disappoints, and this story is no exception. This brief, spellbinding novel brings to life everything I love most in a story - mysticism, feminism, history, and the search for truth and how that concept changed through time. As always, Mukasonga exposes the cost of colonialism on a culture and a people. It's done perfectly. What a treasure.

This is a short but resonant book that returns to Mukasonga's themes of colonialism, religion and the roles and lives of women.

In a layered narrative, Ikirezi recalls the story of Sister Deborah and the various versions, legends and myths that accrete to it. From her first meeting with the missionary-healer as a young girl through to her recuperation of the tale as an African Studies professor in America, Ikirezi 's own trajectory is bound up with this enigmatic figure who is given different meanings depending on who is telling the story.

There's a fabled and spiritual thrust to the narrative that thinks about how stories are created and in whose power or to whose benefit, with a sense of a feminist wrenching back of the tale by the end.

One of the values of Mukasonga's writing is her way of translating Rwandan or African culture to allow us to participate in a non-western way of viewing the world.

I felt this was a worthy book rather than an enjoyable one, and although the themes are important and worth examining, I failed to relate to the characters, and felt that the central thesis was too disparate to hold the narrative together. Set mainly in Rwanda, it tells of a young girl Ikirezi, whose illness fails to heal with ancestral remedies, so her mother takes her to Sister Deborah, after which her health improves, adding to Sister Deborah’s already impressive reputation as a healer. Later Ikirezi, now an academic, delves deeper into Deborah’s past and explores the influence of the missionaries and colonialism on the indigenous people, and how various sects and cults grew out of the melange of the traditional and the new. Resistance to the newly imposed religious practice and the role of women within the society are also examined. It’s an interesting book for sure, but didn’t teach me anything new or deepened my understanding of the clash of cultures.

The one we are waiting for will not come on a cloud. Furthermore, he is not a he, but a she, a Black woman who will come from the earth, to paraphrase Sister Deborah’s prophecy in the novel of that name, written by French-Rwandan author Scholastique Mukasonga and translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti. Any novel that explores this idea within such a specific cultural context deserves 5 stars (in my opinion), even if the prose seems sometimes to meander (again from my particular Western perspective). After her stint as Sister Deborah, the spirit-filled prophetess becomes Mama Nganga, with her healing powers and dedication to women and children still intact, but now outside the church’s protection. She has become, in short, a witch doctor or sorceress. All of this is discovered and told from the perspective of Ikirezi, a young girl healed by Sister Deborah in the early days (1930’s) who then goes on to become a Ph.D. in African Studies, with a passion for unearthing the truth about her “savior.” With its lovely cadence and near mythic overtones, this book is a gift to a world still ravaged by the effects of colonialism and religious proselytizing.

With thanks to NetGalley and Archipelago Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rwanda, mid 20th century, was colonized by Belgium with attempts to civilize the Rwandan people. Chief Ragagara was forced to give up his traditional hut and a western-type home with foreign chairs and furniture was built for him. Reluctantly, he agreed to give over only one son to be educated in their ways. Catholocism was imposed to replace the old pagan beliefs and worship of the ancient spirits.
This is not just a story of the injustices of colonization, but of Black women taking back their power. It also highlights the internal spiritual conflicts brought about by the numerous religions and sects introduced into Africa, in many cases melding with the old spiritual traditions to become something entirely new.
Ikirezi is a sickly child. When her mother hears about Sister Deborah’s miraculous healing hands, they journey to Nyabikenke. Nyabikenke is where the black missionaries have arrived from America, and Sister Deborah’s compassion is for the women and children as she sits on the termite mound with her iron cane, laying her hands on the sick and the weak.
The book begins with Ikirizi telling her story, then we switch to Sister Deborah, telling about her journey to Rwanda. Sister Deborah falls in with a group of Pentecostals lead by Reverend Marcus, and when the spirit comes upon her, she speaks and prophesizes in a language no one recognizes. It is decided that she speaks an African language and the group is led to journey to Rwanda – the place of their coming liberation and the promised land of Mother Africa.
The women are drawn to Sister Deborah and her prophecy of liberation from their back-breaking work cultivating the coffee plants and freedom from their lazy men who beat them when drunk. This realm of women that was to be established became their ideal.
This translated work requires close reading. It is complex and thought provoking. I feel that some of the depth of the book is lost to me on an initial read with a second reading required. There is a lot to discuss around the Black experience raised in this book.

