Addis Ababa Noir (Akashic Noir)

June 8, 2020
Few of the 14 stories in this solid Akashic noir anthology qualify as classic noir, but they all contain many of the classic elements such as desperation, greed, desire, and death. In Meron Hadero’s memorable “Kind Stranger,” the narrator literally trips over a stranger who’s lying on the ground at a construction site. The narrator sits down with the stranger, who proceeds to tell a fraught tale about a woman who rebuked his advances and how he took revenge on her during a time of political turmoil. Another strong entry is Girma T. Fantaye’s “Of the Poet and the Café,” in which a poet sets out to get rid of every copy of his one published book, only to find that it’s not just words that can be erased from the world. Solomon Hailemariam’s pointed “None of Your Business” examines life under a tyrannical regime where a simple school assignment can have dire consequences for one small boy and his family. Each contributor embraces day-to-day life in Ethiopia, and fills each story with a rich sense of time, place, and character. The authors reveal much about a culture unfamiliar to many American readers.

June 15, 2020
Novelist Mengiste presents 14 stories showcasing Ethiopia's capital at its darkest. History has not always been kind to Addis Ababa. From 1974 through '87, when the Provisional Military Government of Socialist Ethiopia, known as the Derg, ruled the country, armed militias kept order at gunpoint. Those brutal days are chronicled in Teferi Nigussie Tafa's "Agony of the Congested Heart" and editor Mengiste's "Of Dust and Ash." Nature plays its own part in human misery. In Mikael Awake's "Father Bread," a pack of hyenas decimates a young boy's family. Cultural practices like female circumcision also take their toll, as Sulaiman Addonia shows in "A Night in Bela Sefer" and Linda Yohannes demonstrates in "Kebele ID," in which a housemaid compensates for the loss of her pleasure by stealing from her employers. Some misery has otherworldly sources, as in Adam Reta's "Of Buns and Howls." But some individuals can be cruel even in the absence of external forces. A survivor of the Derg takes revenge on an unlikely target in Meron Hadero's "Kind Stranger." And in "A Double-Edged Inheritance," Hannah Giorgis presents a college student who avenges her mother's mistreatment by her father's family. And of course, people can be their own worst enemies, as in Lelissa Girma's "Insomnia" and Girma T. Fantaye's "Of the Poet and the Caf�." A nice variety of bad behavior. East, West: Noir's best.

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