An exemplary anti-war novel from a little-known theater of conflict.
Searing novel of war by dissident Ethiopian writer Girma.
Part spy thriller, part melodrama, roman à clef through and through, Girma’s story centers on a moment of Ethiopian history that, in that demographically young country, is all but forgotten. It is the early 1980s, and Ethiopia, under a Marxist military dictatorship, has set out to conquer neighboring Eritrea. “Every day another campaign of some sort,” complains his fiancee, Roman, to a propaganda officer named Tsegaye Hailemaryam. “Now the Red Star Campaign to fix the Eritrean problem. We are addicted to campaigns, but I can’t wait until we can be done with them.” Caught up in the excitement of certain victory, Tsegaye jumps at the chance to go to the front, exalting the invading forces and excoriating the Eritrean resistance, which he depicts as terrorists. The soldiers in Girma’s narrative are pawns, but the officers are well-rounded: One general is so militarily perfect that “even his Afro, though thinning, has sharp edges,” while a schoolmate of Tsegaye’s, Colonel Wolday Tariku, can’t wait to fight: “Give Wolday a drink and a rifle and he is a happy man.” As Roman foresees, Tsegaye forgets his vows to her and falls in love with an Eritrean beauty and Mata Hari named Fiammetta Gilay. Girma’s writing is most immediate in the slaughterhouse of battle, which is not for the squeamish: “A decapitated torso with blood pumping from where a neck once was....A bullet-ridden corpse with an open mouth and unblinking eyes staring up at the red sky.” As the tautly written story resolves, failure, death, and disillusionment are its constants. It’s worth noting that, although the Marxist regime tried to suppress it, Girma’s novel was an underground bestseller in Ethiopia in the early 1980s—and for his criticisms of that regime, Girma paid with his life.
An exemplary anti-war novel from a little-known theater of conflict.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781641296663
Page Count: 408
Publisher: Soho
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.
Stephanie Plum’s 31st adventure shows that Trenton’s preeminent fugitive-apprehension agent still has plenty of tricks up her sleeve, and needs every one of them.
The current caseload for Stephanie and Lula—the ex-prostitute file clerk at her cousin Vincent Plum’s bail bonds company, who serves as her unflappable sidekick—begins with two “failures to appear.” Eugene Fleck is suspected of being Robin Hoodie, who robs from the rich and, yes, distributes the proceeds to the poor. Racketeer Bruno Jug, who’s missed his court date on charges of tax evasion, is also suspected of drugging and raping a 14-year-old. But neither of these fugitives can hold a candle to Zoran Djordjevic, aka Fang, a self-proclaimed vampire wanted in connection with the gruesome fate of his late wife and three other missing women. As usual, Stephanie’s personal life is just as helter-skelter as her professional life as a bounty hunter. She’s managed to get herself engaged both to Det. Joe Morelli, of the Trenton PD, and Ranger, a former Special Forces agent who runs a private security firm; she thinks she may be pregnant; and she’s willing to marry the father, whichever of her fiances that turns out to be. On top of it all, her nothingburger schoolmate Herbert Slovinski suddenly pops up at one of the funerals she ferries her Grandma Mazur to, hitting on her relentlessly and gilding his importunities by cleaning and painting her shabby apartment and laying new carpet. Luckily, Lula’s on hand to offer cupcakes that stave off the worst disasters, and whenever this hodgepodge threatens to slow down, another FTA appears, or fails to appear.
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781668003138
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
Though not perfect, a clear leap forward for Rooney; her grandmaster status remains intact.
Two brothers—one a lawyer, one a chess prodigy—work through the death of their father, their complicated romantic lives, and their even more tangled relationship with each other.
Ten years separate the Koubek brothers. In his early 30s, Peter has turned his past as a university debating champ into a career as a progressive lawyer in Dublin. Ivan is just out of college, struggling to make ends meet through freelance data analysis and reckoning with his recent free fall in the world chess rankings. When their father dies of cancer, the cracks in the brothers’ relationship widen. “Complete oddball” Ivan falls in love with an older woman, an arts center employee, which freaks Peter out. Peter juggles two women at once: free-spirited college student Naomi and his ex-girlfriend Sylvia, whose life has changed drastically since a car accident left her in chronic pain. Emotional chaos abounds. Rooney has struck a satisfying blend of the things she’s best at—sensitively rendered characters, intimacies, consideration of social and philosophical issues—with newer moves. Having the book’s protagonists navigating a familial rather than romantic relationship seems a natural next step for Rooney, with her astutely empathic perception, and the sections from Peter’s point of view show Rooney pushing her style into new territory with clipped, fragmented, almost impressionistic sentences. (Peter on Sylvia: “Must wonder what he’s really here for: repentance, maybe. Bless me for I have. Not like that, he wants to tell her. Why then. Terror of solitude.”) The risk: Peter comes across as a slightly blurry character, even to himself—he’s no match for the indelible Ivan—so readers may find these sections less propulsive at best or over-stylized at worst. Overall, though, the pages still fly; the characters remain reach-out-and-touch-them real.
Though not perfect, a clear leap forward for Rooney; her grandmaster status remains intact.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9780374602635
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
