Read this book! Read it for the cultural anthropology. It's an absolutely fascinating explanation of another culture without getting all condescending or preachy.
The protagonist is a British girl who was orphaned in Africa when her hippie parents were killed in a drug deal, then brought up in a Muslim community and then taken to Ethiopia for some reason. The book explores her life as an adolescent living with a widow and her daughters in Harar, Ethopia in the 1970s. This story alternates with the story of the protagonist in the 1980s, now back "home" in London, where she works as a nurse and helps refugees.
My description doesn't do it justice. It is fascinating and compelling, but what I like best is that it describes life in Harar (and life in London, for that matter) in a very matter-of-fact way. Usually when books talk about Other Cultures, there's either a condescending colonial tone or a preachy "noble savages" tone. This one doesn't. It just describes what's happening, quietly making sure to do so in a way I'll understand while sitting in the subway in Toronto, but never passing judgement on the culture being described or on me from being unfamiliar with it. And I left wanting to find out what else happened to the characters in the book, which is always a good sign.
1 comment:
If you haven't yet, you should read Camilla Gibb's other books too. They're all fantastic.
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