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Black Mamba Boy: A Novel
Yemen, 1935. Jama is a “market boy,” a half-feral child scavenging with his friends in the dusty streets of a great seaport. For Jama, life is a thrilling carnival, at least when he can fill his belly. When his mother—alternately raging and loving—dies young, she leaves him only an amulet stuffed with one hundred rupees. Jama decides to spend her life’s meager savings on a search for his never-seen father; the rumors that travel along clan lines report that he is a driver for the British somewhere in the north. So begins Jama’s extraordinary journey of more than a thousand miles north all the way to Egypt, by camel, by truck, by train, but mostly on foot. He slings himself from one perilous city to another, fiercely enjoying life on the road and relying on his vast clan network to shelter him and point the way to his father, who always seems just a day or two out of reach.
In his travels, Jama will witness scenes of great humanity and brutality; he will be caught up in the indifferent, grinding machine of war; he will crisscross the Red Sea in search of working papers and a ship. Bursting with life and a rough joyfulness, Black Mamba Boy is debut novelist Nadifa Mohamed’s vibrant, moving celebration of her family’s own history.
In his travels, Jama will witness scenes of great humanity and brutality; he will be caught up in the indifferent, grinding machine of war; he will crisscross the Red Sea in search of working papers and a ship. Bursting with life and a rough joyfulness, Black Mamba Boy is debut novelist Nadifa Mohamed’s vibrant, moving celebration of her family’s own history.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 7, 2010
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About the author
Nadifa Mohamed
15 books293 followersNadifa Mohamed was born in Hargeisa (now in the Republic of Somaliland) in 1981 and moved as a child to England in 1986, staying permanently when war broke out in Somalia.
She lives in London and her first novel, Black Mamba Boy, based on her father's memories of his travels in the 1930s, was published in 2010. It was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Dylan Thomas Prize and shortlisted for the John Llewellyn-Rhys Memorial Prize and the Guardian First Book Award. It won the 2010 Betty Trask Prize.
She lives in London and her first novel, Black Mamba Boy, based on her father's memories of his travels in the 1930s, was published in 2010. It was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Dylan Thomas Prize and shortlisted for the John Llewellyn-Rhys Memorial Prize and the Guardian First Book Award. It won the 2010 Betty Trask Prize.
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April 16, 2013
I'm so thankful that I can read. I'm thankful that I happened to be born and grow up in circumstances that allowed me the luxury of literacy and the free time required to exercise and hone my reading skills. Books are a tool for education, a refuge and a means of escape, and a powerful drug that entertains and empowers. I can only imagine what people who grow up in circumstances more abject than mine think when they first behold a book, first understand the words on a page--what a feeling that must be.
In Black Mamba Boy, Jama's path to literacy is a slow and rocky one. As a boy in Aden in 1935, he struggles to find a place. Eventually, his mother's death forces him to leave home in search of his father, who has never returned from his own quest for fortune. Jama spends the next ten years travelling from one part of East Africa to another. Along the way he tries a myriad of jobs, from the most physical and menial to the terrifyingly militaristic. Throughout his travels, Jama is anchored at one end by his faith in his mother, who is watching over him from the afterlife, and his imagined conversations with his father, urging him to continue on this journey without an end.
The story can seem a bit aimless, at times. Though Jama is primarily motivated by the quest to find his father, he takes a slow, meandering path towards that goal. Just when it seems like he has found a stable job that will help him earn enough money to find his father, a twist enters the story and shakes up his life. Death, racial abuse, poverty, and even locusts dog Jama's heels. As he travels from community to community, he is forever at the mercy of his identity as a Somali, as a black African, as a young boy. Each encounter, for better or for worse, changes Jama and influences his growth. By the end of the book, he is no longer the naive boy who left Aden to find his father. He is an accomplished young man with a child and wife of his own waiting for him; he has seen the world, seen what it offers and the problems it creates. He is not infallible, not invincible, but he is not defeated either.
The narration in Black Mamba Boy can seem very distant. Some events happen very quickly, with weeks or months passing in the span of a paragraph and very little characterization of Jama to show for it. Even events that receive a slower, more detailed treatment seem to happen at a remove. The tense here is one of a definite, fixed path rather than a pregnant, possible past. There is little in the way of suspense. Near the end of the story, Jama is delighted with how much he has earned from his first voyage aboard a British ship out of Port Said. Then he squanders the money on women in London. This kind of reversal could have happened slowly and intimately, with the reader cringing as it becomes apparent what is happening. Instead, it happens quite quickly, and I never really felt connected to Jama as he was wasting his money. The same kind of distance is present for most of the book. I'm not a fan of this kind of narration and the barrier it creates between reader and protagonist.
That being said, the narration also clearly presents a world view of a young boy. It provides an interesting perspective of East Africa just before and during World War II. There is no intrusive injection of political concerns, no exposition about the disposition of British or Italian or German forces in Africa. The information, and its interpretation, in this book all comes to us the way a young man from Somalia might learn and interpret it as he travels across East Africa. His opinions of Italians, Britons, and other Europeans are formed from his close--and, sadly, colonial--interactions with individuals from these nations. There are ironic observations or misunderstandings that we, as readers from a different background, might be tempted to find laughable--for Jama, though, they are real and credible points of view.
This perspective was what originally drew me to Black Mamba Boy, so I'm glad that my expectations were not misplaced. This isn't just a novel set in Somalia but told from the point of view of a wise, educated person. It isn't about the struggles of Somalis filtered through the lens of someone who shares my upbringing. It's not even filtered through the lens of someone like Mohamed herself, or her father as he is now (upon whose life the story is loosely based). It's a raw portrayal of what the life of a young boy in Somalia at that age might have been like. There are cultural and social forces, such as the clan structure, that somewhat escaped my understanding--but I could see their presence. There is nothing wrong with a more polished presentation, such as in The In-Between World of Vikram Lall . But I really appreciated this type of perspective.
I picked up Black Mamba Boy on a whim, knowing nothing about the book or its author. I was pleased with the result. Though it lacks a single, defining characteristic that makes it awesome or intriguing, there is enough to this book to make it a worthwhile read.
In Black Mamba Boy, Jama's path to literacy is a slow and rocky one. As a boy in Aden in 1935, he struggles to find a place. Eventually, his mother's death forces him to leave home in search of his father, who has never returned from his own quest for fortune. Jama spends the next ten years travelling from one part of East Africa to another. Along the way he tries a myriad of jobs, from the most physical and menial to the terrifyingly militaristic. Throughout his travels, Jama is anchored at one end by his faith in his mother, who is watching over him from the afterlife, and his imagined conversations with his father, urging him to continue on this journey without an end.
The story can seem a bit aimless, at times. Though Jama is primarily motivated by the quest to find his father, he takes a slow, meandering path towards that goal. Just when it seems like he has found a stable job that will help him earn enough money to find his father, a twist enters the story and shakes up his life. Death, racial abuse, poverty, and even locusts dog Jama's heels. As he travels from community to community, he is forever at the mercy of his identity as a Somali, as a black African, as a young boy. Each encounter, for better or for worse, changes Jama and influences his growth. By the end of the book, he is no longer the naive boy who left Aden to find his father. He is an accomplished young man with a child and wife of his own waiting for him; he has seen the world, seen what it offers and the problems it creates. He is not infallible, not invincible, but he is not defeated either.
