Book Review: Finding Beauty in a Broken World

Finding Beauty in a Broken World . Terry Tempest Williams. Pantheon Books: New York, 2008.

                                                                                                                                                                           
“A mosaic is a conversation between what is broken.”

Mosaic as Metaphor
Terry Tempest Williams, in this piercing book, weaves the metaphors of brokenness and beauty into a work of astonishing power. After 911, Terry Tempest Williams, whose subject is usually the natural world, sought for a word to anchor her sense of fragmentation. The word that came to her was “mosaic” and this led to a study of mosaics. Art works fashioned from broken bits of tile, stone and glass, mosaics can, at their finest be wondrous works of light and line.

Making the Broken Whole
Williams began a journey which took her to Ravenna, Italy to study mosaic making, then to the Western plains to study the habitat of the threatened prairie dog, and finally to Rwanda to assist in the construction of a memorial to survivors of the 1994 genocide. In all these experiences Williams traces the theme of brokenness, making beauty from sharp and jagged pieces, events or experiences.

 Up Close with Threatened Prairie Dogs in Utah
In a central part of the book Williams shares her intense experience studying prairie dogs in Utah. Seen as rodents by many in the west, these small mammals live in burrows and mounds. As many as 200 other species are associated with the prairie dog for their existence and way of life. Yet they are killed for sport.

Prairie dogs rely on their exquisite abilities to scan the environment for danger for their continued survival. Williams paints an unforgettable picture of how these “prayer dogs” come out of their holes at dawn and stand in silence with hands folded facing the dawn. Similarly at eventide they face the setting sun reverently, like monks, and then retire for the night.

Wounds of Rwanda Eleven Years After the Genocide

In 2005 Williams traveled to Rwanda with Chinese American artist Lily Yeh, to help build a memorial to those killed in the genocide in the survivors’ village of Rugerero. Against the background of poverty, malaria, AIDS, hunger, and chronic erosion of the soil in Rwanda, the survivors attempt to get on with life, moving like ghosts with hollow stares and amputated limbs. The fear and paranoia still present there is palpable in Williams words, especially in the scenes of a local “Gacaca”, a restorative justice attempt to deal with some of the backlog of “genocidaires” who are clogging up the International Court tribunal system.

Genocide Memorial Brings New Life and Inspiration
The memorial Lily Yeh designed, which was built by the people of Rugerero included a pavilion to house the bones of the dead surrounded by mosaic covered undulating walls, brought the entire community together and inspired and renewed them. Children painted the cinder block houses in vivid colors and covered them with pictures of animals and plants. New life came to a place of the living dead.

 Finding Beauty in Brokenness
Terry Tempest Williams asks penetrating questions of all of us as she knits these varied landscapes together: Who benefits from the erosion of land and the loss of habitat? Why do the women of Rwanda do the hard work while the men sit by idly? How can the wounds of war and habitat fragmentation be arrested and made whole?

My only criticism of this book is I wish it had been more tightly edited, especially in the prairie dog section.  Nevertheless it is a  powerful and beautiful book, especially for anyone interested in creating a more loving and workable world.

Questions:

1. Do you believe that environmental degradation has any connection to issues of peace and human harmony? If so, what is the connection?

2. How can people heal from a devastating trauma such as the genocide in Rwanda? What is the role of art? What about other forms of healing and repair? What should come first?