W. W. Norton & Company The Shadow King

I am touring Africa through books. This book was recommended in the Saturday Telegraph before Xmas. I did not know much about Ethiopian history so it was a pleasure to read. I did not know the role of female soldiers in the Abbasynian war of the atrocities of the Italian soldiers. Well crafted. I loved it.

Maaza Mengiste delivers a powerful combination of the little-known history of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, a gripping account of people at war, vivid characterisations of individuals and the social structures they inhabit, of feudalism, fascism, ethnic subjugation, religion, moral relativism, power, atrocity, brutality, abuse, and a remnant of abiding love and moral commitment. Her prose is rich and absorbing, conveying subtle detail, but also strands of poetic, even mystical, writing. Abuse is pervasive, of Italian towards Ethiopian and towards Jew, of men against women, and between women themselves. The effete Haile Selassie, lingering to play his Verdi LPs, escapes to England, and is graphically temporarily replaced by Minim, ie someone who is nothing, and later returns to being nothing, easily expendable. Ethiopian women enjoin and lead in battle. The sadist Fucelli, the warrior Kidane, the compromised Navarra, the subtly brave Fifi, Aster the abused and abuser, Hirut the ultimate heroine, Hailu the sophisticated medic forced into guerrilla warfare, stride the pages of Mengiste’s epic. It’s a novel of turmoil. It’s who we are, but hopefully not all we are.

I think the author enjoyed writing this book. It follows her imagination without much attempt to help or engage the reader. The style is difficult but sometimes throws up a striking image. The subject matter is really interesting. Women's heroic roles have been usually brushed out of history and the author fills the gap in relation to a war and a country that remains little known. She deftly weaves together various forms of oppression including the economic and political oppression of the Ethiopian empire and social oppression by men over women.The book is Ethiopian in a deeper sense. It speaks in allusions and riddles, a practice that seems to have evolved as a way to baffle foreigners visiting the mysterious kingdom of Prester John. This book could be seen as a bit of fun at the expense of earnest ferenjis. I am not sure it is and my uncertainty is a sign of Ethiopian artistry.The book celebrates Ethiopian pride but also presents an example of it. I enjoyed it all the more because I have spent quite some time in Ethiopia and perhaps it is not a book for everyone.

I wanted to give this 3.5 stars but that’s not an option.I knew nothing about the history this covers and I loved finding out more about it. It was also incredible to hear the women’s stories and how they contributed to the fight back. I feel it’s important that for documented.I’m also a fan of literary fiction and could appreciate what the author was doing in this novel in terms of style. However, I did find at times it made it unnecessarily difficult to follow the story and what was going on. I found myself having to check back to try and work out what was going on or which character we were with. This interrupted the flow in places.However, I’m glad I persevered. I think it’s an important story that we should all know about.

I was so looking forward to reading this book, but it was hard going. The way it was written with little punctuation and no speach marks made it physically difficult to read. Then I spent much of the book looking up Ethiopian terms and words, which just became dull very quickly, and then the author failed to build any of the characters to the point where I wasn't emotionally invested in any of them, in fact I was totally indifferent. The story itself was interesting, I just didn't feel it was told very well. The only way I got through it was by setting myself a daily target, it is very rare to have to do this. One of the least engaging books I have ever read.