The narration in Black Mamba Boy can seem very distant. Some events happen very quickly, with weeks or months passing in the span of a paragraph and very little characterization of Jama to show for it. Even events that receive a slower, more detailed treatment seem to happen at a remove. The tense here is one of a definite, fixed path rather than a pregnant, possible past. There is little in the way of suspense. Near the end of the story, Jama is delighted with how much he has earned from his first voyage aboard a British ship out of Port Said. Then he squanders the money on women in London. This kind of reversal could have happened slowly and intimately, with the reader cringing as it becomes apparent what is happening. Instead, it happens quite quickly, and I never really felt connected to Jama as he was wasting his money. The same kind of distance is present for most of the book. I'm not a fan of this kind of narration and the barrier it creates between reader and protagonist.
That being said, the narration also clearly presents a world view of a young boy. It provides an interesting perspective of East Africa just before and during World War II. There is no intrusive injection of political concerns, no exposition about the disposition of British or Italian or German forces in Africa. The information, and its interpretation, in this book all comes to us the way a young man from Somalia might learn and interpret it as he travels across East Africa. His opinions of Italians, Britons, and other Europeans are formed from his close--and, sadly, colonial--interactions with individuals from these nations. There are ironic observations or misunderstandings that we, as readers from a different background, might be tempted to find laughable--for Jama, though, they are real and credible points of view.
This perspective was what originally drew me to Black Mamba Boy, so I'm glad that my expectations were not misplaced. This isn't just a novel set in Somalia but told from the point of view of a wise, educated person. It isn't about the struggles of Somalis filtered through the lens of someone who shares my upbringing. It's not even filtered through the lens of someone like Mohamed herself, or her father as he is now (upon whose life the story is loosely based). It's a raw portrayal of what the life of a young boy in Somalia at that age might have been like. There are cultural and social forces, such as the clan structure, that somewhat escaped my understanding--but I could see their presence. There is nothing wrong with a more polished presentation, such as in The In-Between World of Vikram Lall . But I really appreciated this type of perspective.
I picked up Black Mamba Boy on a whim, knowing nothing about the book or its author. I was pleased with the result. Though it lacks a single, defining characteristic that makes it awesome or intriguing, there is enough to this book to make it a worthwhile read.
December 16, 2017
Nadifa Mohamed’s first novel is an homage to her father and is based on his life and wanderings around North East Africa in the 1930s and 1940s. Mohamed explains the title as being related to something that happened to her grandmother:
“When my grandmother was heavily pregnant with my father, she was following her family’s caravan and she got lost and separated from the others. She sat down to rest under an acacia tree and a black mamba snake crept upon her belly before slithering away, leaving her unharmed. She took this as a sign that the child she carried would always be protected, and that’s how the title of the book came about.”
Mohamed also has a specified purpose as well as telling her father’s story:
“Much has been written about how Britain's Jamaican community celebrated Usain Bolt's charge to gold. But British Somalis, who have been here in numbers for over two decades, are not so firmly placed in the national consciousness. And often when we are written about it is with the worst connotations: violence, terrorism, gangs …young Somalis' sense of identity seems more powerfully formed by the persistently negative representations found in the media.”
The novel starts in Aden, in Yemen in the 1930s when Jama is living with his mother; it is narrated in the third person. Mohamed explains the structure is based on African “praise poetry”:
“Griots are wandering praise-singers who are also the historians and storytellers of their societies. Even though it is a West African tradition, I thought it suited perfectly my father's story; I wanted a style that would celebrate his life with great literary flourishes rather than objectively describe it. The griot tradition also shares similarities with Somali poetry in their methods of composition and dissemination, and was a natural fit to the wandering, exploratory life of my father.”
When Jama’s mother dies he decides to go and search for his itinerant father in Somaliland. We have a geographical tour of the area and a historical one as Jama becomes involved with the Italian army invading Ethiopia in the Second World War. Jama, as he is growing up lives on the streets and life can be tough as he is often hungry. His voyage is an Odyssean one around North Africa and ending up in Britain. Jama experiences famine, war, illness, loss, racism and homelessness. He also finds kindness from Somali communities around the area of his travels and sometimes in unexpected places.
Mohamed writes well and her descriptive powers have lyricism and power:
“At the darkest hour of night, the sky cracked and revealed a blue and white secret kingdom. The high heavens and low earth were joined by a sheet of conquering raindrops, followed by a thundering marching band that seemed to be playing drums, cymbals, violins, and reedy flutes whose notes fell down and smashed against the gasping desert earth, battering down an angry song of life.”
The novel is easy to read and also provides an account of colonialism and its effects. Towards the end of the book Jama is working as a stoker on a British ship, The SS Exodus with a cargo of Jews purportedly being taken to safety, in actuality prisoners; an illustration that it was not just the Nazis who persecuted the Jews. Mohamed challenges the western narration of these events, but also provides hope for the beleaguered communities of Northern Africa.
There are irritations at times, but this is an accomplished first novel which engages the reader and makes its points effectively.
“When my grandmother was heavily pregnant with my father, she was following her family’s caravan and she got lost and separated from the others. She sat down to rest under an acacia tree and a black mamba snake crept upon her belly before slithering away, leaving her unharmed. She took this as a sign that the child she carried would always be protected, and that’s how the title of the book came about.”
Mohamed also has a specified purpose as well as telling her father’s story:
“Much has been written about how Britain's Jamaican community celebrated Usain Bolt's charge to gold. But British Somalis, who have been here in numbers for over two decades, are not so firmly placed in the national consciousness. And often when we are written about it is with the worst connotations: violence, terrorism, gangs …young Somalis' sense of identity seems more powerfully formed by the persistently negative representations found in the media.”
The novel starts in Aden, in Yemen in the 1930s when Jama is living with his mother; it is narrated in the third person. Mohamed explains the structure is based on African “praise poetry”:
“Griots are wandering praise-singers who are also the historians and storytellers of their societies. Even though it is a West African tradition, I thought it suited perfectly my father's story; I wanted a style that would celebrate his life with great literary flourishes rather than objectively describe it. The griot tradition also shares similarities with Somali poetry in their methods of composition and dissemination, and was a natural fit to the wandering, exploratory life of my father.”
When Jama’s mother dies he decides to go and search for his itinerant father in Somaliland. We have a geographical tour of the area and a historical one as Jama becomes involved with the Italian army invading Ethiopia in the Second World War. Jama, as he is growing up lives on the streets and life can be tough as he is often hungry. His voyage is an Odyssean one around North Africa and ending up in Britain. Jama experiences famine, war, illness, loss, racism and homelessness. He also finds kindness from Somali communities around the area of his travels and sometimes in unexpected places.
