BY MULUGETA GUDETA
This is not going to be a book review. This is rather a piece of writing about a relatively new novel by an Ethiopian writer that deserve praise if not due attention from the literary world if not encouragement and support from the literary establishments here at home or abroad.
When a young woman writes such an impressive first novel , it is akin to the birth of a new literary star that will continue to shine for many decades to come.
Many promising young writers have seen their sun eclipse at a very early stage of their careers simply due to the silence, impassivity or calculated cynicism from literary critics, media or publishers. In this sense, Mihret is lucky to get a publisher that could take her debut novel to the reading world.
Although we do not read rave review of her work, some local media have covered her “big bang” arrival on the literary scene with great enthusiasm and promise.
Last year, The Reporter, a local English-language newspaper publisher an interview with Mihret, giving her a larger than life coverage of her life and work. In that interview, Mihret described her novel as “A book about a young girl who faces many challenges, including family, love, confusion and friendship.
It is a twisted love story have exciting and thrilling plot points. It is a story about a nubile girl who moved to Chicago and made new friends.” This is a good summary of the book’s nature and Mihret did not reveal too much about the novel for fear of losing potential book buyers who might be discouraged to buy the book if they are told too much about it.
Mihret had the essential ingredients that went into making her a writer. In the first place she aspired to become a novelist and this is something that come naturally. If you claim that you want to be a writer, it is almost certain that you have the inner passion that makes somebody a writer. Mihret had this passion when she was too young.
The second ingredient that prepared her for a career in writing is her choice to study English language and literature at the Metropolitan University College in Addis Ababa. That does not mean that all young people who major in English language and literature become novelists. Many critic say that writing is not something that you study at college but at the “university of life.”
At least this is Russian writer maxim Gorky said after writing his novel entitled, “My Universities”.
Only a tiny percentage of young English language students end up being novelist. Once again a good example is Meaza Mengiste, who emigrated to the United States at a very young age, studied literature or creative writing there and became the novelist we know now.
If you have the calling, you can become a writer even without going to college or without studying literature. However having both the inner talent to write and the necessary education in creative writing can combine to make you a good writer.
Thus Mihret has all the preconditions for becoming a good writer and this is visible in her debut novel. She has a passion for writing, a natural inclination to tell stories and an educational background that can help her master the techniques of telling stories.
The first impression you get when starting to read Adal Gidi’s debut novel is the extraordinary ,mastery of a foreign language, i.e. English that the author skillfully displays despite the fact the central theme of the novel is love as manifested in a dramatic and true to life manner in the book.
The theme may be as old as life itself but the linguistic flourish, firework and acrobatics with which it is presented and the speed with which the story unfolds itself leave the reader gasping for air.
This is a maiden work by a young Ethiopian woman and as a first time novelist, Mihret may display some loopholes in her narrative technique, plot or the morale of the story. But her linguistic skills have proved her forte, and one of the strongest pints in the novel.
Many first time novels have proved masterpieces in their won rights. This year’s winner of the Man Booker Award, is a first time novelist in his forties. The awarding institution may have its own reasons for granting the Booker for a first timer while downplaying established female writers like Ngozi Adichi (Americanah) and the Ethiopian Meaza Mengiste (The Shadow King).
This is not to say that Mihret ranks among the award deserving female writers. Mihret has not yet attained the level of literary maturity that Adichi or Meaza have already displayed. She is not on a par with the big league of novelists.
Yet, as a very young writer, she could be mentioned as a promising young writer from Ethiopia who did not go to college to study creative writing or benefitted from the patronage of some literarily institution or publishing house and yet came up with a breathtaking piece of writing about a life and a society she did not live into or experienced first-hand.
Mihret’s debut novel can perhaps describes as a coming-of-age of the central character that bears resemblance to the author herself. There are many coming –of –age novels that have become classics as soon as they were published. One of them is JD.
Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” The novel has become automatically a classic as it describes the growth, maturity and vision of the world of its central character who is a young boy called Holden Caulfield and is written in the first person perspective. But all first novels with teenage central characters and written in the first person narrative point of view cannot be turned into modern classics.
This columnist is in the opinion that had Miheret been an American or British writer, a lot of media attention could be given to her as a promising novelist. We know that the literary world in the West might sometimes be biased, championing the big time novelists and shunning the promising starters. Anyway Mihret has started off with a promising luster as a novelist and she might one day prove the world wrong in ignoring young upstarts. She has a long literary. She has certainly a long literary life ahead of her.
This book by a very young Ethiopian writer is an amazing display of language, that is English language. It would be hard to imagine someone from Ethiopia who was not born or has never lived in an English speaking country could have such a mastery of the language. This is not a language to someone English is a second or third language. This is a language someone has started t speak and grow in.
It is simply amazing. And this is the first impression anyone has about the book after reading the first two or three chapters. From the biographical note on the first page of the book we read, “Mihret Adal Gidi is a young novelists emerging in East Africa, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia… She finally mustered up her courage to complete Bleeding Hearts of a Butterfly for publication during her study at Kotebe University College…”
The second and related impression or question that came to my mind is the following: how could someone write a novel in English whose setting and characters are foreign without spending part of their life in the West? Maybe the wrier has the answer to this question. However what matters in a novel is not the setting and the language alone but also the story, the vision and insights of the writer and something new they bring to the art of fictional narrative in any work of fiction.
These introductory remarks aside, the narrative style is no doubt breathtaking and the minutest detail in her character portrayal and actions make Mihret a young novelist who has a good eye for details. This is evident in the first few pages as she introduces the main character who plays a key role in moving the story forward. Her mastery of the language has no doubt allowed her to play with the language as if she were a native English writer.
The trouble is that too much detailed descriptions of place and character might sometimes turn out to be a bit boring unless what they tell us show novelty at the level of narrative or push the story forward. What readers are often interested in is how the story unfolds and what happens next. Too much description of places tends to slow the pace of the narrative. In the case of Mihret’s novel the force of the language, its beauty and simplicity seem to be carrying you forward until the last page.
As the biographical detail on the first page of her book tells us, “Mihret Adal Gidi is a young novelist emerging from East Africa based in Addis Ababa. She is known for being a strong fight and someone who does not give up. She has almost dreamt of being an author and she was praised because of her potentials by her teachers while in high school”.
Now what Mihret needs to write, write and write more novels and short stories in order to build a strong fan base that will inspire her to write more. In the past and according to her own words her main passion was reading, reading and reading whatever falls on her hands.
From now onwards, her other or related passion should be to write, write, and write about anything that touches her. Who knows, one day we may see her as the first Ethiopian novelist who will win the Booker Award, that is, if Meaza Mengiste is not the first to win the race. Obviously Mihret will have to brave the competition for recognition or nomination which is not an easy job.
The Ethiopian Herald January 2/2021
