A review by jackelz
Thirteen Months of Sunrise by Rania Mamoun, Elisabeth Jaquette

sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

If I had to describe this collection of short stories in one word: SAD. But it was also beautiful, as each story made me feel something. 

My two favorite stories were THIRTEEN MONTHS OF SUNRISE and EDGES. 

I loved the theme of friendship in THIRTEEN MONTHS OF SUNRISE. Two kindred spirits from two different backgrounds and cultures come together in an unexpected place, and while their friendship was short, I felt like it brought so much meaning to both of their lives. 

These were my two favorite scenes:

‘Think of me every time you listen to those tapes,’ I told him.
‘I’ll fall in love with you if I do that.’
‘No. You mustn’t fall in love with me.’ 
‘I love you now, in my own way.’
‘I love you, too, in my own way.’

‘We drink the same water,’ he said to me once. ‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘It flows through both of us.’ The Blue Nile, which passes through Khartoum, originates at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. That’s what makes our bond so strong, I thought: we were nursed from the same source.

It was also cool to learn about the thirteenth month, and how Ethiopia is the only country to do that!

In EDGES, I loved the mysterious she. I kept wondering who she was, when it didn’t matter. The narrator was showing us a part of herself that only she could see, and I thought that was beautiful. 

She’s always here, close to me. Sometimes I get annoyed by how she forces herself into my most hidden corners. I pick fights with her, I get angry, I gather my secrets and toss them beyond consciousness. I hide them seven earths deep inside me and then rejoice, thinking that I’ve set her on the wrong path, that she’ll lose her way, only to realise that the one who is lost is me.

This collection shows us what contemporary life in Sudan is like, and I think that is something everyone should read about.