Mohamed writes well and her descriptive powers have lyricism and power:
“At the darkest hour of night, the sky cracked and revealed a blue and white secret kingdom. The high heavens and low earth were joined by a sheet of conquering raindrops, followed by a thundering marching band that seemed to be playing drums, cymbals, violins, and reedy flutes whose notes fell down and smashed against the gasping desert earth, battering down an angry song of life.”
The novel is easy to read and also provides an account of colonialism and its effects. Towards the end of the book Jama is working as a stoker on a British ship, The SS Exodus with a cargo of Jews purportedly being taken to safety, in actuality prisoners; an illustration that it was not just the Nazis who persecuted the Jews. Mohamed challenges the western narration of these events, but also provides hope for the beleaguered communities of Northern Africa.
There are irritations at times, but this is an accomplished first novel which engages the reader and makes its points effectively.
January 13, 2014
Nidifa Mohamed published her first book Black Mamba Boy in 2009. She took the material for it from her father’s account of his real life to craft this phenomenal book, which, unlike her flawless beauty, is made more achingly beautiful by its mesh of strength and unapologetic flaws. I met Nadifa at a writer’s workshop in the middle of last year, and the wisdom, passion and grace with which she spoke seems to be naturally instilled into her writing.
The book is about a journey. Not about a destination. Though Jama is convinced there is a destination. He dreams of meeting his father. Just like we all are in life, breathlessly working towards attaining our goals. In the end Jama realizes one thing; “not to observe the hustle and bustle of life but to BE IT.”
Jama sets out to seek his father whom he believes will make his life a lot better. He has grown tired and dissatisfied with his life on the street as a small Somali scavenger. And when his mother dies, he decides to move. An emotion and a decision beautifully captured by the writer when she writes:
And so she sums up what each of us has felt at some point. That desire to move, to seek to complete ourselves somehow by finding an object of desire to which we might move towards. Often times this is an object that is never there, but it causes us to engage in the journey nonetheless.
Jama’s journey is replete with trials and harsh moments, for which the writer does not shy away from in giving scintillating detail. At barely ten years old the boy is left to cater for himself, and when he begins his journey, one can only admire his spirit and courage. I looked up the map and traced my imagination from Yemen to Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt, Palestine, Marseille, Hamburg and finally Wales. My mind was spinning. I don’t remember walking a distance more than a few kilometers in my life, and those of my friends who have been privileged to live in a country with a hitchhiking tradition, you will agree that this a great distance indeed. One with no highways but the scorching desert sands for your path. A little unapologetic flaw, I think, for which Mohammed allows Jama to transition rather too fast from place to place. Never truly settling. Though in fiction all is allowed, the very feeling that it is fictitious should perhaps not be a part of the reader’s experience.
But Jama’s spirit is not destroyed by the harsh journey, or the strange people that he meets along the way. One must also remember that this novel is set in the 30s and 40s. Just a few decades shy of the independence movement and at the height of colonialism, and equally, the onset of the World War II, which started in Europe. Mohamed puts this in context beautifully. Not only does one Italian official imprison Jama in a chicken pen, but he also renames him for his own pleasure. The cruelty mated on Africans by the colonialists is great; and the reader with an aversion to human indignity will probably skip this section of the book. In the writer’s words the helplessness of Jama and his fellow Africans is clearly stated:
This is a straight-forward novel that is enjoyable both because of its beautiful, honest language and the beautiful scenes that come alive and stay with you long after you have read them. One may have a problem with the range of movement, the many places Jama visits and the many characters that he meets and leaves, but that is the nature of life. There really isn't an absolute need for a direct dramatic trajectory in life is there; we have the ups and downs that make it worth living. Even if, like Jama, we lack a map or have no single penny in our pockets
The book is about a journey. Not about a destination. Though Jama is convinced there is a destination. He dreams of meeting his father. Just like we all are in life, breathlessly working towards attaining our goals. In the end Jama realizes one thing; “not to observe the hustle and bustle of life but to BE IT.”
Jama sets out to seek his father whom he believes will make his life a lot better. He has grown tired and dissatisfied with his life on the street as a small Somali scavenger. And when his mother dies, he decides to move. An emotion and a decision beautifully captured by the writer when she writes:
“Life is just this, Jama thought, a long journey, with light and darkness falling over you, companions all around, on their own journeys. Each person sitting passively or impatiently, wondering whether the tracks of their fate will take them on their clattering iron horse to their destination or will sweep them away in an invisible path to another world.”
And so she sums up what each of us has felt at some point. That desire to move, to seek to complete ourselves somehow by finding an object of desire to which we might move towards. Often times this is an object that is never there, but it causes us to engage in the journey nonetheless.
Jama’s journey is replete with trials and harsh moments, for which the writer does not shy away from in giving scintillating detail. At barely ten years old the boy is left to cater for himself, and when he begins his journey, one can only admire his spirit and courage. I looked up the map and traced my imagination from Yemen to Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt, Palestine, Marseille, Hamburg and finally Wales. My mind was spinning. I don’t remember walking a distance more than a few kilometers in my life, and those of my friends who have been privileged to live in a country with a hitchhiking tradition, you will agree that this a great distance indeed. One with no highways but the scorching desert sands for your path. A little unapologetic flaw, I think, for which Mohammed allows Jama to transition rather too fast from place to place. Never truly settling. Though in fiction all is allowed, the very feeling that it is fictitious should perhaps not be a part of the reader’s experience.
But Jama’s spirit is not destroyed by the harsh journey, or the strange people that he meets along the way. One must also remember that this novel is set in the 30s and 40s. Just a few decades shy of the independence movement and at the height of colonialism, and equally, the onset of the World War II, which started in Europe. Mohamed puts this in context beautifully. Not only does one Italian official imprison Jama in a chicken pen, but he also renames him for his own pleasure. The cruelty mated on Africans by the colonialists is great; and the reader with an aversion to human indignity will probably skip this section of the book. In the writer’s words the helplessness of Jama and his fellow Africans is clearly stated:
“It is hard to avenge yourself on someone you fear, when everything about them, their height, power, possessions, confidence, imposes a sense of your own inferiority.”
This is a straight-forward novel that is enjoyable both because of its beautiful, honest language and the beautiful scenes that come alive and stay with you long after you have read them. One may have a problem with the range of movement, the many places Jama visits and the many characters that he meets and leaves, but that is the nature of life. There really isn't an absolute need for a direct dramatic trajectory in life is there; we have the ups and downs that make it worth living. Even if, like Jama, we lack a map or have no single penny in our pockets
November 5, 2019
Based on the story of her father's life, Nadifa Mohamed has woven a tale of a young boy's journey through Africa and back. Born in Hargeisa in Somaliland, Jama quickly finds his ideal home life evaporating when his father disappears one day. His mother waits in vain and then decides to move to Yemen to find work. When she dies there, Jama sets out on a mission to find his father under the mistaken impression that they would love each other.
I don't know what parts of the book are genuine and which ones are embellished, but it was indeed a remarkable journey that took Jama through a lot of African countries, Palestine, and Wales. Unlike his father, however, he chose to return to his wife and child, which sort of made me like him more at the end than I did through the first half of the book.
