by Nuruddin Farah
I picked this book just out of curiosity. Nuruddin Farah is Somali. There is not much African literature you can read, at least I did not come across to that many options. (??) Moreover, the background of the story is the Ogaden war between Somalia and Ethiopia. In 1997 I visited that region briefly and until this book I did not even know that the now failed state Somalia once wanted to unify all territories, where people speak Somali.
It is hard to describe the story since there isn’t really one. It is more a quest of a young Somali to himself. This quest consists in remembering his childhood. His father died as freedom fighter against the Ethiopian occupation, his mother did giving him birth, and he was raised by an Ethiopian woman.
Later they see each other again, him a man now who thinks to fight with the guerilla army and she accused of having betrayed one of the guerilla’s hide-outs. He is now forced to find out who he is, and what meant his Ethiopian mother to him. In retrospect he lets himself very philosophical questions when he was a child. These sound really awkward from a child’s mouth, but this technique makes you stop and think- and not just reading over the text.
It is hard to describe the story since there isn’t really one. It is more a quest of a young Somali to himself. This quest consists in remembering his childhood. His father died as freedom fighter against the Ethiopian occupation, his mother did giving him birth, and he was raised by an Ethiopian woman.
Later they see each other again, him a man now who thinks to fight with the guerilla army and she accused of having betrayed one of the guerilla’s hide-outs. He is now forced to find out who he is, and what meant his Ethiopian mother to him. In retrospect he lets himself very philosophical questions when he was a child. These sound really awkward from a child’s mouth, but this technique makes you stop and think- and not just reading over the text.
Facts:
English title: Maps
Original title: Maps
Published: 1986
