196 Books: Ethiopia

 Beneath the Lion's Gaze by Maaza Mengiste 

Here's Ethiopia:

Here's the summary:

This memorable, heartbreaking story opens in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1974, on the eve of a revolution. Yonas kneels in his mother’s prayer room, pleading to his god for an end to the violence that has wracked his family and country. His father, Hailu, a prominent doctor, has been ordered to report to jail after helping a victim of state-sanctioned torture to die. And Dawit, Hailu’s youngest son, has joined an underground resistance movement—a choice that will lead to more upheaval and bloodshed across a ravaged Ethiopia.

Beneath the Lion’s Gaze tells a gripping story of family, of the bonds of love and friendship set in a time and place that has rarely been explored in fiction. It is a story about the lengths human beings will go in pursuit of freedom and the human price of a national revolution. Emotionally gripping, poetic, and indelibly tragic, Beneath The Lion’s Gaze is a transcendent and powerful debut.

Oh my word. This book was incredible. But man, SO dark. I keep being drawn to war themed books, and I don't know if I have some sort of sick fascination or if I feel like that history should be remembered. Could be both, I guess. The way the author told the story of this family during the revolution was heartbreaking and so compelling. They each had different views and feelings of responsibility on what was happening in their world and how to deal with it. 

But, as with most of the war stories I've read, the inhumanity is gut-wrenching. Have we all figured out by now that torture doesn't actually work? Is that a thing that can go away? Has anyone figured out that just murdering all your opponents isn't the best plan in the long run? There was one quote about this that I found interesting: "That's what a new government will fix. These rich elites are nothing but traitors to their people, and until we get rid of all of them, nothing will change!" But then the enemy changes or people become disenfranchised or whatever. One thing I find super interesting, and it's happened in many of the civil war/coup d'etat books I've read, is that one dictatorship or undesirable regime gets overthrown and the new system is exactly the same. Or worse. The torture used in this one was sickening-there were honestly times where I was really into the story but had to stop reading because it was making me sick to my stomach. 

Seriously. This book was amazing. Mostly the way she wove the relationships and how they were affected by the war. But she was also really good at describing the awful torture. So, I guess that's nice. 

Anyway, that's it for the letter E! Moving on!