Despite the promising theme, I did not much enjoy this narrative. The constant nastiness of people around Jama in the first couple of chapters simply put me off the whole book. When Jama, tired of his mother's abuse, runs away, his street friends put me off even further. I disliked Shidane right from the beginning and just wanted him to go away. But he keeps appearing and is in supposedly one of the most heartwrenching scenes of the book. Except I wasn't heart-wrenched. I just yawned and turned the page. There are some quite interesting moments in the book and Jama is not all about stealing and using misogynist swear words. In fact, those aspects of his character only come out when Shidane is there.
The author keeps us focused on a single character for most of the book - Jama. But while this works in large parts of the narrative, it doesn't always make sense. I still don't understand why some people were randomly nasty to him. The author also keeps the characters at arms' length and I felt a complete disconnect from Jama and pretty much everyone else. Even though momentous scenes were happening on the page, I never got emotionally involved.
This is a decent enough book and Jama's journey is really interesting in itself, especially considering the time period when the world was in chaos during and after World War Two. But I think she failed to bring much depth to the story, which would have made it outstanding. Perhaps, this might have worked better for me if it had been non-fiction.
I don't know what parts of the book are genuine and which ones are embellished, but it was indeed a remarkable journey that took Jama through a lot of African countries, Palestine, and Wales. Unlike his father, however, he chose to return to his wife and child, which sort of made me like him more at the end than I did through the first half of the book.
Despite the promising theme, I did not much enjoy this narrative. The constant nastiness of people around Jama in the first couple of chapters simply put me off the whole book. When Jama, tired of his mother's abuse, runs away, his street friends put me off even further. I disliked Shidane right from the beginning and just wanted him to go away. But he keeps appearing and is in supposedly one of the most heartwrenching scenes of the book. Except I wasn't heart-wrenched. I just yawned and turned the page. There are some quite interesting moments in the book and Jama is not all about stealing and using misogynist swear words. In fact, those aspects of his character only come out when Shidane is there.
The author keeps us focused on a single character for most of the book - Jama. But while this works in large parts of the narrative, it doesn't always make sense. I still don't understand why some people were randomly nasty to him. The author also keeps the characters at arms' length and I felt a complete disconnect from Jama and pretty much everyone else. Even though momentous scenes were happening on the page, I never got emotionally involved.
This is a decent enough book and Jama's journey is really interesting in itself, especially considering the time period when the world was in chaos during and after World War Two. But I think she failed to bring much depth to the story, which would have made it outstanding. Perhaps, this might have worked better for me if it had been non-fiction.
October 29, 2021
This first Nadifa Mohamed novel is a natural companion to the 2021 Booker Prize shortlisted novel The Fortune Men . Black Mamba Boy is a book of fiction, originally conceived as a biography of Mohamed’s father, Jama. (acknowledged “for surviving everything with peace and love in his heart” ). The book centres on the diaspora of Somalian men in search of a life where money can be earned (abroad) to then sent back home to support their families in Somaliland. The 2021 follow up novel concerns the same set of men, once they had arrived in Britain. Black Mamba Boy is a testament to human endurance as Jama covers hundreds of miles on foot (sometimes barefoot) as he attempts to reach the Mediterranean and get passage north. The determination of the emigrants is remarkable, fuelled by the belief that fate will enable them to find that fortune that they seek. “You are going to become Fortune Men” (243)
On the road the friendship, and mutual support of fellow travellers, especially of Somalis, is crucial in enabling hungry, wearied foot sloggers to keep going and reach their goal.
For a European reader to get a proper sense of distance its helpful to have a map handy. The whole of Europe, from north to south is shorter in distance than the parts of east Africa covered by our protagonist. The story covers a twelve year period from 1935-1947 starting in Aden, Yemen, after which the road takes in Somaliland, Dijbouti, Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt and Palestine before Jama lands a job on the Runnymede Park, one of three deportation ships, (the others are Ocean Vigour and Empire Rival ) carrying Jewish refugees across Europe.
The backdrop of the second world war is one of the book’s strengths. Hostilities between the Italians and the British in East Africa treated the indigenous population as mere collateral, and the enlisted native soldiers (the Askari) were treated with contempt, and faced overt cruelty (beatings and death) from their own supposed military leaders. As a friend of Jama’s (Idea) says of the Ferengi (meaning foreigner).
“In Eritrea they tried to wipe us out; in Somalia they work us to death on farms; in Abyssinia they drop poison
from their planes”.
While all this is happening its easy to forget that Jama is just a boy, aged nine years old at the start of the book. He’s streetwise, and has had to learn how to forage on the streets, and in the alleyways, and on the roofs. It seems that he has intelligence and adaptability and the ability to charm those he meets. As an askari working in signalling he acquires the name “Al Furbo”: the witty one.
As the war turns against the Germans and Jama reaches the north coast of Africa, he finds himself in a house in Alexandria with seventeen other Somali migrants. It’s notable that a man he meets from the mostly outcast Yibir clan back in Somaliland is able to freely work with members of the Aji clans- (Jama is Eidegalle), in a way which foreshadows the wider community in Wales after the war.
I enjoyed this book very much, though I think I benefited from having first reading the stories of the Somali community in Port Talbot. It’s a parable of the times in which we live seventy years later. One supporting character, Musa ‘the Drunk’ (a Somali) is described as ”the poster boy of failed migration”(232). Its only when news eventually reaches Jama that his passport has been approved that his friends enviously agree: “You are going to become Fortune Men”(243). This nicely sets up Nadifa Mohamed’s Booker Prize listed book (which she had already conceived before Black Mamba Boy); though the eventual outcome belies the optimism of the phrase for some Somali fortune seekers.
A good book for those who want to get a good introduction into the Somali people and customs.
On the road the friendship, and mutual support of fellow travellers, especially of Somalis, is crucial in enabling hungry, wearied foot sloggers to keep going and reach their goal.
For a European reader to get a proper sense of distance its helpful to have a map handy. The whole of Europe, from north to south is shorter in distance than the parts of east Africa covered by our protagonist. The story covers a twelve year period from 1935-1947 starting in Aden, Yemen, after which the road takes in Somaliland, Dijbouti, Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt and Palestine before Jama lands a job on the Runnymede Park, one of three deportation ships, (the others are Ocean Vigour and Empire Rival ) carrying Jewish refugees across Europe.
The backdrop of the second world war is one of the book’s strengths. Hostilities between the Italians and the British in East Africa treated the indigenous population as mere collateral, and the enlisted native soldiers (the Askari) were treated with contempt, and faced overt cruelty (beatings and death) from their own supposed military leaders. As a friend of Jama’s (Idea) says of the Ferengi (meaning foreigner).
“In Eritrea they tried to wipe us out; in Somalia they work us to death on farms; in Abyssinia they drop poison
from their planes”.
While all this is happening its easy to forget that Jama is just a boy, aged nine years old at the start of the book. He’s streetwise, and has had to learn how to forage on the streets, and in the alleyways, and on the roofs. It seems that he has intelligence and adaptability and the ability to charm those he meets. As an askari working in signalling he acquires the name “Al Furbo”: the witty one.
