OBOC - Gabon

Daniel Mengara's Mema is a tribute to his mother, a woman of extraordinary courage who is ready to wield the machete and take on her entire community to hold onto her son. At the same time, Mema is also the story of a culture in transition, one that is face to face with the new world where "people no longer knew their own wisdoms, because the wisdoms of the white man had prevailed".

Notorious for her big mouth and her fiery temper, she was both "admired and loathed, respected and feared" by her own people. Mocked for her barrenness, she was also accused of witchcraft as she managed to subdue her husband completely. After many a struggle she finally manages to bear children, but then calamity strikes her. When her husband's health takes a turn for the worse, she decides to take him to the mimbiri medicine men much against the wishes of her husband's family and other members of the community. The plan backfires as her husband doesn't return from his trip to the world of the dead. Adding to her misery she loses two daughters on the day following the death of her husband.

So her son Daniel is forcefully taken out of her home by her husband's nephew Zula who was an important figure from Beyok as he was trained in the white man's ways. Mother and son are separated for 5 years during which Daniel is educated in Beyok, after which Mema rises once again and takes back her son. Guided by the fable of Osuga Zame and its wisdom "Ntol osu, ntol n'vouss" (Elder ahead, elder behind), Mema fully understands that the child who saves the family is not necessarily the oldest. Sometimes the youngest has to take over the role of the elder.

Mema strives and saves money to ensure that Daniel can learn and "become someone in the white man's world". As the white man's wisdom becomes inevitable, Mema extracts a promise from her Osuga Zame to never forget his people and his wisdom.

This book is proof that Daniel Mengara has not forgotten, for her, he remembers, just as he had promised.

OBOC - France

With such a rich literary tradition picking a writer from France was extremely difficult. In fact my love for historical fiction was largely due to Dumas. So while I could've gone Dumas, Proust or Hugo, I went with the little known (to me), Noble Prize winner J.M.G. Le Clezio and the book "Desert" which introduced him to the English speaking audience. This decision was largely based on one interview with Le Clezio that I heard on BBC.

Strongly repulsed by colonialism and its effect on Africa, Le Clezio's empathy lies completely with the colonized nomads. In Desert he uses two stories set in completely different times to describe the impact of colonialism. One is set in the early 1900s and is the story of Nour and his forced migration with the rest of his Tuareg tribe - the Blue Men. Directed by their spiritual leader "Water of the eyes" to head further North, the tribe is driven by thirst, hunger and the longing to find a land that will shelter and protect them. The other story is that of Lalla set in the 1970s. Lalla lives in the Project - somewhere in Morocco and is a descendant of the same tribe as Nour. Orphaned, brought up by her aunt, Lalla is drawn to the desert and resists everything that is thrown her way including a forced marriage. Escaping to Marseilles, she joins the ranks of the shadow of immigrants who flood France from her ex-colonies and ekes out a living as a cleaner. Discovered by a photographer she finds glory and fame as the model Hawa, but the wealth and fame mean nothing to her. Drawn back to the desert she returns to give birth to her child. Two other main characters in the novel are Hartani - the mute shepherd who is Lalla's only friend and lover and Naman the fisherman who is a fascinating story teller.

Desert is a slow moving novel and often it feels like reading poetry. The novel is extremely visual as Le Clezio paints a picture of the desert landscape, its people, the relation between land and the creatures that live off the land. Although intuitively Blue is the last color one associates with the Desert, that was the color that flashed in my mind's eye as I read the novel - be it the Blue Men, the Blue Sky, or the distant Blue Ocean.

The novel would have been a very hard read if I had not listened to Le Clezio's interview in the BBC world book club. That gave me a great perspective of where he is coming from. His compassion for the Third World, the disenfranchised, the nomads of the desert or the immigrants in France is deep rooted. Even as a child he had been impacted by the effect of colonialism on the locals in Nigeria.  Unlike Lalla or the Hartani who clearly know that their home is in the desert, Le Clezio himself is of mixed nationality  - born in France to parents with Mauritius origins, living in New Mexico, with a love for Sweden, he is in some sense an exile himself finding his home in the French language.

This book is not for everyone. It is by no means an easy read, and Lalla at first glance can be a hard character to identify with. Personally the book struck a chord with me because this is in some sense a book that deals with migrations, separations and finding one's place in a globalized world.

OBOC - Finland

"To understand Finland and the Finns one needs only read one book: Under the North Star by Vaino Linna". With such an illustrious endorsement what more does a book need to be picked for OBOC! The book is the first part of a trilogy which traces the lives of the Koskelas from the 1880s to just before 1916 with the other two parts continuing to the 1950s and through their lives we also get to understand the history of Finland.

