Shop DJ Furby!
This edition of this title is not available for purchase in your country. Choose an available edition from the options above
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Road Trip Rwanda: A Journey into the New Heart of Africa Kindle Edition

by Will Ferguson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 out of 5 stars 77 ratings
Hope lives in Africa. Twenty years after the genocide that left Rwanda in ruins, Giller Prize-winning author Will Ferguson travels deep into the once-mysterious "Land of a Thousand Hills" with his friend and cohort Jean-Claude Munyezamu, a man who escaped Rwanda just months before the killings began.
     From the legendary Source of the Nile to Dian Fossey's famed "gorillas in the mist," from innovative refugee camps along the Congolese border to the world's most escapable prison, from tragic genocide sites to open savannahs and a bridge to freedom, from schoolyard soccer pitches to a cunning plan to get rich on passion fruit, Ferguson and Munyezamu discover a country reborn.
     Funny, engaging, poignant, and at times heartbreaking, Road Trip Rwanda is the lively tale of two friends, the open road, and the hidden heart of a continent.
Read more
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    385 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Viking
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    September 29, 2015
  6. File size
    17.0 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
Next slide of product details
Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Road Trip Rwanda: 

“Funny and moving, powerful and tragic, Road Trip Rwanda is a stunning read about hope, redemption, and friendship in a country emerging from a national nightmare. Only Will Ferguson could achieve such a delicate and satisfying balance. Brilliant and breathtaking.” —Terry Fallis, two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for the novels The Best Laid Plans and No Relation

“A thoughtful and eloquent examination of the Rwandan genocide‎ and how it has shaped generations at home and abroad. A compelling, lyrical, and thought-provoking read, suffused with just the right amount of wit.” —Dr. Samantha Nutt, Founder of War Child and bestselling author of Damned Nations: Greed, Guns, Armies, and Aid

Praise for Will Ferguson:

“The funniest writer in Canada.” —The National Post 

“Pierre Berton with attitude.” —Montreal Gazette 
 
“Ferguson has carved out a big niche as one of our most irreverent, funniest writers.” —The Globe and Mail 
 
“Will Ferguson writes like a house on fire.” —Vancouver Sun 
 
“Brilliantly entertaining.” —The Times (UK) 
 
“Sometimes touching, sometimes amusing and always true ... as a wordsmith and traveler, Ferguson knows where he is going.” —The Boston Globe 
 
“Ferguson possesses a crafty eye for detail, not to mention a highly developed understanding of the essential folly in what passes for everyday life.” —Edmonton Journal

About the Author

Will Ferguson spent five years in Asia, based in Japan, with travels to Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, and China. He is the author of Beyond Belfast, which charts a 560-mile walk across Northern Ireland in the rain, and Hitching Rides with Buddha, about an end-to-end journey across Japan by thumb. His work has been published in twenty-three languages and twice nominated for an IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. A three-time winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour, his most recent novel, 419, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for literature. He lives in Calgary with his wife, Terumi, and their two sons.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00TY3ZSA6
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 29, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 17.0 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 385 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0143196198
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 77 ratings