As the war turns against the Germans and Jama reaches the north coast of Africa, he finds himself in a house in Alexandria with seventeen other Somali migrants. It’s notable that a man he meets from the mostly outcast Yibir clan back in Somaliland is able to freely work with members of the Aji clans- (Jama is Eidegalle), in a way which foreshadows the wider community in Wales after the war.
I enjoyed this book very much, though I think I benefited from having first reading the stories of the Somali community in Port Talbot. It’s a parable of the times in which we live seventy years later. One supporting character, Musa ‘the Drunk’ (a Somali) is described as ”the poster boy of failed migration”(232). Its only when news eventually reaches Jama that his passport has been approved that his friends enviously agree: “You are going to become Fortune Men”(243). This nicely sets up Nadifa Mohamed’s Booker Prize listed book (which she had already conceived before Black Mamba Boy); though the eventual outcome belies the optimism of the phrase for some Somali fortune seekers.
A good book for those who want to get a good introduction into the Somali people and customs.
March 21, 2014
This book was really in my wheelhouse. I love historical fiction. I love African literature. And I love reading about places that I have absolutely no knowledge of. The action centers around the horn of Africa in the pre and post World War 2 years. The protagonist, Jama, a Somali, finds himself caught up in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and its neighbors. Jama and his mother are living with very reluctant relatives and their situation is precarious. Eventually he leaves home to live on the streets only to return and find his mother dying. When she passes he lights out to find the father he never knew. Jama is a survivor and his adventures and near death experiences are harrowing to say the least. The author easily evokes both the beauty and poverty of the near desert lands and its melting pot of peoples. Jama's quest for reunification with his father and a better life for his family and friends is at turns heartbreaking and beautiful. The consequences of occupation by colonial powers on the peoples of the horn of Africa still reverberate. I feel that I got a vicarious peek at a place I've always wished to know a little better.
September 1, 2011
More biography than fiction and sadly not quite either. Not enough historical explanation to educate me, not enough characterisation to hook me, not enough narrative shape to engross and entertain me. Some good descriptive writing, and I do know more now than I did, but the occasional sentimental authorial voice was intrusive, and, grrrrr, so many sentences were separated by commas - was her editor (like I was!) struggling to pay attention?
March 3, 2010
Black Mamba Boy is based on the story of Nadifa Mohamed’s father, Jama, whom we first meet as a street child in Aden in 1935. When he falls out irrevocably with his friends, then loses his mother, Jama resolves to set out and find Guure, his own long-missing father, last heard of heading for Sudan – which is not nearly as far as Jama will travel over the course of the following twelve years.
Though it tells Jama’s story, this isn’t a straightforwardly biographical novel; from interviews, I gather that Mohamed embellished some parts, and that others were perhaps embellished already. Throughout, one is reminded that we make stories out of our lives: Mohamed’s introduction/prologue, where she describes the inspiration for her book, is novelistic in tone and style; the departure of Jama’s father becomes a tale to tell, as does the origin of his mother’s nickname for her son (a mamba slithered over her while she was pregnant with him, but left both unharmed – hence the nickname Goode, or ‘black mamba’); people displaced by the Second World War tell stories that transform their homelands into a distant paradise, whatever the reality was that they left behind.
Mohamed’s narrative itself has the feeling of being told rather than written, with its long, discursive paragraphs; and its structure, swooping in on certain events, then back out again to continue Jama’s journey. What’s striking is that, whatever happens to Jama, one never doubts his story within the pages of the novel. Mohamed’s voice has the ring of truth – the truth of the storyteller.
There are, however, moments when Black Mamba Boy stumbles; they tend to be when Mohamed is acting as the 21st-century person looking back on history, rather than as the novelist inhabiting the period. Compare, for example, her statement that ‘at his tender age [Jama:]…could [not:] imagine the kind of mechanised, faceless slaughter the Italians would bring to Africa’ (157) with the passage describing a battle a few pages later (165-8), which really evokes the sense of Jama’s (and others’) being caught up in events larger than any one person could ever hope to comprehend. There’s no question, to my mind, which is the better technique.
(Another issue with the novel is the odd typo, in particular Mohamed’s tendency to use a comma in place of a semi-colon; this happens often enough to be distracting, which is especially a problem when the flow of the story is so important.)
The wider historical context of Black Mamba Boy is one about which I know rather little, so I’m reluctant to judge how Mohamed represents history. But I will say that I have an abiding impression of Jama and others – individuals, peoples, nations – enduring circumstances almost too harrowing for words, and doing what they can to survive. Some make it through; others don’t. Jama survives, of course, and one might say that the trait of his that most shines through in the novel is his tenacity, his striving to grasp the opportunities that come along, however steep the obstacles. What a story he had to tell; what a story Nadifa Mohamed has told.
Though it tells Jama’s story, this isn’t a straightforwardly biographical novel; from interviews, I gather that Mohamed embellished some parts, and that others were perhaps embellished already. Throughout, one is reminded that we make stories out of our lives: Mohamed’s introduction/prologue, where she describes the inspiration for her book, is novelistic in tone and style; the departure of Jama’s father becomes a tale to tell, as does the origin of his mother’s nickname for her son (a mamba slithered over her while she was pregnant with him, but left both unharmed – hence the nickname Goode, or ‘black mamba’); people displaced by the Second World War tell stories that transform their homelands into a distant paradise, whatever the reality was that they left behind.
Mohamed’s narrative itself has the feeling of being told rather than written, with its long, discursive paragraphs; and its structure, swooping in on certain events, then back out again to continue Jama’s journey. What’s striking is that, whatever happens to Jama, one never doubts his story within the pages of the novel. Mohamed’s voice has the ring of truth – the truth of the storyteller.
There are, however, moments when Black Mamba Boy stumbles; they tend to be when Mohamed is acting as the 21st-century person looking back on history, rather than as the novelist inhabiting the period. Compare, for example, her statement that ‘at his tender age [Jama:]…could [not:] imagine the kind of mechanised, faceless slaughter the Italians would bring to Africa’ (157) with the passage describing a battle a few pages later (165-8), which really evokes the sense of Jama’s (and others’) being caught up in events larger than any one person could ever hope to comprehend. There’s no question, to my mind, which is the better technique.
(Another issue with the novel is the odd typo, in particular Mohamed’s tendency to use a comma in place of a semi-colon; this happens often enough to be distracting, which is especially a problem when the flow of the story is so important.)
The wider historical context of Black Mamba Boy is one about which I know rather little, so I’m reluctant to judge how Mohamed represents history. But I will say that I have an abiding impression of Jama and others – individuals, peoples, nations – enduring circumstances almost too harrowing for words, and doing what they can to survive. Some make it through; others don’t. Jama survives, of course, and one might say that the trait of his that most shines through in the novel is his tenacity, his striving to grasp the opportunities that come along, however steep the obstacles. What a story he had to tell; what a story Nadifa Mohamed has told.
May 10, 2012
Jama, a young Somali boy, transverses North and East Africa with unwavering courage and resilience. His journey is vividly described and one cannot help but smell the dust, the sweat and feel the heat as he crosses from one country to the next.
