Make sure you have tissues handy when you read this! The writing is so superb that it is easy to visualize what the author went through. I definitely recommend this one!

Oh my gosh this book, this memoir, is totally unputdownable! The Incredible True Story of Blondy Baruti by Blondy Baruti piqued my interest because I have read a lot about the DRC, and because I love watching basketball, but honestly you don’t need to have any interest or background in either of these subjects to fall in love with Blondy Baruti. He’s incredible, and The Incredible True Story of Blondy Baruti is most definitely an incredible piece of work.

The Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, is a beautiful country that has been continuously ripped apart by brutal colonizers and wars. Blondy Baruti, survived through a civil war, walking hundreds of dangerous miles with his mother and sister with absolutely nothing except the clothes on their backs, to a somewhat safer environment, having witnessed absolute horrors that honestly we can’t really imagine. Through much hard work, luck, kindness, and betrayal, Blondy manages to get a basketball scholarship in the US, and also ends up starring in the movie Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol.2. The publisher’s summary talks of a “rags to riches” tale, and Blondy is a little like a modern day Oliver Twist, but in my opinion the book is so much more than just a tale of success in spite of hardship.

Blondy’s voice is so present in the narrative, you feel like he’s sitting right next to you, you feel his fears, his anger, his pain, his happiness, his love, his hope, and his absolute will to show the world he can succeed. Blondy is an inspiration to us all, and without it ever being mentioning in his book, because I can’t even imagine him ever thinking this anyway, he gives us a huge perspective on how we should always hold on to hope, to love, and to what is good in this world.

I thoroughly recommend this book to everyone, it’s a brilliant read, and I extend my thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy to read.

The Incredible True Story of Blondy Baruti will be published by Simon & Schuster on May 1st, 2018.