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africanbookaddict's review against another edition
I feel bad. I was really excited to read this when I heard about last year... but it's such an awk story.
I think I'd appreciate this better if it were a film. I liked the main character though - her wit was everything. But this book is a no from me :(
I think I'd appreciate this better if it were a film. I liked the main character though - her wit was everything. But this book is a no from me :(
novelvisits's review
2.0
My Thoughts: I would have really liked this book had I stopped reading at about the 80% mark. At that point the book just went off the rails for me, but let’s begin with the good. The Parking Lot Attendant is a coming-of-age story told by its teenage Ethiopian protagonist. She’s had a rough life, living for her first six years with only her mother and since then only with her father. The father-daughter relationship shines in Tamirat’s debut. He is a quiet, secretive man who never planned to have the responsibilities of fatherhood, and his daughter (never named) feels the distance that comes with that.
“He wouldn’t let me out alone because as much as he wished he could put me to sleep for specific hours of the day, he could have never lived with the guilt of something happening to me. We are similar in this way: by caring too much about what might happen in the future, we end up caring not enough in the present, too worn out to maintain that kind of attention, no matter how genuine.”
The voice with which this young woman reflected on her story was honest and clear. I particularly liked that her telling was from a point in the future, where she was able to reflect on the events that led to her and her father being exiled from their lives. The other man in the narrator’s life was Ayale, the parking lot attendant, and a quiet leader in the Boston Ethiopian community. The narrator’s growing admiration for this man led her down roads that may not have always been legal, and yet she found it almost impossible to say no. Ayale’s part of the story grew tedious and more and more difficult for me to believe. When the story returned to the unnamed island where it began and the utopian community being formed there, my tenuous hold on belief was completely severed. Unfortunately, the book’s ending overshadowed all that was good in the rest of Tamirat’s story. Still, I truly enjoyed her writing and would happily read her future novels. Grade: C+
Note: I received a copy of this book from the Henry Holt & Co. (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest thoughts.
Original Source: https://novelvisits.com/mini-reviews-a-clearing-the-shelves-edition/
“He wouldn’t let me out alone because as much as he wished he could put me to sleep for specific hours of the day, he could have never lived with the guilt of something happening to me. We are similar in this way: by caring too much about what might happen in the future, we end up caring not enough in the present, too worn out to maintain that kind of attention, no matter how genuine.”
The voice with which this young woman reflected on her story was honest and clear. I particularly liked that her telling was from a point in the future, where she was able to reflect on the events that led to her and her father being exiled from their lives. The other man in the narrator’s life was Ayale, the parking lot attendant, and a quiet leader in the Boston Ethiopian community. The narrator’s growing admiration for this man led her down roads that may not have always been legal, and yet she found it almost impossible to say no. Ayale’s part of the story grew tedious and more and more difficult for me to believe. When the story returned to the unnamed island where it began and the utopian community being formed there, my tenuous hold on belief was completely severed. Unfortunately, the book’s ending overshadowed all that was good in the rest of Tamirat’s story. Still, I truly enjoyed her writing and would happily read her future novels. Grade: C+
Note: I received a copy of this book from the Henry Holt & Co. (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest thoughts.
Original Source: https://novelvisits.com/mini-reviews-a-clearing-the-shelves-edition/
mjbirdy's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
eavers's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
chillcox15's review
3.0
I really don't know what to make of this one. I think Tamirat is doing some cool stuff with her narrator's kinda petulant narrative style and the gaps of knowledge that she deploys to keep readers on their toes, but I also don't really think it all hangs together in the end? There's a lot of talent here, though!
ridgewaygirl's review
3.0
It has not escaped us that older generations must do all they can to improve the lives of future ones, but we had believed ourselves to be the future. We were under the impression that we were the owed ones. We had not counted on this debt of service.
This book begins on an unnamed sub-tropical island, where the narrator and her father are living with a cult-like group for reasons that are unclear. The novel then jumps to the central story, a less fantastic one about a teenage girl, the child of Ethiopian immigrants, who becomes drawn to an older charismatic man who manages a Boston parking lot, but who is also involved in some other stuff, stuff the girl knows nothing about.