The beauty of the book, in my opinion, is how the tale of the love of family, kindness of friends and humanity of strangers is told alongside inhumanity and brutality (especially that faced in the hands of the Italian soldiers).
This was a really good read. The fact that the book is based on a true story is heartbreaking. I would however not recommend this to those who are faint hearted.
The beauty of the book, in my opinion, is how the tale of the love of family, kindness of friends and humanity of strangers is told alongside inhumanity and brutality (especially that faced in the hands of the Italian soldiers).
This was a really good read. The fact that the book is based on a true story is heartbreaking. I would however not recommend this to those who are faint hearted.
February 27, 2022
A brutal book that opens a window to a different world. Based on a true story, that of the authors father, which makes it even more brutal.
A depiction of life in Africa, during the colonial times, pre, during and post WWII, heartbreaking and depressive but at the same time full of will to live a good life.
A lot of brutal, nauseating violence at some points, a bit chaotic at others but a narration that held you tight in its grip.
Not enjoyable but quite interesting and captivating.
A depiction of life in Africa, during the colonial times, pre, during and post WWII, heartbreaking and depressive but at the same time full of will to live a good life.
A lot of brutal, nauseating violence at some points, a bit chaotic at others but a narration that held you tight in its grip.
Not enjoyable but quite interesting and captivating.
October 4, 2010
It took me a while to get through this book. I just didn't care about Jama, the main character, and he moves from place to place so quickly I didn't get a chance to care about any of the others. It is interesting to see the Italian occupation of Africa during World War II through a Somali boy's eyes, but I'm not sure the novel knew what to be. Travel? War? Epic journey? Instead it is a little bit of everything and not enough of anything.
Read
March 20, 2022Black Mamba Boy was inspired by the story of the author's father. Set in the mid 1930's to 1940's, it tells the story of Jama, a young boy who sets off to find his father after the death of his mother. His journey takes from Somaliland , through Eritrea and Sudan, to Egypt, Palestine, and finally Britain. The coming of age story in here is tightly woven into an exploration of the impact of WWII on Africa. I had not read much before set in that time period in Africa, so I appreciated the opportunity to gain a better understanding of that moment in history, particularly from the perspective of Africans impacted by European colonialism. While there were moments in here that the writing felt a little uneven, there were also moments of great beauty in the writing. Jama's love for family and his people and the way that this love can anchor you even when you are far from home was evident throughout the tale.
January 1, 2022
This is a fascinating story set in the 1930's and 1940's in the Horn of Africa. Jama's father abandons his mother who goes to Aden, Yemen in search of opportunities, When she dies, Jama is sent back to his family in Hargeisa, Somaliland from where he sets out to find his father in Sudan. In the process, he gets involved in WWII in Eritrea before finding his way by foot to Egypt and on to England. A glimpse of a time and place which are seldom featured, beautifully written. I highly recommend this one.
March 14, 2019
Essentially it is the life and travels of a young Somalian. It is a great adventure story and a great example of what historical fiction can be. You really get insight into the lives of refugees, the variety of native populations in Northern Africa, and colonization around WWII. I love how no matter where Jama goes he will always be ok as long as he can find his clan. Lots of goodness here, it is worth picking up.
March 31, 2022
4,5 stars
February 8, 2021
Such a special and elegant story. Shocking and gripping and simply impossible to comprehend that it’s based on a true narrative.
December 26, 2011
You can almost smell this powerful first novel. There is the stink of rotting goat meat, the sour odour of sweat and dust and the hot smoke in the boiler room of a British Navy steamship, as we follow Somaliland-born Jama, the main character, on an extraordinary journey from the backstreets of 1930s Yemen, through '30s and '40s Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, to the '50s docksides of peasouper Britain.
If you wrung out the pages there'd be a mess of blood and sand - the young Jama is educated in the school of exceptionally hard knocks, loosing first his mother, then his father, and then - worse - conscripted into Mussolini's army, East Africa branch.
So, it's a visceral read and UK-Somalilander author Nadifa Mohamed's writing is so raw that, at times, I had to put the book aside and take a deep breath. It turns my stomach even to recall a scene in which one of Jama's friends is brutally sodomised and then slaughtered by a couple of power-crazed Italian soldiers in Ethiopia. For that one she wins the Reservoir Dogs Grand Prize for the Graphic Portrayal of Senseless Violence.
I won't say it's all doom and gloom - Black Mamba Boy is not quite a misery memoir. In fact Jama is a very hardy and resourceful young man, who takes his pleasures where he finds them - how could he survive otherwise? Neither is he on a western traveller's journey of self-exploration. Instead he lives like a Somali nomad writ large, riding the waves of history and circumstance on the surfboard of his wits until he finds a place of relative rest - a damp and foggy postwar England plastered with signs declaiming `No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs'.
Nadifa Mohamed may the the first writer to try to infuse a novel written in English with the flavour of the Somali language. `Spare', `lean', `efficient' - these are not words to describe her prose but in my view her cross-cultural literary experiment is an interesting one which will bear more fruit as her style develops.
This one's a 4/5, then, on the basis that I'm looking forward to reading Novel No 2 which I understand is in production, and set in 1980s Hargeisa. I'll save my fifth star for that.
If you wrung out the pages there'd be a mess of blood and sand - the young Jama is educated in the school of exceptionally hard knocks, loosing first his mother, then his father, and then - worse - conscripted into Mussolini's army, East Africa branch.
So, it's a visceral read and UK-Somalilander author Nadifa Mohamed's writing is so raw that, at times, I had to put the book aside and take a deep breath. It turns my stomach even to recall a scene in which one of Jama's friends is brutally sodomised and then slaughtered by a couple of power-crazed Italian soldiers in Ethiopia. For that one she wins the Reservoir Dogs Grand Prize for the Graphic Portrayal of Senseless Violence.
I won't say it's all doom and gloom - Black Mamba Boy is not quite a misery memoir. In fact Jama is a very hardy and resourceful young man, who takes his pleasures where he finds them - how could he survive otherwise? Neither is he on a western traveller's journey of self-exploration. Instead he lives like a Somali nomad writ large, riding the waves of history and circumstance on the surfboard of his wits until he finds a place of relative rest - a damp and foggy postwar England plastered with signs declaiming `No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs'.
Nadifa Mohamed may the the first writer to try to infuse a novel written in English with the flavour of the Somali language. `Spare', `lean', `efficient' - these are not words to describe her prose but in my view her cross-cultural literary experiment is an interesting one which will bear more fruit as her style develops.
This one's a 4/5, then, on the basis that I'm looking forward to reading Novel No 2 which I understand is in production, and set in 1980s Hargeisa. I'll save my fifth star for that.
May 2, 2010
This debut novel by Mohamed, a British writer of Somali descent, is a fictionalized account of her father's harrowing childhood as an abandoned orphan in the Middle East and Africa, which was selected for the 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction longlist.
The boy was named Jama by his restless father Guure, who left his wife Ambaro and son behind in mid 1930s British Somaliland to seek work in Sudan. However, Ambaro called the young boy Goode, or Black Mamba, in honor of the huge black mamba snake that slithered over her pregnant belly without causing harm to her or the unborn Jama.
