All Our Names

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All Our Names is the story of two young men who come of age during an African revolution, drawn from the safe confines of the university campus into the intensifying clamor of the streets outside But as the line between idealism and violence becomes increasingly blurred, the friends are driven apart one into the deepest peril, as the movement gathers inexorable force, and the other into the safety of exile in the American Midwest There, pretending to be an exchange student, he falls in love with a social worker and settles into small town life Yet this idyll is inescapably darkened by the secrets of his past the acts he committed and the work he left unfinished Most of all, he is haunted by the beloved friend he left behind, the charismatic leader who first guided him to revolution and then sacrificed everything to ensure his freedom. New Download eBook All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu – kino-fada.fr I read this book in one sitting during the dark hours totally immersed in the world that Dinaw Mengestu created It was achingly beautiful full of hardships but with friendships..powerfully examines the background of political complexities injustice race idealism suppression fear self expression and love The intimacy in the storytelling kept me turning the pages This intimacy I felt in the opening sentence is told by the narrator with no name When Isaac and I first met at I read this book in one sitting during the dark hours totally immersed in the world that Dinaw Mengestu created It was achingly beautiful full of hardships but with friendships..powerfully examines the background of political com...Dinaw Mengestu left his native Ethiopia when he was just a toddler, but he still experienced America as an immigrant, and that challenge continues to shape his fiction Raised in suburban Chicago, he began his career in Washington with a novel set around Logan Circle called The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears 2007 The National Book Foundation and the New Yorker quickly identified him as a rising star Now an English professor at Georgetown University, Mengestu has just published his thir Dinaw Mengestu left his native Ethiopia when he was just a toddler, but he still experienced America as an immigrant, and that challenge continues to shape his fiction Raised in suburban Chicago, he began his career in Washington with a novel set around Logan Circle called The Beautiful Things That Heav...Idealism, disillusionment, justice and love these are the topics beautifully explored in this novel by the MacArthur Genius grantee and author of How to Read the Air A young African man called Isaac has come to the Midwestern United States, where he embarks on a relationship with Helen, a social worker, who, for all her heart and intelligence, has trouble understanding him Part illusion, part product of the revolutionary past in his own country, Isaac purposely makes himself unknowable Wh Idealism, disillusionment, justice and love these are the topics beautifully explored in this novel by the MacArthur Genius grantee and author of How to Read the Air A young African man called Isaac has come to the Midwestern United States, where he embarks on a relationship with Helen, a social worker, who, for all her heart and intelligence, has trouble understanding him Part illusion, part product of the revolutionary past in his own country, Isaac purpo...I found this book to be strangely vague and lacking in specificity for my taste The characters are so broadly drawn to be unknowable, and the settings seem somewhat unreal Kampala at a vague point in the past, and the Midwest also at some vague point in the past The relationship between the narrator and his friend Isaac seemed weirdly inexplicable what actually drew them together Why did one follow the other so blindly One review suggested that ...Set in post colonial Uganda at a time where the celebratory optimism of new found liberation had not yet diminished, the story begins with the hopes and ambitions of two friends named Isaac Fuelled by revolutionary dreams, the boys set up their own paper revolution on a Kampala University campus before becoming swept up in the harsh realities of violence, war and power struggles.Split in two, the narrative is shared by Isaac and Helen, the white American lover Isaac later meets in Midwest Ame Set in post colonial Uganda at a time where the celebratory optimism of new found liberation had not yet diminished, the story begins with the hopes and ambitions of two friends named Isaac Fuelled by revolutionary dreams, the boys set up their own paper revolution on a Kampala University campus before becoming swept up in the harsh realities of violence, war and power struggles.Split in two, the narrative is shared by Isaac and Helen, the white American lover Isaac later meets in Midwest America If Isaac s narrative demonstrates the loss of hope and the catastrophic legacy of colonialism, then unlike many other immigrant stories, Helen s does a similar job America in the 1970 s and sadly even now is not quite the haven it is purported to be, but rather, in the wake of the 1960 s Civil Rights movement, any hopes that racism has ended are keenly quashed by a series of micro aggression s in Helen s Midwest America Both Uganda and America may have taken big steps tow...A story narrated in alternate chapters, one entitled Isaac, the other Helen Isaac takes place during a short perios in the life of the male protagonist after he as left the family village somewhere in Ethiopia, planning never to return, arriving in Kampala, a city in Uganda where he hopes to study at the university It is there he meets a young man named Isaac, recognising in him a similar ambition and humble origins, though in his presence he is also aware of an undercurrent of fear and trepid A story narrated in alternate chapters, one entitled Isaac, the other Helen Isaac takes place during a short perios in the life of the male protagonist after he as left the family village somewhere in Ethiopia, planning never to return, arriving in Kampala, a city in Uganda where he hopes to study at the university It is there he meets a young man named Isaac, recognising in him a similar ambition and humble origins, though in his presence he is also aware of an undercurrent of fear and trepidation, not yet realising, but intuiting thedangerous depths Isaac may plummet to in order to achieve that ambition.Th Hele...This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers To view it, click here This is a wonderful, intelligent, complex yet readable novel It traces two phases in the life of a man we come to know as Isaac, firstly in Uganda, where, despite being a foreigner, he becomes involved in revolutionary activity through a friendship with a Ugandan youth also called Isaac and, later, as a refugee in the United States during a period of high racial tension There is so much in this novel that it is almost impossible to review briefly, but, boiled down to the basics, for me it ca This...All Our Names has some fantastic moments, for sure Mengestu s ability to tell stories, in particular, shines in the story of disappearing city , a 2 3 page parable that is remarkable There were many times where I underlined some truly beautiful sentences and paragraphs However, these gems lay buried in the rough which sprouts throughout the majority of this novel The writing is just not there, the majority of the time The dialogue is often not believable or convincing.Perhaps the most inte All Our Names has some fantastic moments, for sure Mengestu s ability to tell stories, in particular, shines in the story of disappearing city , a 2 3 page parable that is remarkable There were many times where I underlined some truly beautiful sentence...All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu is a poignant story of two men and a woman The two men are friends who meet in what is probably Uganda, right before the wars began The woman is the lover of one of the men who comes to the United States The time is about a decade after the end of segregation so the affair between this white woman and this African man has that to deal with but that is much less than his silence about his history and ultimately his identity.The story is told in chapters alternat All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu is a poignant story of two men and a woman The two men are friends who meet in what is probably Uganda, right before the wars began The woman is the lover of one of the men who comes to the United States The time is about a decade after the ...This is one of those books I thought I would like, I wanted to like, and in the end, I just shook my head and walked away.Stories of the revolutions in Africa can be riveting if also heartbreaking This one was neither There wasn t enough detail about the actual revolution to teach me anything new It was all vague us them conflicts.The story is told from two points of view Helen and Isaac Helen was told in first person, but I just didn t like the character She was out to save the world bu This is one of those books I thought I would like, I wanted to like, and in the end, I just shook my head and walked away.Stories of the revolutions in Africa can be riveting if also heartbreaking This one was neither There wasn t enough detail about the actual revolution to teach me anything new It was all vague us them conflicts.The story is told from two points of view Helen and Isaac Helen was told in first person, but I just didn t like the character She was out to save the world but came across as a w...

All Our Names
  • 11 March 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 256 pages
  • 038534998X
  • Dinaw Mengestu
  • All Our Names