the beautiful things that heaven bears by dinaw mengestu

To me, its a novel about America, with all of itsĬompeting and sometimes conflicting identities. I wouldnt say that this is an African novel, orĪfrican-American novel. Can immigrantsįrom Africa offer a new perspective on race relations in the United States? Novel, set in a primarily black neighborhood in Washington, D.C. The culture, so to speak, and I imagine as the years go on, there will be plentyĪlthough your book is written from the point of view of anĪfrican immigrant from Ethiopia, it is also in a sense an African-American To grow up in America, to know it well enough to write about it from 'inside' Still in its early stages, especially with Ethiopia. The African diaspora experience in America, however, is There have clearly been dozens of wonderful novels written byĪfricans about Africa. United States have been so little explored in fiction until now? Why do you think that the lives of African immigrants in the It allows you to create the details that can bring a story to In relatively vague and general terms, and thats partly where the fictionĮlement comes. Sudan during the Revolution, and while weve discussed his journey, its always Similarly, another uncle who was a teenager at the time did flee Ethiopia for Of his death, however, are entirely unknown to me or anyone else in my family. Was arrested and died during the governments Red Terror campaign. My uncle, for example, was a lawyer in Addis, and he As is often the case withįiction, a certain factual detail becomes the starting point from which the rest Sometimes by accident, sometimes deliberately. Of the narrative that are true were told to me over the course of many years, The novel is definitely a blend of fact and fiction. This novel? How did you learn about your familys experience? How much of your own story and your familys story is in and Addis Ababa through the eyes of Sepha who, seventeen years ago, fled Ethiopia during the Revolution and now runs a failing convenience store in a poor African-American neighborhood in Washington. Dinaw Mengestu discusses many aspects of The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, a haunting and powerful first novel that views the streets of Washington, D.C.

The beautiful things that heaven bears by dinaw mengestu