Nega ought to be commended for having written a rich and poignant book depicting the abundantly tragic story of Ethiopia at a segment in time. His recounting of some minute details--from the comical and bittersweet incidents of his early childhood years to the ominous political and social turmoil was certainly worth reading about even for a person who was born and raised in Ethiopia such as myself. We were all Ethiopians back then, but alas, we lived on different planets.

Having said that, I wish the book explained some important issues more clearly.

Case in point: When the not-so-beautiful girl recruited Nega as a foot soldier for EPRP, I thought he was going to join that party. But that seemed to have never happened. In stead he joined the Western Somalia Liberation Front. What transpired for him and his friend to join this front? I admired his open mindedness and his desire to change what he can, but it still struck me as odd that an Amhara had to join a Somali ethnic based movement. Was it just that they stumbled onto the rebels' camp by accident?
I wish the author also mentioned his father more and gave us a sense of what the man was like. Mentioning "Mam" so much gave the impression that Nega and his siblings were raised practically in a single-parent home with no father figure whatsoever. (Father was mentioned in very rare occasions).
The author also seemed somewhat embittered and cynical in many locations. Having lived through the experiences he did, these emotions may just have to be displayed, but I wish he took more effort to provide us with some insight into the sunny sides of Ethiopian life.
Also the book could have used more editing. But these incidents do not take away from the overall richness of the book.

This memoir by Nega Mezlekia is a great personal account of what life was like growing up in rural Ethiopia during the later part of the twentieth century. The stories and vivid memories provided by Mezlekia are quite interesting, and help to paint a picture of what life was like growing up in the small town of Jijiga.

The author does a marvelous job of intertwining history throughout the novel. For that reason, this book is recommended to all that are planning to travel to Ethiopia. But as aforementioned, this book is a great read and is truly recommended to all that are interested in personal narratives. My favorite parts of the book were the colloquialisms that Mezlekia included. For example, his description of time is quite hysterical, as he seems to greatly exaggerate the moments that dragged on during his life. I also found it amusing that "camels don't understand Amharic." The description of the flies as part of the community was also quite funny.

In the end, the book was a great one and anyone with an interest in Ethiopia should check it out. At first, I thought the title was a bit of a stretch...then I visited Ethiopia and saw the hyenas firsthand!

Nega Mezlekia takes on an ambitious project (and is successful) in writing this book about his Ethiopian childhood. By using his own experiences (some of them quite harrowing), he connects us to the larger picture of Ethiopia with its social, political, and economic struggle.

Nega intersperses fables (many of them having to do with animals) within the body of his own story--a technique that gives his autobiographical account clarity and richness. I loved stepping aside for a moment in the text to read a mini story or fable that shed light on a particular passage. Since human beings learn best about their envirnoment through story, this technique allowed me, the reader, to better understand the whole. Mam seemed to be a virtual story repository, garnering wisdom from those stories as she passed them on to her son. It is evident that her son acquired a good bit of that wisdom as well.

It is also evident that Nega respects all forms of life. I enjoyed his threading animals (hyenas, monkeys, lions, snakes, camels--even flies and beetles) and their behavior into the weave of his story. Human beings are not the center of the universe, but co-exist with other life forms. Nega's work reflects that understanding and that refreshes my spirit.

Great job!

Historical fiction is a genre that I always thought you have to suspend disbelief to a certain degree. That is usually supplanted strongly with the backdrop of history, allowing the reader to believe that the events actually have or at least may have happened.

Mezlekia unfortuanately sabotages this with his antics of magic and unlikelihoods in plot, that moves it more into a genre I'd like to call historical fantasy. But unlike Wilbur Smiths' River God series where the scenery of history and the fantastic elements he uses, Mezlekia writes a story that only confuses the reader and is filled with slow moving sections that only encourages skimming. Gudu and Aster's characters are developed well in some ways, but their motivations for some of their doings come across as baffling at times.

This is a good beach book, that's all it is really for me at the moment.

The love story was very engaging in this novel. However, about halfway through, it's lost and suddenly the plot became bogged down with historical information. It totally lost me and I found myself skipping pages. I think Nega is a great writer with much potential as a novelist. His first book was superb. I just think he needs to go back and perfect his novel writing skills. He's not there yet. The structure of this book was off. Historical elements are important but they need to be in the background, coloring the plot. More subtle. I eagerly await his next novel.

This is a well-written story set in the vicinity of the Ethiopian town of Harer in the years 1750-1800, according to the author's postscript. It tells of a love-affair destined for failure due to reasons of differing social status. As a backdrop, there are currents of class and religious struggles.

The problem is that the religious struggle is between Amma and Mawu-Lisa, which were, according to the postscript, indigenous African religions. Perhaps indigenous African, but not indigenous Ethiopian. In being more universally African, the novel loses what is uniquely Ethiopian.

At the time the story takes place, historical Harer is an Islamic stronghold in a Christian empire. Christianity is part of the country's soul. But, there is no mention of Islam or Christianity in the book. Instead, there are people passing through walls or taking to the air, powered by African magic.

Thankfully, the author cannot completely escape his Ethiopian roots. Even in this alternate reality some things ring true to life in (the real) Ethiopia, such as the pervasiveness of a religion, the different societal expectation of men and women, and some of the peoples' social customs.