The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
The 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction went to Dinaw Mengestu's The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears.
Work Information
A novel of immigrant loneliness and urban dislocation.
The Los Angeles Times recognized the novel in First Fiction. It follows an Ethiopian immigrant in Washington, D.C., and the problem of belonging.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Penguin Publishing Group
- Published
- 2008-02-05
- Pages
- 240 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.1 x 1.5 x 20.3 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9781594482854
- ISBN-10
- 1594482853
- Price
- 3155 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Literature & Fiction/Genre Fiction/Historical
Seventeen years ago, Sepha Stephanos fled the Ethiopian Revolution for a new start in the United States. Now he finds himself running a failing grocery store in a poor African-American section of Washington, D.C., his only companions two fellow African immigrants who share his bitter nostalgia and longing for his home continent. Years ago and worlds away Sepha could never have imagined a life of such isolation. As his environment begins to change, hope comes in the form of a friendship with new neighbors Judith and Naomi, a white woman and her biracial daughter. But when a series of racial incidents disturbs the community, Sepha may lose everything all over again. Watch a QuickTime interview with Dinaw Mengestu about this book.
Dinaw Mengestu was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1978. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a fellowship in fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts and a Lannan Literary Fellowship, and was named a “20 under 40” writer to watch by The New Yorker. Mengestu’s writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Harper’s, Granta , and other publications. He lives with his family in Washington, D.C.
Reviews
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Beautify heartbreaking inspiring and unvarnished stoeytelling
A beautifully written book that captures the crush of disappointment and the strength of the human spirit. This writer moved from a refugee hauling luggage fir a racist employer in Capital hill dc to a small store owner and then got his MFA at Georgetown and became a writer of note...and he has not forgotten the hundreds of thousands who are still stuck in a purgatory of dead end low wage jobs, lousy housing, and racist employers. Lyrical beautiful book. If you want sugar coating look elsewhere, but if you want unvarnished and heartbreaking truth, this is your book!
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Bittersweet
Nicely written, well crafted. The story and the main character Sepha Stephanos resonate with me, partly because I'm half-Ethiopian myself and having lived in both Ethiopia and Europe, mostly though due to the gentle writing that still packs a punch. I really felt for Sepha and at the same time felt annoyed becasue he'd given up and allowed himself to be gupled up by his trauma- not saying that the trauma of a childhood ruptured by a dictatorship, and losing your home and family, then hope, missing people and the past, and never being fully at home in either culture is something that is easily overcome.
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Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu
Only book I re-read as soon as I had finished it. Beautiful descriptive passages and words to give you pause for thought. Witty exchanges in conversations. I was there with the main character in his little convenience store seeing every detail so wonderfully described. I felt sympathy and sadness with the main character Stephanos, but it is not a sad book, just one I will always re-visit. I could go on, but can only recommend it highly.
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Grande delusione!
Ho scoperto, con grande delusione, che "The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears" non è altro che "Children of the Revolution", libro che avevo già acquistato e letto con piacere ma non tanto da volerne un'altra copia con un titolo diverso. Esperienza più unica che rara. Maniera singolare di vendere lo stesso libro due volte cambiandone titolo. Mi piacerebbe che qualcuno spiegasse.
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Worthy Debut Novel About the Immigrant Experience
Mengestu's debut novel brings to life the American immigrant experience in a touching way. The novel is about an Ethiopian immigrant, Sepha, and his experiences in the Washington DC area over a seven month period in the 1970s. Mengestu captures the hopes and dreams, as well as the struggles and disappointment, of those coming to this country for a better life than in their native land. Sepha owns a small neighborhood grocey story around Logan Circle, a community underground gentrification. We see his hopes for a more prosperous and successful business grow as work crews start renovating local buildings. Most notably, Sepha decides to start selling sandwiches and buys fresh deli meats and promotes this to what he hopes will be his new clientele. The two dimensions of this book I found so rewarding are the interplay and relationships of the various characters with Sepha as well as the ups and downs of Sepha's experience representing the broader ebb and flow of immigrant experience. Judith, a single white academic restores a four story brick neighborhood in the building and moves in with her wiser-than-her years 11 year old Naomi. The depth of Naomi's character was wonderful -- a somewhat sassy, precocious but sweet girl. We see Naomi take to Sepha and a deep bond created between the two of them -- Sepha becomes a father/older brother figure to her. Especially poignant was the joy and fun they had reading of the Brothers Karamazov together in the store. At the same time Sepha begins to fall for Judith and we see the impact that race and language has on their relationship. Once again, the hope of a bright future gives way to the dim reality of the struggle most first generation immigrants face. Mengestu ultimately crafts a very satisfying and enjoyable read. It brings smiles and laughter to the reader as well sadness and disappointment -- working both at the character level but at the broader level of immigrant experience. Mengestu is a young author that you'll want to keep your eye out for in the future.