How to Read the Air

Corey Allen's low voice and well-timed pauses convey the deep-seated thoughts of Yosef and Mariam, Ethiopian immigrants who are struggling with their new American lives. Their story is imagined by their son, Jonas, who traces his parents' past, specifically their "honeymoon," a road trip from Illinois to Nashville that careens into explosive domestic violence. Jonas brings to light his parents' history in Ethiopia and his memories of their endless battles, as well as his own feelings of worthlessness, his failed marriage, and his aborted teaching career. One might think that the novel's scant dialogue would fatigue the listener. But this is a poetic story, written by young Ethiopian writer who is already being hailed as a literary master. K.P. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Starred review from August 2, 2010
Mengestu (The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears) stunningly illuminates the immigrant experience across two generations. Jonas Woldemariam's parents, near strangers when they marry in violence-torn Ethiopia, spend most of the early years of their marriage separated, eventually reuniting in America, but their ensuing life together devolves into a mutual hatred that forces a contentious divorce. Three decades later, Jonas, himself moving toward a divorce, retraces his parents' fateful honeymoon road trip from Peoria, Ill., to Nashville in an attempt to understand an upbringing that turned him into a man who has "gone numb as a tactical strategy" and become a fluent and inveterate liar—a skill that comes in handy at his job at an immigration agency, where he embellishes African immigrants' stories so that they might be granted asylum. Mengestu draws a haunting psychological portrait of recent immigrants to America, insecure and alienated, striving to fit in while mourning the loss of their cultural heritage and social status. Mengestu's precise and nuanced prose evokes characters, scenes, and emotions with an invigorating and unparalleled clarity.