"The Bite of the Mango" is a true story of a little girl Mariatu Kamara who was caught in the rebel war in Sierra Leone. She was raped by an elder villager and later her hands were cut by the rebels. She later learns to live her life without hands and moves to Canada.Obviously it was a terrible experience for a girl at that age who no one but her can comprehend. However the reason I rate this book 2 stars is because despite the pain and suffering she went through, I was unable to relate to it. Unfortunately the book deviates quite a lot from her life in Sierra Leone to aspects which may not have been relevant. For instance her trip to UK before eventually moving to Canada does not help her story a bit. In an attemt to write a full biographical account, the story moves from one line of the story to another without actually focusing on anything significantly. Such stories when publish can serve two important purpose:1) It highlights and in cases like these alert the world on a building crisis which needs immediate attention, could be military or could be political intervention.2) It can generate enough sympathy for the humanitarian crisis created by the war to ensure sufficient donations thus helping people suffering in refugee camps.Unfortunately on both accounts, the book fails simply because of its content and over simplistic writing.A side point, while the book talks about prosthetic hands and Mariatu's unwillingness to use them, it would be good to eventually tell the readers if she finally used them and did they benefit. This information would have been useful for other victims and may be even to NGOs focused on providing artificial limbs. This book about a Sierra Leonean child war victim was compelling and enlightening and heart-breaking, as well as inspiring. It was also engaging, but not as emotionally involving as it could have been. It didn't feel to be consistently in Mariatu's voice -- maybe it was difficult for Susan McClelland, the writer telling Mariatu's story, to capture all the changes that Mariatu went through as she left her life in Sierra Leone and encountered the world as a war refugee. Still, a very interesting memoir.
What do You think about Bite Of The Mango (2010)?
Good book but it was utterly horrifying considering that everything in the book was true.
—spencer
The dignity and bravery of individuals never ceases to amaze me.
—vishal
