The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, 2007, Dinaw Mengestu ****

An Ethiopian refugee flees his home country to the United States of America after his father is brutally assassinated. He lives with his uncle, who also is a refugee, and later on moves into a lowly neighbourhood where he opens a store and meets a woman and her daughter. The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears might seem like another simple typical immigration story, far from, it narrates on the fate of a

Cutting for Stone, 2009, Abraham Verghese *****

This novel grasp my attention from the very beginning to the end. A young nun leaving her Indian hometown to serve in Africa ended up in Ethiopia with a Surgeon she met in the ship, whose life she saved.

They got involved, she became pregnant and died during labour after giving birth to identical twin brothers, Marion and Shiva.

Thomas, the surgeon, fled leaving behind his identical twins. Hema and Ghosh, Thomas' colleague and friend buried Mary, raised Marion and Shiva with so much love as if they were theirs, of course telling them the truth about their biological parents.

The twin brothers grew up in Ethiopia of the sixties, seventies and eighties, in a missionary hospital where they were born, where their parents met and worked and where their mother is buried. Their non biologic parents are doctors too and work in that same hospital.

You see, the writer Abraham Verghese, who is also a doctor has set a perfect scenario to narrate his story. His medical narrative is intense, the cutting and stitching of the human body is in detail. Do not miss this out, Marion the twin brother is the main narrator and guess what?

The Consequences of Love, 2008, Sulaiman Addonia ****

When war erupted in Eritrea, Naser's mum had to smuggle her children out of the country to a "supposedly" safe Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia with their uncle, while she stayed behind. Few years later, Naser was kicked out of his uncle's house. He was accused of being an apostate. Quite hypocritical on his uncle's behalf, since he sexually offered his nephew to their Kafeel. As I learnt from the novel, Kafeel is a sponsor, all immigrants in Saudi Arabia has to be sponsored by a Saudi. The Kafeel system gives full control to the Saudis over the lives of the foreigners they sponsor. They have the power to withhold the passports of those under their control and deport them whenever they choose. So, you could imagine what such hierarchy involves.

As Naser was abandoned by his uncle in the streets of Jeddah, he went through circumstances where he was sexually exploited. Which, was even justified by his perpetrator...

"My dear, in a world without women and in the absence of female glamour, boys like you are the perfect substitute. Why hide your attractiveness and your tender physique like a veiled woman? You are the closest my customers have to a beautiful and sensual person roaming freely in their world"

Fortunately, he managed to fall in love with a veiled woman in a country where falling in love is a crime, where lovers stand the chance of being lashed in public or stoned to death. In "The Consequences of Love" you will find out how a love affair unfolds in a society as oppressed as  Saudi Arabia.

This novel was narrated through the eyes of a young adult, a twenty year old Naser, meaning that the narrative was rather simple, though the content was deep and most of the times troubling. I almost stopped reading because of the revolting images it conjured up. Men are forced to quench their sexual desire with young boys, since their women are under the veil. Sometime, this include sexual exploitation and abuse of young immigrants from war-torn countries.

I recommend, especially if you would like to know how a love story unfolds in a sexually oppressed society.

Beneath the Lion's Gaze, 2010, Maaza Mengiste ****

Beneath the Lion's Gaze is a political historical fiction novel set in Ethiopia between 1974 Ethiopian Revolution and the late eighties, I guess. It was difficult to tell because the novel ended in a sort of cliffhanger that I was asking myself if the family mentioned survived the war or not. Obviously, at the end of the novel it is understood that the war hasn't ended yet.

To begin with, in Ethiopia, before the year 1974, existed a Solomonic Monarchy, of which, Haile Selassie was the emperor. He was very well loved and admired far and away until famine struck the north-eastern part of his country in 1974 and did away with the lives of over two hundred thousand people. Meanwhile, the emperor  was enjoying an affluent life style in his prestigious palace, for this reason, his citizens rebelled against him. They were mad with grief, mainly students, they protested and his popularity fell to the ground. Consequently, the military, took advantage of the upheaval and overthrew him. Most of the Ethiopians, I believe, thought his arrest will put an end to the blatant social inequality and classism of that time. However, the worse was yet to come.

Next, military took over the country, backed up mainly by the Soviet and Cuban Communist who supplied them with ammunition to kill themselves. As was expected, Emperor Haile Selassie was imprisoned and later on murdered.

Inevitably, with the military rule came dictatorship and reign of terror. In fact, they declared death to counter-revolutionaries, murdered mercilessly and threw dead bodies to the hyenas. Moreover, to show a hint of compassion they made families pay the wasted bullet tax before they could collect the corpse of their loved ones and mourn for them. Henceforth, began a bloody war.

Beneath the Lion's Gaze narrates the terrifying ordeal of an Ethiopian family in the throes of a civil war with their life in dire straits. Evidently, in this novel, Maaza Mengiste was doing homage to the civil war victims.

Furthermore, reading this book helped me acquire a reasonable knowledge on the history of Imperial Ethiopia, of which, I knew nothing about, until now. I was also introduced to Mengiste Haile Mariam the military head of state during the war. What baffles me above all is that he is still alive and kicking with his household in Zimbabwe where he sought asylum, despite the fact he is suppose to be extradited to face his death sentence in his home country where he is accused of mass murder. As a matter of fact he authorised most of the massacre.

Finally, I wouldn't say this was a spellbound read; nonetheless, it is a skillful written debut novel I read with no trouble! Do not take notice of the book cover. As far as I am concerned, it does not do the novel justice. I recommend this book to adults and lovers of history and politics.

On a side note, this is one of the novels I suggested to the library. I am glad they bought it.