The pair moved to the Yemeni coastal town of Aden, to live with relatives, who looked down upon the raggedy pair. The young Jama spent more time away from the house, and ultimately made a way of his own, forming alliances with other street kids and neighborhood ne'er do wells. After his mother's early death, he was sent back to his native village in Somaliland, but he quickly grew bored and embarked on a quest to find his father in Sudan.
His travels take him through Eritrea, which was occupied by the bloodthirsty and ruthless Italian army, Sudan, Egypt and Palestine. Danger and death are constant companions, yet Jama displays an uncanny ability to beat the odds and escape relatively unscathed. The book ends as he obtains a passport from British Somaliland, which permits him to obtain work on a British naval ship that will take him to the UK.
Black Mamba Boy is a riveting look at a most unusual childhood, which is richly portrayed by the author. Although Jama's life is full of tribulations, he manages to enjoy his life fully, making this an uplifting and inspiring story that is highly recommended.
The boy was named Jama by his restless father Guure, who left his wife Ambaro and son behind in mid 1930s British Somaliland to seek work in Sudan. However, Ambaro called the young boy Goode, or Black Mamba, in honor of the huge black mamba snake that slithered over her pregnant belly without causing harm to her or the unborn Jama.
The pair moved to the Yemeni coastal town of Aden, to live with relatives, who looked down upon the raggedy pair. The young Jama spent more time away from the house, and ultimately made a way of his own, forming alliances with other street kids and neighborhood ne'er do wells. After his mother's early death, he was sent back to his native village in Somaliland, but he quickly grew bored and embarked on a quest to find his father in Sudan.
His travels take him through Eritrea, which was occupied by the bloodthirsty and ruthless Italian army, Sudan, Egypt and Palestine. Danger and death are constant companions, yet Jama displays an uncanny ability to beat the odds and escape relatively unscathed. The book ends as he obtains a passport from British Somaliland, which permits him to obtain work on a British naval ship that will take him to the UK.
Black Mamba Boy is a riveting look at a most unusual childhood, which is richly portrayed by the author. Although Jama's life is full of tribulations, he manages to enjoy his life fully, making this an uplifting and inspiring story that is highly recommended.
December 31, 2021
“Ele agora entendia que a guerra que assolara a Eritreia havia ardido pelo mundo e olhou fotografias de Hiroshima, Auschwitz, Dresden. Crianças nuas gritando com bocas ocas apareciam em todas as imagens, chamando umas às outras como gêmeos siameses que tinham sido separados. Corpos africanos, europeus e asiáticos apareciam empilhados nas páginas da revista, ao lado de anúncios de batom e pasta de dentes. O mundo já estava seguindo em frente, do preto e branco sombrio à cor vívida.”
Menino mamba-negra é um livro forte. Lindíssimo e tristíssimo. A história de Jama é contada atravessando países inteiros, com uma narrativa precisa de todo canto, fazendo a gente querer ter em mãos um mapa para acompanhar os caminhos. As descrições, às vezes, são longas demais - mas entendo porquê tenham que ser. Em alguns trechos eu precisei parar um pouco para recuperar o fôlego pra continuar. A escrita de Nadifa Mohamed é de uma beleza arrasadora e ter lido esse livro foi um privilégio e engrandecedor. Foi um dos melhores livros que li no ano.
Quatro estrelas apenas pelos motivos: capítulos e parágrafos longuíssimos tiraram um pouco do dinamismo que a história tem. A autora não autorizou que as palavras em somali fossem traduzidas no rodapé (a TAG produziu um pequeno glossário, mas incompleto e em apartado ao livro), senti que eu perdi algumas coisas porque estava focada no fio e acabava pulando as expressões soltas não traduzidas.
Menino mamba-negra é um livro forte. Lindíssimo e tristíssimo. A história de Jama é contada atravessando países inteiros, com uma narrativa precisa de todo canto, fazendo a gente querer ter em mãos um mapa para acompanhar os caminhos. As descrições, às vezes, são longas demais - mas entendo porquê tenham que ser. Em alguns trechos eu precisei parar um pouco para recuperar o fôlego pra continuar. A escrita de Nadifa Mohamed é de uma beleza arrasadora e ter lido esse livro foi um privilégio e engrandecedor. Foi um dos melhores livros que li no ano.
Quatro estrelas apenas pelos motivos: capítulos e parágrafos longuíssimos tiraram um pouco do dinamismo que a história tem. A autora não autorizou que as palavras em somali fossem traduzidas no rodapé (a TAG produziu um pequeno glossário, mas incompleto e em apartado ao livro), senti que eu perdi algumas coisas porque estava focada no fio e acabava pulando as expressões soltas não traduzidas.
January 10, 2022
Wow. This book gave me so many emotions. I always find it strange to rate highly and write positive reviews about books that have difficult content. Especially when they so easily highlight my own privilege. That said I don't think I can give this anything but a 5 star review.
This is a harrowing story of (how I see it anyway) a young boy trying to find his place in the world. Some of the scenes in this book I found incredibly hard to read. This book is not for the squeamish, that said none of the description of death or hardships felt gratuitous. Like the histories of the Holocaust and the Khmer Rouge it feels like a necessary story. For me this is a side of history I know little about, not just that of the Italian control of African countries but also the story of those freed from PoW camps and the British role in this. I would be very interested in learning more about the subject areas but would also happily learn more about Jama and what came next.
For me this was a brilliantly written, difficult but beautiful read. I would highly recommend it.
This is a harrowing story of (how I see it anyway) a young boy trying to find his place in the world. Some of the scenes in this book I found incredibly hard to read. This book is not for the squeamish, that said none of the description of death or hardships felt gratuitous. Like the histories of the Holocaust and the Khmer Rouge it feels like a necessary story. For me this is a side of history I know little about, not just that of the Italian control of African countries but also the story of those freed from PoW camps and the British role in this. I would be very interested in learning more about the subject areas but would also happily learn more about Jama and what came next.
For me this was a brilliantly written, difficult but beautiful read. I would highly recommend it.
February 7, 2021
just no.
It’s books like this that make me hate my English degree
It’s books like this that make me hate my English degree
February 14, 2020
Fascinating novel of the incredible youth of the author's father Jama in the 1930s and 1940s. The young Somali boy lives in Aden with his poor mother, grows up in the streets and when his mother dies he starts looking for his father in Sudan. A great journey, through Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, ... Jama is protected by the stars throughout his adventures, especially when engaged as child soldier by Italian fascist troops fighting the Abyssinian rebels and the British Army.
The novel is sharp and well written, funny and tragic, and sheds light on some bloody episodes of the Horn of Africa's history, from a child's point of view.
The novel is sharp and well written, funny and tragic, and sheds light on some bloody episodes of the Horn of Africa's history, from a child's point of view.
August 23, 2020
The pain was excruciating, fire lapped along his veins and bit at his bones, but with relief Jama watched the bad blood welling out of him, the blood that had pumped fear and grief and pain around his body for so long. From the fire emerged a beautiful black snake. Jama, the black mamba boy, had become a man of the world, his totem etched into his skin as a mark of where he had been and what he had survived.
