In the autobiography ‘The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story Of War And What Comes After’ by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil, it is stated that when most children begin to start learning to ride their bikes or tie their shoelaces, Clemantine was introduced to a world of hate, war, hunger, rape, and hardship. Six- year- old, Clemantine and her 15-year-old sister, Claire, were forced to leave their home in Rwanda and become refugees. 

The two of them migrated across Africa, witnessing the effects of war throughout their native continent. They felt the pains of poverty and the aches of hunger. This autobiography tells the tale of their journey, their outcome, and how they survived.

The narration flips between Clemantine’s journeys from Africa to her new life in America. It has been written with an immense amount of detail and emotion, capturing the true reality of what she experienced. Wamariya teaches us to realize the meaning of genocide, victim, and war; to respect every single tragedy and not only refer to it as a number of casualties, to recognize all the aspects of each individual disaster and not label it with a word that blankets them all. 

This book should be read by everyone, everywhere. It is remarkably honest, raw, and attention-grabbing. It truly changes your perspective of the world. It not only shows you how war can affect a human being but what it means to be a human being. Clemantine went on to graduate Yale and become a New York Times bestselling author. The book is all about her life’s journey which is motivational and inspiring to the readers.