Today, an ARC of How to Read The Air by Dinaw Mengestu. The novel will be released next month.
This is the review from the Library Journal:
The characters in Mengestu's triumphant second novel (after the award-winning The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears) are forever having what one of them calls a "leaving experience." Ethiopian immigrant Yosef passed many borders before arriving in America; wife Miriam continually walks away from her abusive husband (even leaving their wrecked car in a ditch) before finally achieving permanent escape; and their diffident son, Jonas, the story's narrator, leaves dreams unfulfilled and eventually leaves his marriage—though, says his wife, he was never really there in the first place. The well-constructed narrative parallels Jonas's story and that of his parents, deftly cutting from the slow fizzle of Jonas's marriage to his parents' troubled lives to their iconic car trip from Peoria to Nashville before he was born. After his marriage ends, Jonas reconstructs that trip—a device that frames the novel, though it's really the emotional journey that matters. VERDICT In authoritative prose that flows like liquid gold, Mengestu tells an absorbing story of how we learn that simply going forward is in fact to triumph. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/10.]—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
If you're interested leave a comment and please be sure I have a way to contact you. Last weeks' Toot and Puddle give away is Becky. Two Becky's entered this week, this is Becky of Becky and Gary fame!
I have a strong interest in East African literature, including novels exploring the immigrant and refugee experience in the US and elsewhere. This is not an author I have read yet, but based on reviews, I would certainly love to try one of his books. I'll also look for his first book. Thank you so much for this review & giveaway.
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