2020 Booker Prize Longlist: The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste
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2japaul22
I've just finished The Shadow King. It's masterfully written and I can definitely understand why it is on this list. Here's my review. There aren't any spoilers - just a general description and my reactions.
Mengiste's latest novel, The Shadow King, is one that I found on the recently released long list for the Booker Prize. It caught my eye as a novel written by an African woman about the unsung women warriors that fought for Ethiopia against the Italian invasion in the 1930s.
Mengiste is a masterful writer. She develops strong, complex, flawed characters on both sides, the Ethiopians and the Italians. And her Ethiopian female characters are complex as well - they are certainly not perfect role models or heroines. But they are real and strong and human. They have complex relationships with each other, that are realistic instead of glorifying.
I appreciated this book and learning a little bit about this time period, but, as expected, reading about war is brutal and violent. A lot of this book was very uncomfortable to read and I wouldn't describe as pleasant. This book is very deserving of the critical claim it is receiving, but also is a challenging read. However, as the author states, it's so important to give these women a voice and acknowledge their contributions.
Mengiste's latest novel, The Shadow King, is one that I found on the recently released long list for the Booker Prize. It caught my eye as a novel written by an African woman about the unsung women warriors that fought for Ethiopia against the Italian invasion in the 1930s.
Mengiste is a masterful writer. She develops strong, complex, flawed characters on both sides, the Ethiopians and the Italians. And her Ethiopian female characters are complex as well - they are certainly not perfect role models or heroines. But they are real and strong and human. They have complex relationships with each other, that are realistic instead of glorifying.
I appreciated this book and learning a little bit about this time period, but, as expected, reading about war is brutal and violent. A lot of this book was very uncomfortable to read and I wouldn't describe as pleasant. This book is very deserving of the critical claim it is receiving, but also is a challenging read. However, as the author states, it's so important to give these women a voice and acknowledge their contributions.
3kidzdoc
Although I struggled while reading this novel I now realize much of my difficulty had to do with my ability to concentrate on books last month, and I liked it far better than I thought I did immediately after I finished it. It certainly deserves its spot on the Booker Prize longlist, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it make the longlist, either.
My review could be viewed as having spoilers, so I'll label it as such.
This historical novel about the Second Italo-Ethiopian War opens in the main bus station in Addis Ababa in 1974, just prior to the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie I, the revered head of Ethiopia since 1930. Hirut, the central character of this historical novel, carries a box containing the personal effects of Ettore Navarra, a photographer in the invading Italian army, whose task is to chronicle the successful war effort against the Ethiopians, in the face of Italy's humiliating defeat in the First Italo-Ethiopian War in the late 19th century. Ettore, whose ancestry put him and his Jewish father at risk of persecution and deportation during the war, has returned nearly 40 years after its conclusion to photograph the Ethiopian people at a time of turmoil, and wishes to reconnect with Hirut, who was captured by General Carlo Fucelli, the driven and sadistic leader of the invading forces.
Hirut is a beautiful young servant in the household of Kidane, a high ranking officer in the Ethiopian Army, and his wife Aster, a haughty and cruel woman who is jealous of Hirut's beauty and Kidane's attraction towards her. The narrative begins in 1935, as the Italian Army was set to invade Ethiopia from Italian Somaliland. Hirut is an orphan, and Kidane vowed to her mother before her death that he would look after her with kindness, although he could not protect her from the wrath of his headstrong wife. As Kidane and his men go off to war Aster and other women in the community desire to fight alongside the men, as they were taught to fire rifles and fight by their fathers, but they are instructed to stay behind and support them instead.
The badly equipped and trained Ethiopian Army, although superior in numbers, was overwhelmed by the Italian forces in early 1936, and before the capital of Addis Ababa could be captured Emperor Haile Selassie fled to England, which sapped the spirit of his people. Hirut, who was now no longer a servant to Kidare and Aster but a valuable member of the women who assisted Kidare's troop, noticed that one of the men looked exactly like the exiled emperor, and suggested that he be dressed as a "shadow king", in order to boost the morale of their countrymen during the war effort. She served as his loyal companion, but during a fateful battle against Fucelli and his army she fought bravely, but was captured and taken to a hilltop jail built by the Italians, where she and other Ethiopian fighters were cruelly tortured and killed, and escape seemed to be an impossible wish.
"The Shadow King" is filled with heroic and memorable but deeply flawed characters on both sides, and Hirut overcomes terrible cruelty from her masters and the Italians with a laudable toughness and bravery that inspire both those fighting alongside her, along with the Italian photographer Ettore, who sympathizes with her plight despite the danger it puts him in.
I struggled reading "The Shadow King", but that was largely due to my own difficulty concentrating, and in retrospect this is a superb and very well written novel about a little known conflict that could be considered the first battle of World War II, which is deserving of its place on this year's Booker Prize longlist.
My review could be viewed as having spoilers, so I'll label it as such.
Hirut is a beautiful young servant in the household of Kidane, a high ranking officer in the Ethiopian Army, and his wife Aster, a haughty and cruel woman who is jealous of Hirut's beauty and Kidane's attraction towards her. The narrative begins in 1935, as the Italian Army was set to invade Ethiopia from Italian Somaliland. Hirut is an orphan, and Kidane vowed to her mother before her death that he would look after her with kindness, although he could not protect her from the wrath of his headstrong wife. As Kidane and his men go off to war Aster and other women in the community desire to fight alongside the men, as they were taught to fire rifles and fight by their fathers, but they are instructed to stay behind and support them instead.
The badly equipped and trained Ethiopian Army, although superior in numbers, was overwhelmed by the Italian forces in early 1936, and before the capital of Addis Ababa could be captured Emperor Haile Selassie fled to England, which sapped the spirit of his people. Hirut, who was now no longer a servant to Kidare and Aster but a valuable member of the women who assisted Kidare's troop, noticed that one of the men looked exactly like the exiled emperor, and suggested that he be dressed as a "shadow king", in order to boost the morale of their countrymen during the war effort. She served as his loyal companion, but during a fateful battle against Fucelli and his army she fought bravely, but was captured and taken to a hilltop jail built by the Italians, where she and other Ethiopian fighters were cruelly tortured and killed, and escape seemed to be an impossible wish.
"The Shadow King" is filled with heroic and memorable but deeply flawed characters on both sides, and Hirut overcomes terrible cruelty from her masters and the Italians with a laudable toughness and bravery that inspire both those fighting alongside her, along with the Italian photographer Ettore, who sympathizes with her plight despite the danger it puts him in.
I struggled reading "The Shadow King", but that was largely due to my own difficulty concentrating, and in retrospect this is a superb and very well written novel about a little known conflict that could be considered the first battle of World War II, which is deserving of its place on this year's Booker Prize longlist.