At heart, this is a small story, of a girl figuring out her world and how she fits into it, as a second generation immigrant, as a daughter being raised by a single father, as a black girl in a school with nobody like her, as a girl growing up. The titular parking lot attendant, Ayale, is a mysterious figure and the attention he pays to the protagonist is equally inexplicable, although she is bright and interested in the world around her and he seems pleased to have someone so obviously fascinated by him without wanting any favors. The framing device of the cult living on the island is not effective, nor does it add anything to the story. Fortunately, it takes up only a few pages at each end of the novel.
This book begins on an unnamed sub-tropical island, where the narrator and her father are living with a cult-like group for reasons that are unclear. The novel then jumps to the central story, a less fantastic one about a teenage girl, the child of Ethiopian immigrants, who becomes drawn to an older charismatic man who manages a Boston parking lot, but who is also involved in some other stuff, stuff the girl knows nothing about.
At heart, this is a small story, of a girl figuring out her world and how she fits into it, as a second generation immigrant, as a daughter being raised by a single father, as a black girl in a school with nobody like her, as a girl growing up. The titular parking lot attendant, Ayale, is a mysterious figure and the attention he pays to the protagonist is equally inexplicable, although she is bright and interested in the world around her and he seems pleased to have someone so obviously fascinated by him without wanting any favors. The framing device of the cult living on the island is not effective, nor does it add anything to the story. Fortunately, it takes up only a few pages at each end of the novel.
schray32's review
2.0
I really have no idea what I just read. Not my favorite Tournament of Books pick....
pattydsf's review
2.0
”We are similar in this way: by caring too much about the future, we end up not caring enough in the present, too worn out to maintain that kind of attention, no matter how genuine.”
I picked this quotation because it is about caring but it is also about time and time seems to be a big factor, for me at least, with this book. I am not sure how long a period of time this novel covers. I am sure that the story tells me, but I have trouble remembering. Part of me believes that the narrator knows the parking lot attendant for ages and the other things this all happens much too quickly. That there is too much happening for it to just be a year or two.
And that is my sense of this whole story. I am not able to say what exactly takes place. I know that the characters are from Ethiopia and that Ethiopians in the states have some problems. However, I cannot quite grasp what has happened in Boston, what has happened on the island where the main character ends up and I truly can’t say how all of that affects the country of Ethiopia. When I finished the novel, I thought I knew what had happened, but the more I think about this, the less I know about it.
I picked this quotation because it is about caring but it is also about time and time seems to be a big factor, for me at least, with this book. I am not sure how long a period of time this novel covers. I am sure that the story tells me, but I have trouble remembering. Part of me believes that the narrator knows the parking lot attendant for ages and the other things this all happens much too quickly. That there is too much happening for it to just be a year or two.
And that is my sense of this whole story. I am not able to say what exactly takes place. I know that the characters are from Ethiopia and that Ethiopians in the states have some problems. However, I cannot quite grasp what has happened in Boston, what has happened on the island where the main character ends up and I truly can’t say how all of that affects the country of Ethiopia. When I finished the novel, I thought I knew what had happened, but the more I think about this, the less I know about it.
bookofcinz's review
3.0
While The Parking Lot Attendant is short in pages, it felt long in a lot of ways. The book starts with a description of an island that is not named. I was very disoriented for the start of the book, I was totally confused as to what was happening, I might still be a little confused.
I tried getting into the book but I was so confused by a lot of things the main characters did, specifically her pursuing this friendship with an older guy. Also, the older guy, WHAT?!
This is a debut novel, there were a lot of things I didn't like, and a lot I did like, overall the book felt weak in a lot of ways. I will however read her future works.
I tried getting into the book but I was so confused by a lot of things the main characters did, specifically her pursuing this friendship with an older guy. Also, the older guy, WHAT?!
This is a debut novel, there were a lot of things I didn't like, and a lot I did like, overall the book felt weak in a lot of ways. I will however read her future works.