Apparently every Finn, even those who have never picked up the book knows the opening sentence "In the beginning there were the swamp, the hoe - and Jussi". Jussi is the tenant farmer of the parsonage and patriarch of the Koskelas. He and his wife Alma clear a portion of the swamp to establish their croft. As tensions mount between the land owners and the crofters, socialism comes to the masses through Halme the tailor who successfully organizes a worker's association in the village to fight for the rights of the evicted. Historical leaders of Finland's socialist movement like Hellberg and Salin make guest appearances in the novel.

While the masses are trying to get their head around Socialism the upper classes including the clergy are focused on the language issue and Finland's relationship with Russia. Although Finland at that time was an autonomous grand duchy under the Russian empire, Swedish still held its stature as the language of the administration, and of the elites. Finnish spoken by the majority of the population was predominantly the language of the peasants although with the birth of nationalism, Finnish gained in stature.

All of the above history is the background for one of the most well written story i've read in a long time. The book triumphs because of its portrayal of the residents of a small rural village of Pentti's Corners - how the microcosm of their day to day life reflects the macroscopic events happening far beyond their boundaries. It is fundamentally a novel of hard working people surviving through hard times with a hope for a better future especially for their kids. Rural Finland at the turn of the 19th century is captured so well - the power of the Barons and the Clergy, the plight of the tenants, the clash of the young and the old, the sometimes trivial jealousies and contests, even the awkward adolescent escapades of the young ones, the struggle of women, the clash of the classes(Suometar reading elite Finns and the readers of The Worker), and the hierarchy even among the crofters are narrated with so much empathy and some well-timed humor.

I am also amazed by how much this one novel educated me on Finnish history about which I knew next to nothing! Change of this magnitude (language issue, land ownership, electoral and parliamentary reform, women's suffrage) comes slowly but surely and Pentti Corner instead of being a passive recipient of change handed down from the top, takes an active part in bringing about that change.

Despite the grim existence of the tenant farmers, the novel is an optimistic one. Akseli, Jussi's oldest son, emerges as the hero towards the end and would be the central character for the sequels. Under the North Star ends with Akseli's wedding to Elina and the couple ready to take on the world.

And yes, while all this appears to be a tale of "And they lived happily ever after",  I said the book is optimistic, didn't say it was a Fairy tale. Linna instead chose to close with "Finland's summer is beautiful. But so very short", which makes you want to pick up the sequel which I think portrays the civil war. I dread to think of what would happen to Akseli's family, but for now I am happy to bask in the summer however short and move onto France! Some day I will come back to discover the (mis)fortunes of the Koskela household.

OBOC - #50 - Estonia

I have reached a minor milestone. This is the 50th country for me as part of OBOC and this also wraps up the E's. Overall I am happy that I have kept it up - both the reading and the writing although I should pick up my pace if I intend to complete this project before I hit that milestone :)

I picked "The Czar's Madman" by Jaan Kross for Estonia as it was often cited as the most famous novel from Estonia! The novel which is set in the 1880s is about a nobleman Timo Von Bock whose life is analyzed by his brother-in-law Jakob. The novel is written like a journal - Jakob's journal. Timo married Jakob's sister Eeva who is a peasant girl to prove to everyone that all men (and women) are created equal in the eyes of the God and class differences are just artificial. Eeva who is rechristened as Katy proves to be a fine choice indeed as she shows uncommon character, class and intelligence thereby validating Timo's theory. Their life is suddenly interrupted as Timo is arrested for being a traitor and is thrown into prison by Czar Alexander. After 9 years he is "released" from prison but placed under house arrest on the grounds that he is "mad". The reason for his imprisonment is a letter that Timo wrote criticizing the Czar about the way he runs the country. Writing such a letter which is brutally frank can be the act of only a "madman".

Jakob attempts to understand Timo to determine if he is indeed mad. Although together they plot his escape from house arrest many times, Timo refuses to flee. Was he a highly principled nobleman or was he truly mad? This is the question that Jakob (and hence the reader) is left with.


I love historical fiction as I find it is one of the easiest way to get into history! So i was all eager to read this novel, but I didn't get as much pleasure out of it as I have derived from other works of historical fiction. Firstly having no background on Estonia and its relationship with Russia, it was a bit difficult to get into. Secondly, after a point the writing seemed repetitive and drawn out. The Afterword provides some explanation on the historical accuracy of the novel. I should say I loved the character of Eeva though and it was beautifully done by the author! The novel which was written in 1978 is also a metaphor for life under the Soviets. This is Kross's letter to Brezhnev highlighting how poorly the Communist Party was running Soviet Union! History does repeat itself after all!

