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karleeemw's review against another edition
2.0
The story line was good but it was hard to follow sometimes. I think it’s the kind of book you have to read a couple times to understand but personally I didn’t like it enough to read again.
alexlaurelhoffman's review against another edition
3.0
This book started off really well and for the first half or so, I was really enjoying it. Nuruddin Farah often writes beautifully and poetically. However, it progressed into a book that felt increasingly like a history lesson, and also, somehow, increasingly like a kind of postmodern experiment. The experimental style which I had really liked at first became at times pretentious and confusing and it felt a bit too academic for a novel, especially with its opaque references to various theorists and psychologists. The feeling of the history lesson only bothered me because large tracts of the text began to feel didactic and diverted from the narrative. I think it’s a very ambitious book and it has a lot of beautiful and resonant moments, but Farah lost some of what was really great about his writing in his attempts to be experimental and to teach history. Of course, this is just my opinion and you may disagree with me!
phoebehmcmahon's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
clairevoyants's review against another edition
2.0
Prose is incredibly lyrical; overall very dense, sometimes inscrutable, generally unenjoyable.
dreesreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I found this slow and dense. The story itself wasn't particularly interesting to me, but it left me with a lot to think about. This would be better as a buddy or group read I think. Farah examines ideas of belonging, family, identity.
evilyn's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Abandonment, Murder, Death, and Abortion
shanaetheflyest's review against another edition
5.0
Great book about identity, the colonization of Africans living within borders established by the colonizers, the fluidity of ethnicity and everything else you can imagine about Somalia and Egypt. Farah is an amazing writer who tells story with all types of imagery...it reads like poetry. I am big on writers who use language to their advantage and Farah is definitely one of those types.
nyne's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
libmeh's review against another edition
4.0
The first half of the novel is not comfortable. A child (Askar) in living on the border of Somalia and Ethiopia in an area contested in the war tries to find his place in the world. He is Somali and his adoptive mother (Misra) is Ethiopian. Their relationship is too close for comfort. Askar's sense of self is all wrapped up in hers; in a sense, he is not weaned until he is sent away from the war-torn area to live with an uncle and aunt in Mogadishu. They are well-educated, well-off and apparently removed from the turmoil.
The beginning of the book places the reader in a difficult position of feeling muddled (as is the narrator), having to navigate an opaque and confusing narrative, with shifts in voice (1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person), but all are the same narrator, Askar. Time shifts without warning, dreams are inserted without initially being clearly delineated as such, the child narrator is sucked into the weird, dysfunctional relationships of the adults surrounding him. And he is 0-6 in this section, thus with little agency.
From early on, Askar is fascinated with maps and there are maps when he gets to Mogadishu as well. Maps trying to define boundaries of contested territories, artificial boundaries created by the British and Italian contested territories. Those who are well-educated speak Italian &/or English. Who are the Somali in this context? Who is Askar, a Somali child raised by an Ethiopian adoptive mother? Where are the boundaries, between Askar and Misra, between Ethiopia and Somalia? Will the maps tell him who he is? Will he join the army to fight for his mother country, he who is in a sense motherless?
I'm partway through this and working to finish it before the book club meeting tonight. I'm worried that the book club members won't like it and it is a wonderful book. Just not an easy book, full of literary devices like shifts in time and in voice and magical realism. In some ways, it is a difficult book, both structurally and emotionally. The book club members tend to favor straightforward narratives and plot-driven books. I wanted us to do a Somali book, but was this a good choice? I guess I'll find out tonight.
*****
Yep, about 2/3 of the book club didn't show :) Ah well. Those of us who were there had a great discussion and there was lots of pizza leftover. I'm glad I read the book and would read more by Farah.
The beginning of the book places the reader in a difficult position of feeling muddled (as is the narrator), having to navigate an opaque and confusing narrative, with shifts in voice (1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person), but all are the same narrator, Askar. Time shifts without warning, dreams are inserted without initially being clearly delineated as such, the child narrator is sucked into the weird, dysfunctional relationships of the adults surrounding him. And he is 0-6 in this section, thus with little agency.
From early on, Askar is fascinated with maps and there are maps when he gets to Mogadishu as well. Maps trying to define boundaries of contested territories, artificial boundaries created by the British and Italian contested territories. Those who are well-educated speak Italian &/or English. Who are the Somali in this context? Who is Askar, a Somali child raised by an Ethiopian adoptive mother? Where are the boundaries, between Askar and Misra, between Ethiopia and Somalia? Will the maps tell him who he is? Will he join the army to fight for his mother country, he who is in a sense motherless?
I'm partway through this and working to finish it before the book club meeting tonight. I'm worried that the book club members won't like it and it is a wonderful book. Just not an easy book, full of literary devices like shifts in time and in voice and magical realism. In some ways, it is a difficult book, both structurally and emotionally. The book club members tend to favor straightforward narratives and plot-driven books. I wanted us to do a Somali book, but was this a good choice? I guess I'll find out tonight.
*****
Yep, about 2/3 of the book club didn't show :) Ah well. Those of us who were there had a great discussion and there was lots of pizza leftover. I'm glad I read the book and would read more by Farah.