October 20, 2010 | 3:45 PM | By

On my Reading List- Mengestu

FILED UNDER: Culture, Adams Morgan, Ethiopian Community, Hoyas, Literature

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When I was a child, my favorite way to learn about someone or something else was to devour fiction. Considering how often I am mistaken for Ethiopian (daily, if not hourly), it feels apposite to learn a little about this unique, visible community in D.C. The next time I’m near a bookstore, I’m going to look for Georgetown Alum Dinaw Mengestu‘s work, whose first novel was born “when he spotted a solitary Ethiopian store owner while on a walk one day through the Adams-Morgan neighborhood” (via NYT):

Mr. Mengestu’s first novel, “The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears,” focuses on an Ethiopian shopkeeper, living in isolation in a gentrifying neighborhood in Washington, who develops a tentative bond with a professor of American history, a white woman, and her precocious biracial daughter. The New York Times Book Review named the novel, whose title derives from Dante’s “Inferno,” as one of the notable books of 2007, and Mr. Mengestu quickly became a literary name to watch.


Here’s more on Mengestu–who made the New Yorker list of “20 under 40″ writers, for 2010– from NPR. I’ll tell you more when I finish one of his books. If any of you have read “The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears” or Mengestu’s new novel, “How to Read the Air,”, let me know what you think.

About the author

DCentric was created to examine the ways race and class interact in Washington, D.C., a city with a vibrant mix of cultures and neighborhoods. Your guides to the changing district are reporters Anna John and Elahe Izadi. View all posts by Anna →

  • http://www.liberatormagazine.com/ danielles

    Oh, I read that book last year. I picked it up at Busboys one day, read the first few pages, and then I just couldn’t put it down. It’s so beautiful. Mengestu has a very lyrical way of writing, and by the time I finished, I felt like the characters were old friends. He also has a new book out, How To Read The Air, which I also saw at Busboys.

  • Anonymous

    I’m so glad you commented! I didn’t even think to look for it at Busboys.

    “by the time I finished, I felt like the characters were old friends.”

    Oh, I love that feeling. Now I can’t wait to read it.