OBOC - Ethiopia

Back again after a long silence. I do realize that I had slowed down to a crawl this past month as I am approaching my half century (much like some of the cricketers i loathe who play excessive defense as they get closer to their 50), but that's what happens to a hobby - it receives low priority when other things takeover.

Anyway Notes from the Hyena's Belly by Nega Mezlekia was the book I chose from Ethiopia and it is a memoir of a boy who saw his country devastated by war and poverty and his almost miraculous escape to the West. Growing up in Jijiga during the rule of the seemingly immortal Emperor Selassie, Nega had a pretty normal childhood with a loving family - not rich but comfortable enough. His biggest challenges at that time were mastering the Amharic alphabet which consists of 268 characters and Kinae a form of poetry and staying away from the headmaster's "persuader" (whip) and the Hyenas which wander around looking for prey.

His first exposure to inequities is when he meets other school kids from Western Ethiopia where the feudal lords ruled over the landless with an iron hand. To Nega it is a shock that the infallible emperor was hand in glove with these lords and actually worked to cover up the Great Famine of 1973. When the Leftist Junta overthrew the Emperor, Nega's life took a huge turn for the worse as his father who was clerk under the Emperor's Government was summarily executed on account of his "ties" to the old regime. Two parties emerged in this turmoil - the EPRP which wanted power for a civilian government and the Meison which supported the Junta each perpetrating atrocities of their own. Caught between Scyllla and Charybdis, Nega and his friend Wondwossen run away to join the Somali Rebels trying to control the Ogaden desert.

Nega survives the drought and the brutal regimen under the Rebels but unfortunately his friend does not. With his life going nowhere under the rebels he miraculously escapes and returns to his village to join his Mam an exceptional lady who kept the family together despite the calamities that struck them one after the other. By mere chance he gets to go to a prestigious school in the capital Addis Ababa, but finds the entire experience distasteful. The capital is full of drugs and prostitutes and one always had to be on the look out for both the parties which were still out seeking revenge. He also sees his country's defense budget skyrocket at the expense of everything else especially agriculture. Ethiopia is transformed from being the pride of the horn of Africa into a casualty of cold war strategies as support from USA and the then Soviet Union alternates. Minor tribal incursions reach mammoth proportions when small tyrants, feudal lords find themselves armed to their teeth with support from superpowers.

Finishing up a degree in Agriculture he gets an opportunity to pursue his studies in the Netherlands. For once in his life he decides to put himself first and grabs at the opportunity. Hoping to return to Ethiopia when normalcy returns, he finds that that day has not arrived as he immigrates to Canada where he finds a second home away from home.


The Red terror under the Junta is said to have claimed nearly 200,000 lives. So it is a miracle how Nega managed to survive, succeed and share his story with the rest of the world! This memoir is valuable not just for the political history of Ethiopia, but also for the cultural traditions which have been beautifully described by Nega. Rich with folklore from his childhood, and descriptions of the nomadic lifestyle, the landscape, the different tribal cultures, which all form the background of his harrowing experiences this book is worth reading for understanding Ethiopia beyond the headlines.

OBOC - Egypt

Alaa Al-Aswany was a guest on World Book Club and I remember making a mental note that the Yacoubian Building will be my pick for Egypt and it was. It has to be one of the most popular books from the Arab world and what amazes me is how the book is still published in Egypt. Let me explain - my impression of Egypt is that it is a very conservative country, ruled by an autocracy with not much freedom of expression or a completely independent press and the only outlet for all the underlying suppressed passion/ tension was the football field.

And then here is a book (from an author who is not new to dissent and courage) which doesn't portray a favorable picture of Egypt and also talks in no uncertain terms about many of the taboos in Egyptian society - corruption in political life, homosexuality, police brutality, emergence of extremist Islam and Jihadists, poverty, economic stagnation, brain drain, disenchantment. Maybe my perception of the Egyptian autocracy is misguided, after all the book is still published and widely read in Egypt and everywhere in the Arab world!

