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A review by lmg
Addis Ababa Noir by Maaza Mengiste
4.0
Reading the fourteen original stories in Addis Ababa Noir took me to a place I know little about and allowed me to experience different parts of the city through the imaginations of the authors. The book is published in the Akashic Noir series, and betrayal, violence, and death are everywhere. The specter of the Ethiopian Red Terror looms large as well.
The book is divided into four sections: Past Hauntings, Translations of Grief, Madness Descends, and Police and Thieves. While I enjoyed all of the stories, four in particular will stay with me. "A Double Edged Inheritance" by Hannah Giorgis and "Ostrich" by Rebecca Fisseha tell the stories of women living abroad who return to Ethiopia with questions whose answers entangle their own histories with that of their country. Dread sidles up to the reader at the beginning of Solomon Hailemariam's "None of Your Business" and lingers beyond the final words. And the characters in editor Maaza Mengiste's own contribution, "Dust, Ash, Flight," put themselves through a hell that rips the scabs off of their emotional wounds while even as it lets them hold onto the hope of resolution and maybe even redemption.
My enjoyment of Addis Ababa Noir is a great incentive to read more of many of these authors. Thanks to LibraryThing for the advanced reading copy.
The book is divided into four sections: Past Hauntings, Translations of Grief, Madness Descends, and Police and Thieves. While I enjoyed all of the stories, four in particular will stay with me. "A Double Edged Inheritance" by Hannah Giorgis and "Ostrich" by Rebecca Fisseha tell the stories of women living abroad who return to Ethiopia with questions whose answers entangle their own histories with that of their country. Dread sidles up to the reader at the beginning of Solomon Hailemariam's "None of Your Business" and lingers beyond the final words. And the characters in editor Maaza Mengiste's own contribution, "Dust, Ash, Flight," put themselves through a hell that rips the scabs off of their emotional wounds while even as it lets them hold onto the hope of resolution and maybe even redemption.
My enjoyment of Addis Ababa Noir is a great incentive to read more of many of these authors. Thanks to LibraryThing for the advanced reading copy.