The story begins with Ikirezi, a young Rwandan woman, who was healed as a child by Sister Deborah, a healer with mystical powers coming from the Spirit. She recalls what she can remember about this figure, and later on in life, comes to Rwanda in search of the truth about Deborah.
Sister Deborah is a short but strong novel discovering the colonialism, christening and feminism in Rwanda on the verge of 19-20 centuries.

The novel has four chapters divided by the main events among which the first turned out to be confusing to me with all the spirits’ names, society ladder terms in Kinyarwanda and multiple narratives about the characters, the village. I lacked the knowledge of Rwanda, its culture and the history, so to fill out the gap I googled what I could to understand the story’s background on a deeper level. This effort helped immensely and I could navigate Sister Deborah’s story easily.

While reading, I had a feeling that the story wasn’t created by Scholastique Mukasonga but retold what she witnessed herself. I admire such writing skills as not everyone is capable of it.

I found the novel to be plot-driven however Sister Deborah herself developed dramatically—we follow her from childhood in the US to adolescence and adulthood in Rwanda exploring the painful truths of life with her.

Sister Deborah is for those who love exploring new cultures, observing their challenges throughout history; for those who love mystic stories, and strong female characters. I should also mention the depth of baptism evolved in the plot as it plays a major key in its development, so if you’re triggered by religion, Sister Deborah might not be a right fit for you.

I’m grateful to Archipelago Books for providing an early copy of Sister Deborah via NetGalley. It was a pleasure getting acquainted with Scholastique Mukasonga’s work. Sister Deborah’s English edition will be released on October 29.

Thank you NetGalley and Archipelago for an ARC of this book.

This book is one I will be thinking about for days to come after finishing. This is a novel about the sacred role of women in Rwandan, and specifically how mythic traditions interact with present societal norms.

The prose style and translation worked really well together to deliver a contemplative and moving narrative. While this book is influenced by the political history of Rwanda, the plot feels rather spare so the character and societal development has the opportunity to shine.

I would definitely recommend this book to those looking for books which explore the roles and limitations of women within society.

The writing here is unremarkable but there is a potential big story here. The writing keeps the short book from fulfilling its promising viability. Sister Deborah is a healer in the African tradition, but of course the European colonizers see her as a witch, a sorceress, a purveyor of evil. The book is an intimate look at the clash of cultures and the disrespect and disregard of indigenous worldviews.

The one thing that takes a direct hit, is the spiritual practices of the indigenous. The recognition of the power of spirit was something that colonizers recognized even in their misunderstanding. Unfortunately, because of the fracturing of society there were instances when the indigenous failed to accept the power of spirit and gave credence and acceptance to foreign religious beliefs and practices.

Sister Deborah has visions and a spirit is speaking through her. And from Sister Deborah we learn of the coming of a messiah on a cloud to save Africans on the continent and in America, and the messiah is a Black woman! That sounds like an expansive canvas on which to build a novel, but for a few reasons this novel falls short of filling that expanse. The themes are not deeply explored and the characters are mostly shallowly drawn. I was hoping it would gear up, but unfortunately it never made the shift, so I settled on 2.5⭐️. Thanks to Netgalley and Archipelago books for an advanced DRC. Book drops Oct. 29, 2024

A young girl is cured by a mysterious preacher-healer woman, and she spends the rest of her life trying to understand who this woman is, and what role is she supposed to fulfill in the world. Sister Deborah is an African-American missionary that doesn't seem to be what we expect from a missionary, starting her own syncretic religious movement, which of course is not seen kindly by the authorities. She becomes, despite not being the leader of their group, a sort of spiritual beacon for the women around her, who she encourages to think and meditate, to the chagrin of the men of the community. Sister Deborah also promises the coming of a new messiah, this time a Black woman who will create a sort of feminist realm. All this time, the narrator, young Ikirezi, follows Sister Deborah's journey, while at the same time emabrking on her own. After losing sight of the woman, Ikirezi finishes her studies and travels to the US, becoming a professor of Anthropology and an expert in African Studies, which also helps bring Sister Deborah's whereabouts to her attention once again.

It's a fascinanting exploration of the ways in which colonialism affected spiritual and religious practices, as well as how African Americans's expectations of people in Africa is also created through a sort of colonialist/idealistic perspective. Mukasonga's prose is clear and
elegant, showing the narrator's growth and her understanding of Sister Deborah's beliefs and position in the world changing through the years. It's a very short novel, but manages to pack so many interesting topics that it will be well worth a second and third readings.


I received a review copy via NetGalley, so thanks to the publishers for allowing me to read this in advance.