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
77 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • Myles
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2017
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Great book. There is much hope there. Excellent read. Well written!!
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • a Guy in Baltimore
    5.0 out of 5 stars ... of his comfort zone on this one and IT'S AMAZING!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2017
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Ferguson steps out of his comfort zone on this one and IT'S AMAZING!
    Helpful
     Report
  • P. M.
    5.0 out of 5 stars How can you possibly move on
    Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2018
    Format: Hardcover
    For some reason finding books by this author Will Ferguson, here in the United States is very difficult, which surprises me since he is a Canadian author, so it is not like he is only published in Albania. That being said I have read multiple books by this author and they are all fantastic.
    He writes both fiction and non fiction and each one is worth your time especially Beyond Belfast, Hokkaido Highway Blues/Hitching Rides with Buddha, two excellent sort-of travel narratives.
    419 is fiction rooted in Fact, regarding annoying email/phone solicitation scams, that are run from Ghana.
    Then there is Road Trip Rwanda. This is a sad, tragic, yet somehow redemptive story of one country who after suffering a genocide so horrific, so unspeakable, you can’t possibly read this book and not be shaken, not be moved, not be amazed that the country has somehow moved on.
    There are people who don’t believe there is evil in the world. I defy anyone to read about the genocide in Rwanda, and still cling to this belief. This wasn’t “the government turning on a portion of the population, this was the wholesale slaughter of 800,000- 1,000,000 people. Neighbor turning on neighbor, lifelong friends being slaughtered. You can not travel anywhere in the country where whole towns weren’t killing dens, churches where Tutsis were lured under the promise of a safe haven, when the reality was it would be easier kill that many more of them in one place.
    The author struck up a friendship with his travel companion for this book Jean Claude, while in Canada and was moved by his thoughtfulness, kindness and generosity, and they decide to visit the country that Jean Claude was born in and escaped at the start of the genocide.
    At one point in the book the author asks jean Claude why he is so giving so generous and Jean Claude replies (I am paraphrasing) “it haunts you, why did I survive. Why did I get out. A 19 year old kid, I wasn’t married, I didn’t have children, I wasn’t important to the economy, why did I live when so many other were slaughtered?
    Nearly as difficult to fathom is how Rwanda has moved on. How so many of the killers were never punished. How survivors see the very people who slaughtered their entire families, walking freely, down the same street they are on.
    Yet Rwanda has moved on, some things are questionable regarding how they have moved on, but they have and on a continent with nothing but screwed up countries they have excelled.
    The book is not all doom and gloom and depression, there are some parts that are quite funny, which makes the story that much more accessible.
    Finally you will also learn how guilty/useless/ the UN, The Catholic Church and the French government acted and behaved, in enabling this to happen, and the aftermath.
    This is easily one of the best books I have ever read.
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Jody Bennett
    5.0 out of 5 stars Heart wrenching and yet uplifting
    Reviewed in Canada on November 5, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    An excellent read that I found both hard to read at times, given the reality of Rwanda's history, but also somehow consoling, even uplifting. A peak into another world, another culture, a past, and a present. The writing is an easy narrative, with depth, as well as humor, and an easily felt and understood sense of our shared humanity.
    Report
  • Gabriel H Geiger
    4.0 out of 5 stars My next African destination
    Reviewed in Canada on September 1, 2016
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    A very well written book. The author has a light touch and gives the modern history of this small nation its own personal narrative with emotional depth and accessibility that I really enjoy.
    Report
  • Carolyn
    5.0 out of 5 stars His accounts of visits to the larger massacre sites are horrifying and profoundly sad. He makes the history of the country and .
    Reviewed in Canada on October 24, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Will Ferguson won the Giller Prize for 419, a work of fiction set in Nigeria.
    This is a non-fictional account of his journey through Rwanda twenty years after the genocide where almost a million people, mainly Tutsis were massacred.

    I was on a camping trip throughout Rwanda shortly before the killing started and thought it was a country of breathtaking beauty. Ferguson's lush, vivid descriptions of the landscape, green hills, flowers and other vegetation, buildings, colourful dresses and misty mountains transports one and you are seeing the land through his eyes.

    Since my trip there I read many non-fiction books about the genocide. His accounts of visits to the larger massacre sites are horrifying and profoundly sad. He makes the history of the country and events leading up to the slaughter more coherent than previous books I have read. He uses the latest and most reliable statistics and the numbers are beyond grim.

    Once the killing began, the author lays the blame for its continuation. The UN force, lead by Canadian General Dallaire had their mandate, manpower and equipment seriously depleted. The USA would not call what was happening a genocide to avoid helping. The French led Tutsis out of hiding and then left them to be massacred.
    There was plenty of blame to go around. An impoverished, shattered country was left after four months of slaughter with so many dead or fleeing the country and those remaining numb with shock, grief or guilt. Rwanda is making an amazing recovery, leading other African countries in many social and economic fields. Where they have looked for examples in order to make such progress is surprising.

    During his journey it is not all grim. There are humorous incidents where appropriate. The life story of Ferguson's native guide Jean-Claude, who left Rwanda just before the slaughter and now lives in Canada is an incredible one. This remarkable man needs a book or movie based on his contributions in Africa and in Canada.
    Highly recommended for those interested in recent political and social history and travel to remote places.
    Report
  • Mary Sawyer author The Lockdown Murder
    5.0 out of 5 stars Harrowing yet hopeful
    Reviewed in Canada on December 22, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    After reading Dallaire's book on the genocide in Rwanda I was hesitant to read another for purely selfish reasons. But this book has added to my understanding of what happened. But Will Ferguson has used his role as outsider who travels to Rwanda with a genocide survivor to blend the horrific past with a hopeful present and future. It doesn't gloss over what happened but gives the reader a view of what has risen from what is described as a tragedy although there isn't one word that can really describe what happened.
    A very compelling read.
    Report
  • Dean
    4.0 out of 5 stars A good read and accurate knowledge of Rwanda and its history
    Reviewed in Canada on November 10, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Many levels woven together! A good read and accurate knowledge of Rwanda and its history.
    Report

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report