The Shadow King: A Novel

I bought this book for a class on African Literature and was asked to write a review after reading it.The Shadow King is a beautifully written novel exploring untold histories, gender and class conflicts, love, loss, and war. In the novel we see the Italian invasion of Ethiopia beginning in 1936 from the perspective of the rag-tag, undersupplied, outnumbered, Ethiopian volunteer army as they try to hold off Musilini’s approach. The main characters are Hirut - an orphaned girl who works as a servant for Kidane and Aster, a married couple who lead an Ethiopian militia. Kidane and Aster’s marriage, which we learn was arranged against Aster’s wishes, is strained by loss, jealousy, and resentment. Dispursed throughout the chapters are also snippets following Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie as he slowly watches his country fall and is forced to into exile, as well as Carlos Fucelli, the merciless general leading the Italian troops, and Ettore, a Jewish Italian photographer and soldier. The characters’ paths intertwine, creating a suspenseful, complicated, and gut-wrenchingly painful story where no one comes out the victor.Maaza Mengiste’s writing is what truly makes this novel worth reading. Her complicated characters and vivid imagery are presented through almost poetic diction which makes the novel both emotionally difficult to read and captivating enough to make it hard to put down. Mengiste’s style can be difficult to follow, especially due to the lack of punctuation around conversations. Nothing is said overtly in quotations, which makes it difficult to follow who is speaking and what is said aloud or simply thought. This ambiguity adds to the ghostly motifs throughout the novel, with characters frequently being visited by, seeing, and speaking to the people they have lost. While it may also be difficult for readers unfamiliar with the Invasion of Ethiopia to follow the historical references and allusions, Mengiste does an excellent job of connecting the characters’ personal stories to the historical events. For those of us who are unfortunately not taught African histories in school, it is well worth some personal research into the references Mengiste makes because the historical allusions and symbolism multiply the richness of her writing tenfold.For me, the most memorable part of the book is the complexity of the characters, especially Aster. While we may want to see Aster as a stunning, powerful, determined leader, it is impossible to ignore her flaws. At the start of the novel, Aster is the villain. She mistreats Hurit as well as the cook, ransacking the few personal belongings the servants have and even going so far as to beat Hurit with a horsewhip and leave her close to death in the stable. We learn, however, that Aster is just as trapped in her marriage as her servants are in her house. No woman in the story is safe from brutality. Out of her powerless position as a child sold into her arranged marriage, Aster emerges as the defiant leader of the women fighting for Ethiopia - including Hirut.. Aster inspires a unique feminist movement of women determined to carve a place for themselves in history as more than the cooks, nurses, and gravediggers.All that said, The Shadow King is not an easy read. Its chapters are filled with brutal violence and loss, which Mengiste writes about in painful detail. Even in a story promising to hail the heroism of female soldiers, there are very few victories for the characters we grow to empathize with. If not under threat from the invading Italians, Hirut, Aster, and other women are emotionally and physically abused by Kidane or the other men they are fighting alongside. For Kidane, despite his violence towards his wife and Hirut, we are also made to sympathize with his dispersion to protect his county and the guilt he is riddled with after every loss. Even when following Ettore in the Italian army, things are anything but good. He observes the unrelenting brutality of the Italian commander, is riddled by guilt over his role in it, and worries about his Jewish parents back in Italy. While I would recommend this book to readers interested in history, and especially those curious about sides of history that are usually left out of textbooks, and I admire Mengiste’s writing style, I found it extremely difficult to get through.

This is not a book for a faint hearted reader. There are gripping scenes and parts of this book is heartrending. The story line may seem a little convoluted at the beginning but if you stay the course you will find the author' stunning portrayal of women in Ethiopia at the time as fierce warriors, charismatic cheerleaders, care givers and healers in war. However these same women are abused, betrayed and misused on some occasions. The author compares the courage and charisma of the Shadow King with the cowardice and distance to his people of the real king. A king who goes into exile and leaves his people to fight under difficult and horrendous circumstances. Then there are the tensions of Fathers and sons spread all over the pages of this book. If you are brave and eager you will find this book just right for you. However if you are easily distracted and want a swift plot stay away.

Following the conclusion of World War II, Mussoloni (as the Ethiopians derisively referred to him) concocted a plan to give himself a slice of the colonial pie while simultaneously avenging his country’s late 19th century embarrassment at the Battle of Adua.Kidane, the military leader in “The Shadow King” remarks to his men that the Italians “have come to rewrite history, to alter memory, to resurrect their dead and refashion them as heroes.”At exiled Emperor Haile Selassie’s behest, Kidane assembles a local militia to fight against the invading forces. His wife Aster leads the women who trail the fighters, supplying them with food, bullets, and equipment. As Kidane’s forces suffer battlefield losses, Aster eventually convinces him to let her women fight. A character equal parts cruel and inspirational, Aster implores her fellow women to take their place in history and fight. Her servant, and narrator, Hirut describes Aster’s fervor: “She is one woman. She is many women. She is all the sound that exists in the world.” And so the women fight and author Mengiste brings to light a forgotten and ignored piece of Italy’s famed resistance against Italy. “I see you. I will always see you” the author remarks in the novel’s acknowledgements to the women of Ethiopia who would not let themselves be forgotten. The novel does not shirk away from the violence of not only war but of the Ethiopian society for women. Early on in the story, Kidane’s father notes that “somewhere, a woman is always weeping” because no matter who the victor is in a conflict, the mothers, daughters, and sisters bear the brunt of loss, injury, and death.As the story unfolds, the Ethiopians fighters notice that one of their own bears a striking resemblance to the Emperor and decide to dress him as a “shadow king” in order to inspire the surrounding towns to mobilize and actively fight against the invaders. With periodic chapters imagining the helpless emperor in England, it quickly becomes apparent that he is less a king that his countrywomen fighting back in Abyssinia. Later in life, having survived not only a cruel stint as a prisoner of war but the war itself, Hirut realizes that “we were the Shadow King. We were those who stepped into a country left dark by an invading plague and gave new hope to Ethiopia’s people.”Finally, I can’t end this review without remarking on the talent of author Maaza Mengiste. I first read her debut novel “Beneath the Lion’s Gaze” last year and was struck by her writing’s beauty. Her talent has continued to grow and it’s evident as she pens stunning lines like:“The sun highlights the hints of henna in Aster’s braided hair. It splashes a glow across her cheeks. Her eyes are liquid in the bright light.”“[Selassie] stands beneath a soft drizzle that feels like a weeping sky.”“But she cannot know that grief cradles at the beast of cruelty, and it hungers for more,and she is for the taking.”

Mycket bra

Starts off with twisting prose that is a mite overworked for me but builds beautifully. As you tune I to the language and perspectives the story shifts from a cantor to a trot and then a thrilling race to a most satisfying and true enough ending. You leave the last pages more informed and a mite breathless.

La autora recrea (en términos objetivos y subjetivos) la realidad de la situación, pero con un ángulo muy personal sobre los personajes y lo que les ocurre.

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I am yet to read this one. This review is about the condition of the book. It arrived neat, and without any kind of crease on its cover. Perfect.