The first of these was The Bone Woman. I was really excited about this book, which is a memoir by a forensic anthropologist who worked with the UN to identify bodies and document war crimes in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. It might sound like a strange thing to get excited about, and I fully expected it to be depressing, but I really enjoy medical non-fiction and I wanted to learn more about those conflicts. I know the basic outline of Hutus vs. Tutsis and Serbs vs. Bosnians vs. Albanians, but I don't really understand the history or politics behind those very basic ethnic conflicts.
The book, unfortunately, was kind of disappointing. The author's life story is compelling and it was interesting to hear how she became a UN forensic anthropologist at age 23 (I now feel totally un-accomplished). However, the stories within the book never quite came together for me. A big part of the narrative was about the bureaucracy of the UN or the little interpersonal squabbles within the forensics teams, which was not compelling for me. I felt that the personal stories of the victims or even of the interactions between the anthropologists and the local communities were too few and far between. There also wasn't much in the way of historical or political background, either. The book was divided into sections based on the location of the UN mission described, and each section was headed by a one page description of the conflict involved. But that was it. I came away not understanding much more than when I started.
I give this book at 3 out of 10. It gives a very good insight into the inner workings of the UN and the war crimes tribunals, but does not educate about the conflicts nor elicit any deep emotional response to them.
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