Yet Jama cannot rest until he discovers whether his father, who has been absent from his life since he was a baby, is alive somewhere. War is on the horizon and the fascist Italian forces who control parts of east Africa are preparing for battle. Jama is forced home to his native Somalia, the land of his nomadic ancestors. But then his mother dies unexpectedly and he finds himself alone in the world. Aden,1935 a city vibrant, alive, and full of hidden dangers. The story was set in 1930s Somalia spanning a decade of war and upheaval, all seen through the eyes of a small boy alone in the world. I found the over use of descriptive words bothersome and I wish I had a vocabulary / glossary so that I could understand what some of the Somalian / African words meant. It was sad, but real and that is what kept me intrigued. I found this novel hard to get into but I persevered and once I got a quarter of a way in I found i kept turning the pages and enjoying it.
The writing is mediocre but the subject is quite interesting hence it is a page turner. But Jama again travels to Egypt to find work in merchant navy ships but eventually finds his way back to his family.This story gives us an insight into the Somali lifestyle and their struggle during a difficult time (Second World War). As the Italians suffer heavy losses and are on the verge of defeat at the hand of the British, Jama deserts from the army and starts a shop in a small town in Eritrea where he meets and fall in love with a girl whom he eventually marries. East Africa at that time is governed by Italians and as the Second World War approaches, Jama is recruited in the army as a foot soldier. He grows up on the street and after his mother dies of tuberculosis returns to his hometown in Somalia. The mother and the boy are ill treated by their relatives and so he runs away from home to live on the streets. The boy and his mother live on the terrace of their relatives. Jama, a eleven year old boy in Aden a costal town in Yemen, lives with his mother who works in the local coffee bean factory in 1935. It a semi biographical account of her grandfather's life.
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