Women in a World at War: Seven Dispatches from the Front

Nikki Tate-Stratton writes children’s picture books and novels for
preteens. Her most recent novels are Jo’s Triumph, Raven’s Revenge,
and Tarragon Island. Her latest picture book is Grandparents’ Day.

War: a simple three-letter word that is anything but. Madeleine Gagnon
adds yet another layer of complexity by looking at war from the
perspective of its victims, particularly women.

Following opening comments by Benoоte Groult and Monique Durand,
Gagnon begins the first chapter by describing an encounter with Anna, a
woman living in exile in Canada. Anna’s story of suffering and
survival sets the tone for the subsequent chapters in which Gagnon
writes about those she meets in Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. A final chapter
written after Gagnon’s return to Canada pulls together the various
threads of the stories she has collected and attempts to make sense of
what she has experienced during her travels.

A book of elegantly phrased questions and reflections, many passages
are beautifully written. The result is an uneasy blend of hope and
despair. Gagnon tackles such issues as the individual’s deep need for
belonging within a particular culture, the resulting near universal
sense of Us versus Them, the subjugation of women in so many
misogynistic situations, and the way women support warriors who then
slaughter other women’s children.

As one reads about Sunnis, Muslims, Jews, Christians, men, women, the
wealthy, and the poor, one is struck by the universal concerns echoed in
the conversations shared with many voices. The desire for peace, the
need for home, the essential role of hope, the resilience of the human
spirit, and the desire to get to the root of turmoil and conflict come
up again and again.

Listening to victims of war cannot help but be moving, but Gagnon takes
this material and transforms agonizing ongoing debates into a tragically
beautiful philosophical exploration of what it means to survive the
human experience. Her approach to her subject is closer to that of a
poet than an academic or a journalist and thus she has succeeded in
capturing the words, emotions, hopes, and disillusionment of a
cross-section of those who are victims of war. At the same time she
challenges the North American reader to examine the complicity and
(false) sense of security that all too often leads to inaction,
defeatism, or feelings of guilt and helplessness that plague those
privileged enough to live in relative peace.