The Yacoubian Building which is at the heart of the novel is an actual building that is located in downtown Cairo which the author has fictionalized for his story. We trace the changing face of Egypt over the years through the changing face of the building and its occupants. What was once a luxury accommodation for foreigners and the upper echelons of Egyptian society, after the 1952 revolution transformed into a housing for the military families who typically came from rural areas of Egypt. As the wealthy and educated elite started to leave Egypt following the revolution and the failed promises, the roof of the Yacoubian building which housed 2m X 2m storage rooms became homes of the urban poor who were often migrant workers eking out a living in the city. The roof dwellers form what is equivalent to a slum community in many cities around the developing world

Besides the building itself there are a number of characters whose lives are intertwined with each other and the building and through them we get a glimpse of Egyptian society - Corrupt politicians (Hagg Azzam), disenchanted youths who fall prey to militant Islam (Taha), young women who find that performing sexual favors for their bosses is the only way to hold onto a job (Busayana), fairly open homosexual elites (Hatim) and former members of the ruling class who look back with some fondness on French culture and pre-revolution days (Zaki Bey), migrant workers, small businessmen, hustlers and so on. With so many characters he has still succeeded in adding layers and depth to many of them

The book is definitely a criticism of the one party system that exists in Egypt and also shows the disenchantment of the population with the unfulfilled promises of the revolution. Its treatment of homosexuality is considered ground breaking in Arab culture. Mostly very bleak, the book ends on a hopeful note with the unlikely union of Busayana and Zaki Bey despite their age and rank differences- symbolizing the union of old Egypt with the new one perhaps? Or am I just reading into it too much for allegories? Although I found some sections of the book to be a bit dragging, it was completely worth the effort and I can see why it gets the praise it gets

OBOC - Eritrea

When I hear news about celebrities from Madonna to Angelina adopting children from impoverished African countries I always try to imagine what must be going through the child’s mind – would the child think he/she is lucky for escaping from poverty or will he/she long to trace back his biological parents and through them his/her cultural heritage. Hannah Pool answers some of these questions in her book “My Father’s Daughter”. Although her white adoptive parents were no movie stars, they did adopt this “orphaned” child from Eritrea and gave her a new life in Britain.

Despite being a successful journalist/writer for the Guardian with a loving adopted family and a well adjusted life in the UK with all its imperfections, Hannah never stopped wondering about her biological mom who died following child birth.  Thousand questions flooded her brain when one of her brothers contacted her through a letter which led to a meeting with a cousin in the UK after which she decided to take the plunge and visit her family, including her father who was still very much alive and not dead as presumed in Eritrea.

Overwhelmed by the discovery of numerous "cousins" and aunts and uncles and the agonizing preparation (should i wear long skirts, how long, kind of head cover etc) she lands in Asmara and is greeted by an entourage of emotional Eritreans all claiming some relationship to her. Relying on two of her brothers (a statistician and a teacher) for translation she has a hard time navigating through her family and finds that the British stiff upper lip comes innately to her rescue. The meeting with her older sister with whom she strikes up a warm relationship despite the language barrier leaves her wanting for more. Initially she finds it condescending that her brothers "took care of her" but slowly she lets go of that feeling and starts to bask in its warmth. Although she gets along with her father, there is the nagging question in her mind about why she was given up for adoption and that acts as a barrier in her relationship. 

When it is time for her father and her sister to get back to their native villages, she decides to follow them much against the advice of everyone. It is the trip to Keren, her father's and sister's villages and her own birth place that is the most poignant and well written portion of the book. She encounters for the first time the poverty of Eritrea which she has read so much about, but didn't really "see" in Asmara the capital. She compares and contrasts her own life with that of her two relatively middle class brothers and that of her sister. Did they think she was lucky to be adopted by a white couple? Would she trade her life of luxury for the sense of belonging to a family? Sitting on the bed that she was born in and seeing for the first time truly the hard life that members of her family face day to day she finally understands her father's motives behind giving her up for adoption. The few days she spends in the villages of Eritrea became instrumental in her own internal journey which gave her a sense of belonging that she so longed for all her life.

In the end the book stands out for two reasons

1) She successfully captures in some beautiful passages the complex world that is Eritrea - the wedding ceremonies, the patriarchial customs, the food (injera bread and shoru and the coffee), rural Vs urban life, role of expats, returnees, the UN's presence, the war with Ethiopia, struggles of the youth etc

2) Going from being an orphan to a member of a large family, her effort to reconcile her Africanness in Britain and her Britishness in Africa is one of the most honest pieces of writing that I've seen. A secular, liberal career minded woman, with a middle class accent and appropriate Britishness still stands out in her adopted country because of her skin color and her African origins (which she tried hard to distance herself from). She now finds herself in a religious, conservative, traditional, patriarchal society and manages to stand out despite her pigmentation. How does she deal with that and all the baggage of guilt and anger that she has carried with her all her life is the crux of the book.

The book is an emotional roller coaster and although sometimes she spells out her vacillating thoughts, panic and doubts in excruciating details overall it is an amazing read.