How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu
Dinaw Mengestu's first novel, Children of the Revolution, earned him comparisons to Bellow, Fitzgerald and Naipaul, garnered ecstatic critical praise and won the Guardian First Book Award for its haunting depiction of the immigrant experience in America. Now, he enriches the themes that defined his debut in a story that captures two generations of an immigrant family. One early September afternoon, Yosef and Mariam, young Ethiopians who have spent all but their first year of marriage apart, set off on a road trip from their new home in Peoria, Illinois, to Nashville, Tennessee, in search of an identity as an American couple. Thirty years later, Yosef has died, and the couple's son, Jonas, is desperate to make sense of the volatile generational and cultural ties that have forged him. How can he envision his future without knowing what has come before? Leaving behind his marriage and job in New York, Jonas sets out to retrace his parents' trip and, in a stunning display of imagination, weaves together a family history that takes him from the war-torn Ethiopia of his parents' youth to a brighter vision of his own life in contemporary America, a story-real or invented-that holds the possibility of reconciliation and redemption. A heartbreaking masterwork about love, family and the power of imagination, How to Read the Air confirms Dinaw Mengestu's reputation as one of the brightest talents of his generation.
the 32-year-old's talent continues to shine in this second novel * Monocle *
a straight-forward, compassionate, keenly sensitive observer of real life -- James Lasdun * Guardian Review *
How to read the air is deeply thought out, deliberate in its craftsmanship and in many parts beautifully written..remarkably talented -- Miguel Syjuco * The Scotsman *
a straight-forward, compassionate, keenly sensitive observer of real life -- James Lasdun * Guardian Review *
How to read the air is deeply thought out, deliberate in its craftsmanship and in many parts beautifully written..remarkably talented -- Miguel Syjuco * The Scotsman *
Dinaw Mengestu was born in Ethiopia in 1978 and is a graduate of Georgetown and Columbia universities. His 2007 debut novel, Children of the Revolution, won the Guardian First Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. In 2010, he was included in the New Yorker's '20 Under 40' list of writers to watch.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780224084710 |
| ISBN 10 | 0224084712 |
| Title | How to Read the Air |
| Author | Dinaw Mengestu |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2010-12-30 |
| Number of pages | 336 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |