Yohannes Ishi –by Nabse Bamato
Fiction
138 pages /410 KB
3 Stars
This book is, indeed, a light read, and somewhat
entertaining. I was captivated enough to read it through to the end, but when I
closed the book, I felt it lacked.
It was obvious the author loves Ethiopia, a country I would
love to visit sometime. However, I had no sense of Addis Ababa. I would have
loved to have seen more of the contrasts between wet/gray sea-level London and
dry/sunny mountain-high Addis Ababa. Not just the climate, but the smells, the
noise, the streets, the domiciles. Yohannes didn't travel just across the street;
he traveled to a different world and even, to a degree, a different time.
I was confused by the Prologue. As I understand it, a
Prologue is used to set the story in time and place, perhaps a bit of
backstory. In this case, it is not a prologue but an excerpt from a middle
chapter. It was confusing. And unnecessary.
I would have liked to have seen him wrestle a bit with the
promise his mother made to the Sister at the orphanage that he would grow up to
be a doctor, return, and help the people. How did he feel about having his life
planned out by his parents? Did he feel guilty when he chose a different path?
Yohannes Ishi seems to just go with the flow through much of
his life, seldom taking a stand, or maybe not needing to, but I felt he lacked
the backbone to follow through on his final decision. If someone came along and
made him a different and perceived better offer, he'd go.
I do recommend this book, even though I am giving it only 3
stars. It is interesting; it gives a bit of an insight into another culture
with which I am not familiar. I would LOVE to see the Author do some rewriting
to bring in some tension, comparisons, sights, smells, etc. as mentioned above.
I would gladly read it again, if the writer did some rework, and I'm confident
I would give it a higher rating. Perhaps the author should consider making this
a faux memoir? Perhaps written in first person it would then have more
immediacy.
