There Is No Me Without You

Melissa Fay Greene documents the tragic lives of the children of Ethiopian AIDS victims. Greene focuses on the efforts of Haregowoin Teferra and her orphanage while chronicling how the Ethiopian government and much of the world ignore these innocent children. Greene herself has adopted two children from the orphanage. The highly personal book is read with intensity by Julie Fain Lawrence. Lawrence's emphasis of key phrases and critical events allows listeners to share in what Greene calls "an unfolding disaster." Despite the nature of the material, the story also celebrates the human spirit, and Lawrence's style allows listeners to share Greene's belief that these children can survive, and thrive, in a world that prefers to ignore them. D.J.S. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

Starred review from July 17, 2006
Not unlike the AIDS pandemic itself, the odyssey of Haregewoin Teferra, who took in AIDS orphans, began in small stages and grew to irrevocably transform her life from that of "a nice neighborhood lady" to a figure of fame, infamy and ultimate restoration. In telling her story, journalist Greene who had adopted two Ethiopian children before meeting Teferra, juggles political history, medical reportage and personal memoir. While succinctly interspersing a history of Ethiopia, lucidly tracing the history of AIDS from its early manifestation as "slim disease" in the late 1970s to its appearance as a bizarrely aggressive of Kaposi's sarcoma in the early 1980s, and following the complex path of medication (a super highway in the West, a trail in Africa), Greene rescues Teferra from undeserved oblivion as well as rescuing her from undeserved obloquy (false accusations of child selling). As with her previous books (Praying for Sheetrock
; The Temple Bombing
; Last Man Out
), Greene takes a very close look at what appears to be the fringe of an important social event and illuminates the entire subject. Ethiopia is home to "the second-highest concentration of AIDS orphans in the world"; even as some of the orphans find happy endings in American homes, Greene keeps the urgency of the greater crisis before us in this moving, impassioned narrative.

February 1, 2007
Greene here relates the plight of AIDS-stricken families in Ethiopia, which has one of the highest levels of infection on the continent. The disease carries a strong social stigma as well. Children orphaned by the disease have virtually no chance of being adopted or cared for in their home country. Through happenstance, Haregewoin Teferra, a widow, ends up running an unofficial orphanage and day school out of her home in Addis Ababa for children left homeless by this pandemic. The author alternates the very human story of Teferra and her big heart with history and facts about Ethiopia and the critical issue of AIDS in Africa. Greene ("The Temple Bombing"), the adoptive parent of two Ethiopian children, tells a story that deserves a wide audience. The narration by actress Julie Fain Lawrence is smooth and satisfying; highly recommended for all public libraries.Karen Fauls-Traynor, Sullivan Free Lib., Chittenango, NY

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.