December 25, 2022
Strong, poignant, at times difficult - this book traps your attention but also tugs at your heart. This is the story of a man hardened by experiences and toughened by life. And through his eyes we also see how the second world war affected Africa and changed lives there.
Downsides to me - some parts are wordy and don't flow easily. Combined with content that is also difficult to digest on some account (the brutalities of tough luck and war), it puts brakes on the reading experience.
Downsides to me - some parts are wordy and don't flow easily. Combined with content that is also difficult to digest on some account (the brutalities of tough luck and war), it puts brakes on the reading experience.
August 22, 2010
To me, the Middle East is a true crossroad of the world and this really comes to light in Black Mamba Boy. In the book, it seems Jama’s quest takes him throughout the entire region where he is exposed to so many languages, foods, colors and vistas that they can’t help but enrich and educate him. His survival depends upon him learning to know when to trust people and situations because he thinks he has no one but himself to rely upon.
It’s hard to remember how young Jama actually is when he loses his parents because he spends so much of his life hustling to stay alive. Jama shifts from place to place, first to find his father, then I think because he’s just unable to stay in one place because he never has. He wonders throughout lands in Africa and in the Middle East learning what it’s like to be a foreigner in his own land because he has no family and because the British and the Italians are claiming and redefining the territory. His wondering is not aimless, he does have purpose in his adventure.
There is a mystical nature to the book reference in the title. Also, Jama’s parents appear to him in visions to provide guidance and comfort. In fact, there’s a lot to this book. It is steeped with the history of the beginnings of WWII, colored with the geography and spiced with food and language. There are a few clunky passages but it is a well told story. This is one of the few books recently that I didn’t try to skim through passages and finish quickly. I actually let myself savor each word so that I could create a movie in my head while reading.
It’s hard to remember how young Jama actually is when he loses his parents because he spends so much of his life hustling to stay alive. Jama shifts from place to place, first to find his father, then I think because he’s just unable to stay in one place because he never has. He wonders throughout lands in Africa and in the Middle East learning what it’s like to be a foreigner in his own land because he has no family and because the British and the Italians are claiming and redefining the territory. His wondering is not aimless, he does have purpose in his adventure.
There is a mystical nature to the book reference in the title. Also, Jama’s parents appear to him in visions to provide guidance and comfort. In fact, there’s a lot to this book. It is steeped with the history of the beginnings of WWII, colored with the geography and spiced with food and language. There are a few clunky passages but it is a well told story. This is one of the few books recently that I didn’t try to skim through passages and finish quickly. I actually let myself savor each word so that I could create a movie in my head while reading.
June 11, 2012
Without education or mothering after the age of ten, Jama finds rooftops to sleep on with friends and roams streets to steal food. Based on the life of the author's father beginning in 1935, Jama wants to make it rich and think he can if he gets from Somalia where he was born to work in Egypt. He accomplishes his goal of where3 he wants to get, but not the one of becoming rich! He continually is running away from each area he obtains.
In the process he gets stuck in a French army where regular white soldiers mistreat him, keeps avoiding border crossings where he might have to show a non-existent passport, marries and leaves a girl he loves, and keeps on going until finally, without being rich, he comes back to live with her. By the time he has gone through Eritrea, the Sudan, Palestine, the Red Sea, and then works on British Ships going to London and other ports, I was exhausted. Any inveterate traveler would be exhausted, because anyone elses conditions could never be as terrible as what this poor kid suffered.
In the process he gets stuck in a French army where regular white soldiers mistreat him, keeps avoiding border crossings where he might have to show a non-existent passport, marries and leaves a girl he loves, and keeps on going until finally, without being rich, he comes back to live with her. By the time he has gone through Eritrea, the Sudan, Palestine, the Red Sea, and then works on British Ships going to London and other ports, I was exhausted. Any inveterate traveler would be exhausted, because anyone elses conditions could never be as terrible as what this poor kid suffered.
March 2, 2014
An interesting and educating read, I feared I'd find the book similar to "what is the what", but luckily that wasn't the case at all.
Yes, it does start with a grown up, yes it is about a little boy who covers thousands of miles in war-torn Africa -but that's about as far as similarities run.
Character Jama witnesses Africa during the second world war, he happens to be at places where the action is -or isn't. He loses friends, finds love, travels far.
Unlike other books, this book full of travel doesn't bore, nor did I once think "it can't be true". And indeed, it's fictionalized truth.
Surely this books deserves more than 3 stars only, but here taste has its say: descriptions of various towns in various countries in Africa just don't work for me. The smells, the looks -there have been a few times I noticed my eyes went wandering over the page to catch up where descriptions had stopped. That's personal. I know many people who wouldn't be bothered. To my liking that prevented it from a 4 star.
Yes, it does start with a grown up, yes it is about a little boy who covers thousands of miles in war-torn Africa -but that's about as far as similarities run.
Character Jama witnesses Africa during the second world war, he happens to be at places where the action is -or isn't. He loses friends, finds love, travels far.
Unlike other books, this book full of travel doesn't bore, nor did I once think "it can't be true". And indeed, it's fictionalized truth.
Surely this books deserves more than 3 stars only, but here taste has its say: descriptions of various towns in various countries in Africa just don't work for me. The smells, the looks -there have been a few times I noticed my eyes went wandering over the page to catch up where descriptions had stopped. That's personal. I know many people who wouldn't be bothered. To my liking that prevented it from a 4 star.
January 8, 2011
Jama is a resilient young man determined to find his father, no matter the sacrifice. He crossed countries after countries and discovered, grew, and survived. The story, somewhat fictionalized, is based on Nadifa Mohamed's father, Jama, who went on an amazing journey to find his father. I really appreciated the historic aspect of this book; the East African Colonial Era, and the meticulous details. While I liked the details, that were often poetic and refreshing, I sometimes lost track of the whole story as I concentrated on the details. Having traveled in East Africa and grown up in a predominantly muslim country, I was able to understand most of the terms used by the author, but for people who have no or little knowledge of that part of the world, a lot of terms were left unexplained. You can, however, figure the definition out in the context it is used in. In all, I really enjoyed this book.
December 6, 2012
This story, supposedly based on the experiences of the author's father, tells of Jama, a Somali boy whose first experiences in life are of poverty, hunger and grief. Jama lives with his mother and distant relatives in Aden, where his mother works in a coffee factory. When she dies, Jama is alone. He sets out to find his father, whom he has been told is working in Sudan. Over the period from the thirties to the late 1940's, Jama wanders across East Africa and the middle east, offering an inside view of the tumult of war and the pain of poverty, but also the rich cultures of the area. As he does so, Jama grows from an orphan child into an adult who learns to make his own decisions.
Overall, this book is full of vivid imagery and illumination of history from an "inside" perspective. Jama's character is not especially deep or engaging, but the events he experiences keep the reader engaged.
Overall, this book is full of vivid imagery and illumination of history from an "inside" perspective. Jama's character is not especially deep or engaging, but the events he experiences keep the reader engaged.
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