A review by just_one_more_paige
The Last Nomad: Coming of Age in the Somali Desert by Shugri Said Salh

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

 
This memoir first came across my radar when it was a ALC offered by Libro.fm (months ago). But really, I have been getting more and more into memoirs over the past few years, especially on audio (as, even though this one wasn't, they are often narrated by the author, which I think adds a nice depth to the reading experience). It took me a while to get to it, but during that time I also picked up a physical copy (at the Barnes and Noble half off hardcovers end of year sale), to help me remember to get to it. And see - it kind of worked! 
 
In The Last Nomad, Shugri Said Salh tells the story of her life, in the storytelling tradition of her nomadic Somali tribe. When Salh was young, she was sent from the city to live with her maternal grandmother in the desert, learning a nomadic way of life that used to be much more prevalent. Her time in the desert was spent learning the intricacies of travel, caring for goats and camels, finding and preparing food and water, surviving drought and staying safe from predatory animals, learning and following community stories and beliefs and traditions and lineages. After years, she returned to Mogadishu and, along with her siblings, lived in a foreign-run orphanage, learning and maturing, until civil war broke out in Somalia to an extreme that forced them to flee to Kenya as refugees. And from there, Salh moved to Canada and, finally, the United States. 
 
This memoir reinforced why I have been getting more and more into them. I was enthralled by Salh's life, and the way she told her own story, from beginning to end. Her writing communicates each part of her life, schooling and nomadic life, escape and refugee, family and immigration, life in new countries, in such clear and descriptive prose. It’s evocative and emotional but not overdone. And it’s impossible to not be pulled into her story and the stages in which it unfolds. My absolute favorite parts to read were at the beginning, as she describes the nomadic lifestyle. I don't think I have ever read anything about nomad life before and I was fascinated by everything I learned, like the goats/sheep/camels and water as central tenets, the cycle of drought versus rainier seasons and survival tricks and tactics, the importance of oral tradition and poetry and storytelling, the clan structures and traditions and gender roles, the scaffolded responsibility and education of nomadic youth, all of it was totally engrossing to read. One caveat here... While it was important to include with the insight and perspective that Salh gives, the chapter about FGM, and her experiences undergoing the procedure, are extremely difficult to read. She does give a warning, but be careful with that section. 
 
Speaking of perspective, I thought the way Salh contrasts the realities of growing up between nomadic life in the desert and city life (the focus of acquiring food and water versus other things when that was no longer so time consuming, what children did in their spare time - helping or in play/messing around, differences like the disabled population or lack thereof depending on if they were somewhere they could survive) and/or similarities (like the importance of hospitality), was quite discerning. Another theme that cropped up throughout was the importance of forefathers/ancestors in common as a connecting thread. The way tribes use that for considering allegiances and support, is really interesting ( it’s a familial/community aspect we don’t see as much of in the individualistic US). And the oral tradition of memorizing these ancestral lines for generations back is so impressive. Of course, as with everything, it can be used in misguided ways, as it was within the context of the civil war in this case, but still just a really cool cultural tradition.  
 
There were a number of more difficult topics covered as Salh got older and war broke out - the violence in general, the horrifying stories of the civil war human rights atrocities, the gender inequalities and the way women were shamed and repressed in a number of sexually-related ways - so I do want to make sure readers are aware of that going in. But as I mentioned earlier, I thought she covered it all in an expressive and graphic, but never gratuitous way. It just really felt like the focus was on authentically portraying her life. And I truly loved the end, when she acknowledges about how she is both proud of and recognizes where her culture has failed her as a woman - it’s a fine line, one that can be difficult to find and hold, and her ability to do so speaks volumes about her (and gives me hope that I'll be able to do the same for my own country, which, too, can be wonderful and is also failing me as a woman in so many ways). 
 
The only other book I have read about Somalia (to date) is When Stars are Scattered, which was fantastic, but as a juvenile graphic novel, a much different experience. I loved how, here, I got to see more of the nomadic and “normal” life in Somalia, pre-civil war, and a more adult (or at least older than a child's) surreal experience of the descent into conflict and violence and what came next putting pieces of a life back together. With many content warnings, I really recommend this memoir. 
 
“Nomadic children only let their needs be known if there is a true emergency, such as threatening wild animals or a deadly snakebite [...] We simply lived with the certainty that if there was water or food, we would be cared for. Life was predictable that way.” 
 
“The irony of the situation was depressing. I was terrified of people finding out that I was almost raped, and my brother was proudly boasting about having sex with my friend. This is how it feels to live in a culture where women are shamed, overburdened with guilt and blame, and men are empowered, guilt-free, and valued above women.” (not to highlight the negative, because there was a lot of other unique and lovely cultural things, but also this summed up the negative aspects really well) 
 
“I am very proud of my ancestors, my home country, and my past. I have just learned to leave out the parts that don't serve me as a woman, a mother, a human.” 
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