Wonderful, 21 May 2006
This was the first novel by internationally acclaimed Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah. This is certainly the easiest (and yet very rewarding) access into this outstanding writer's universe. A must-read.
A thoughtful insight into a different world, 06 Apr 2004
This book offers a thoughful insight into what is a truly different life than experienced in this country. Follow Ebla as she believes that she can experience life without men or the need of others. She soon realises that it is important to have acquintances in order to succeed in life. The story is told in a way which requires sympathy to be given to Ebla, although at times she seems selfish and naive. A well written, and truly interesting read.
Mesmerizing. A book to read in one great gulp., 12 Jul 1998
I've read and enjoyed most of Farah's novels over the years - this is his finest so far. Kalaman's journey back into his family and his memories enthralled me. The writing is physical, earthy and always unexpected. I read the book one Sunday afternoon in a sitting. I couldn't find a place in the narrative where I wanted to pause, so just read and read. I'll be the first in line to buy his next book.
Hope in the midst of horror, 18 Sep 2007
"Links" reveals the thoughts and feelings of Weatern educated men struggling to make sense of the city of Mogadishu, in Somalia during the 1990s. The main theme of the book is the question "how ought one behave?" The plot is a search for two little girls who have been kidnapped. The girls and their innocent friendship serve as symbols of hope in a horrific, ghastly world.
The only flaw is that the writing style seems slightly overblown for my tastes, trying too hard to place the book in the literature category.
Journey into the heart of the conflict, 26 Jul 2005
LINKS is a brilliantly written work that introduces and familiarizes us to the intriguing nation called Somalia. We are taken into the depth of Somali culture, the complex nature of its society and suffocating grip of its history. The characters we encounter are full of life and vitality, manifesting good and evil in their different ways and situations. I enjoyed the story and came out of it having a better understanding of Somalia. Triple Agent Double Cross, Disgrace, A Continent for the Taking, Disciples of Fortune, are also books about Africa that I consider as recommended read.
Journey into the heart of the conflict, 22 Jul 2005
LINKS is a brilliantly written work that introduces and familiarizes us to the intriguing nation called Somalia. We are taken into the depth of Somali culture, the complex nature of its society and suffocating grip of its history. The characters we encounter are full of life and vitality, manifesting good and evil in their different ways and situations. I enjoyed the story and came out of it having a better understanding of Somalia. Triple Agent Double Cross, Disgrace, A Continent for the Taking, Disciples of Fortune, are also books about Africa that I consider as recommended read.
"We should have the vulture as our national symbol.", 20 Apr 2004
Returning to Somalia twenty years after he was imprisoned and then sent into exile, Jeebleh arrives at a remote Mogadiscio airport now under the control of a major warlord. He has arrived from his adopted home in America to help his oldest friend Bile, affiliated with a warlord in the south of the city, find and rescue his kidnapped niece and a friend. Because he belongs to the same clan as the warlord in the north, Jeebleh may be in a particularly good position to help if the child has been taken by a rival. The political situation is so tangled, however, that at times no one really knows who is allied with whom. "Here," someone says, "we don't think of 'friends' anymore. We rely on our clansmen...sharing ancestral blood."
It is not accidental that Jeebleh has received his doctorate for his book on Dante's Inferno, the symbolic parallel for the existentialist nightmare we see in Somalia. "We are at best good badmen or bad badmen," a Somali tells him as he tries to navigate the minefield of loyalties in Mogadiscio and stay alive. As Jeebleh tries to figure out whether his friend Bile is one of the "good badmen" or "bad badmen" and whether Bile's half-brother in the north is involved in the kidnapping, we learn about his family background, Somali culture and history, and the mysterious associates of various warlords who want to "help" Jeebleh. The novel is filled with high tension as various characters, including Jeebleh, are pulled in different directions by circumstances over which they have no control. His enigmatic dreams and nightmares are much like the reality of life in Mogadiscio, where the crows and vultures are now tame because they are so well fed by the violence.
Author Farah's own background as an exiled Somali makes this novel particularly vivid, and the cultural conflicts and the pressures placed on Jeebleh's family loyalties ring with truth. As he represses his American values and makes some major decisions as a Somali, Jeebleh becomes part of the story of Somalia, "I've taken sides and made choices that may put my life in danger." Stressing that it is "only when there is harmony within the smaller unit," i.e., the family, that "the larger community finds comfort in the idea of the nation," Farah creates a taut novel in which the tensions within the family are a microcosm of the tensions within the country. Realistic in its descriptions and allegorical in its implications, Farah's novel is a breathtaking and sophisticated study of violence and betrayal certain to receive international recognition. Mary Whipple
L to the power of S ..., 19 Nov 1998
Sweet and Sour Milk was published in 1979, four years after Somalian anglophone writer Nuruddin Farah was forced into exile by Siyad Barre's military regime. It is the first novel of the trilogy that also includes SARDINES and CLOSE SESAME. The overall title of the trilogy is "Variations on the Theme of an African dictatorship".
The novel is the story of two twins, Loyaan and Soyaan. Loyaan is a dentist and Soyaan occupies an official position in the country's military regime. At the beginning of the novel (in the Prologue), Soyaan dies mysteriously. Before hiccupping his last, he shouts his twin brother's name three times.
The whole novel is Loyaan's inquiry on his brother's death: who poisoned Soyaan? SWEET AND SOUR MILK is, in a way, a detective story with metaphysical and mythical undertones.
Among other things, Loyaan finds out that Soyaan was a member of a clandestine organization that aimed at overthrowing the regime. He also finds out about the fact that Soyaan had a two-year old son, Marco.
Loyaan is surrounded with supposedly friendly people, people who want to help, such as Doctor Ahmed-Wellie. Whom should he trust? Whom can he trust?
And what do his mother and sister (Qumman and Ladan) think? Why does his father, Keynaan, (a patriarch and a dictator in his own household) "breathe respectability" into Soyaan's name by saying in the national newspaper that Soyaan was a national hero and a fierce follower of the General's regime?
What does that mean? Why does Farah lead us through ambiguous pathways and seemingly clear-cut formulas? Why is there a poetical vignette at the head of each chapter and why do those vignettes sound like enigmatic allegories?
At the end of the novel, Beydan, Keynaan's second wife, dies giving birth to a child who is immediately named Soyaan by the brave and firm sister, Ladan. Is that a note of hope?
Well, read the novel and try to find answers to these questions, and to all the other enigmas that I have not mentioned.
A good book can be read five or six times in a row, from several angles and divergent points of view. Take my word for it, this in an EXCELLENT book!
Bibliography
Jacqueline Bardolph has written numerous articles on Nuruddin Farah. I can give you a complete list if you wish (my e-mail address is at the top of the page).
Derek Wright, THE NOVELS OF NURUDDIN FARAH, Bayreuth African Studies, #32, 1994
I have also written an extended essay devoted to the trilogy. It is called "A Study of Duality in Nuruddin Farah's Dictatorship Trilogy".
Guillaume Cingal
