Tag: Ethiopia

Review 2234: The Shadow King

~ whatmeread ~ 6 Comments

All I can say is, this is a powerful and eloquent book. It took me a while to get into it, but it was worth the wait.

In 1975, Hirut, an older Ethiopian woman, is on the way to meet a former enemy, Ettore, an Italian photographer who was part of Mussolini’s invading army in 1935.

In 1935, the great Ethiopian warrior Kidane has taken orphaned Hirut into his household. However, his wife Aster is almost insane with jealousy of her and thinks Hirut has stolen a necklace Aster gave Kidane at their marriage. In searching for it, she finds Hirut’s rifle, the only possession she still has of her father’s. Kidane, coming upon the incident, confiscates it for the poorly equipped Ethiopian army, for they know the Italians will soon invade, eager to be avenged for their 19th century humiliation.

Although Hirut’s personal situation worsens, all of them are caught up in the war. The household flees to the highlands, where Kidane and his men carry on guerilla attacks against the army of Colonel Fucelli.

Meanwhile Emperor Haile Selassi is ineffective, spending most of his time listening to the opera Aida. When he finally leaves the country, his troops are discouraged until Hirut notices how much the musician Minim looks like the Emperor. Kidane sets him up as a shadow king to help inspire his people, and his guards are the warrior girls Hirut and Aster.

In the Italian camp, Fucelli forces the photographer Ettore to record his cruelties, including the innocent people he has hurled off the cliffs. At the same time, Ettore is worried about what he is hearing about the treatment of Jews in Italy, as his father is Jewish.

I was a little confused about the women warrior theme, as at first it doesn’t look like Hirut is going to do much actual fighting. Also, it seems to be the fashion now to write about war from both sides, as though some sides hadn’t done things that were unforgivable, and I don’t have much sympathy with that. However, ultimately I was carried along by this novel and felt it was powerful. I was unaware before that the behavior of the Italians in Ethiopia was so brutal.

This was a novel I read for my Booker Prize project.

Related Posts

Cutting for Stone

Life and Fate

The Invisible Bridge

Day Nineteen: Cutting For Stone

~ whatmeread ~ 1 Comment

Cover for Cutting for StoneCutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese is one of those books that you read more slowly as you approach the end, because you don’t want it to stop. My first impression of it was not positive, because I found the prologue pretentious, but as soon as I started reading the story, I was hooked. Don’t be put off by my description of the unusual plot.

Marion Stone is an identical twin. He and his brother Shiva are the sons of a nun from Kerala, India–Sister Mary Joseph Praise, who dies giving birth in the hospital in Addis Ababa where she works. Dr. Thomas Stone, their father, is so distraught by her death that he runs off, never to return.

Marion and Shiva are so close that they call themselves ShivaMarion. The boys are raised by Hema and Ghosh, two married Indian doctors at the hospital. Hema and Ghosh are delightful characters, and the story of their romance is charming.

The children are raised at the mission that runs the hospital during Emperor Haile Selaisse’s reign. The novel is about their upbringing in this colorful, tempestuous setting. The story of Marion’s life, his relationship with his brother, his love for a rebellious woman, and his search for his father is beautifully told. The novel is sweeping, in both time and place, beginning in India, moving to Ethiopia, and finishing in an inner-city hospital in New York City over a series of decades.

A doctor and author of some nonfiction books, Verghese has been criticized for the amount of medical detail in this book, but I found that fascinating as well. The characters are lifelike and interesting, the scope of the novel impressive, and the story drives you along.