The Shadow King

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This novel is hard to critique, because it is more like poem in novel form. The Shadow King refers to a double of Haile Selassie, the king of Ethiopia, who inspired Ethiopian resistance fighters to attack Italian invaders prior to WWII. Navarre Ettore is a Jewish Italian photographer, who sees himself as simply a chronicler of the atrocities of war without seeing the damage those photos can do, and fears for his and his family's safety in a increasingly hostile anti-Semitic regime. Hirut is the protagonist, the subject of Ettore's photos, the bodyguard of the king's double, and a young woman caught between the dark and light of war and love. While the story is mostly linear, the unfolding story is interrupted by a chorus, who though not told in song or poem form, you can almost feel the collective consciousness recounting their parts in a multitude of concerted voices. It is also interrupted by descriptions of photos Ettore has taken, described so perfectly you can almost see them. The idea of of light and shadow plays so prominently throughout the book its significance cannot be missed, and yet its obviousness underscores and enhances rather than becoming tiresome and weary. Having finished it, I left with impressions that were more akin to a series of photos than of a moving picture of what has taken place and that alone shows a brilliance in the writing.

View all my reviews