shelagh

This book is written unevenly and has a slow start. But it does pick up and rewards the reader with a tale that is quite stirring. Family infighting mixed with religious and racial bigotry made Adele's life precarious almost from the very start. Living on the streets and then being forced into political detention could have ended his life at any time. However, his innate gifts and some well-timed help from friends and relatives allowed him to come through it all.

The book has English, Amharic (Ethiopian), and Arabic versions and I'm sure the three different audiences will have extremely different reactions to the story. The book discusses mixed marriages, sex between persons of vastly different ages, and the rights -or lack thereof- of women and children. I had a quite different reaction to Adele's when it came to how his father, mother, and other family members treated him.