I am very slow with completing books this semester SUMMER, so I thought that it would be fun to have a progress report of my reading. This is an online reading group where all the participants set aside time to read every Sunday and blog about the experience
I have missed last Sunday because I was navigating the world of flight cancellations and rescheduling. Over the past two weeks, I have read an excellent book: Maps by Nuruddin Farah.
In a larger sense, the book is about identity. In the smaller sense it is about an orphaned Somali boy who is raised by an Ethiopian woman during a time of war.
The book gives insight into colonialism, war, and patriarchal social constructs through the use of different narrators. The book moves through different periods of time from the present to the past. You can see the boy grow into a man and face the conflict between what he believes about the woman who raised him as her son and what he should think based on how other people have labeled her.
At first the book was moving slowly, but now I cannot read it fast enough. I am getting nervous that the ending will make me cry on the metro. However, I will gladly face the embarrassment of bawling in public for the chance to read an incredible ending!
This book is one of my selections for the following challenges: