The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
by Dinaw Mengestu is an excellent novel that illustrates what the American Dream has become for so many. Caught between his homeland which he fled and the US where his hopes seem to be out of reach, the main character -- an immigrant from Ethiopia -- struggles to make a life for himself. Many other issues come into play. With the introduction of his wealthy white neighbor we see the contrast between the races and classes at the time of regentrification in his neighborhood. It seems that there is no place for him.
The book is well written, concise and a quick read. I highly recommend it.
Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife
by Sam Savage is a book that I never would have picked up on my own, so when Pete suggested that I read it, I was skeptical. A novel about a rat?!? And while it definitely is a novel narrated by a rat, there is more to this strange book. Firmin -- being a rat and all -- can't communicate with the world at large and yet he is higly literate and lives in a used bookstore voraciously reading all the books he can. Eventually he comes to live with a like minded man who lives atop the shop -- a failed writer who is a drunk takes in Firmin.
The novel is funny in a dark, sad sort of way. And I'm not sure what lesson I learned from reading it, but I'm glad that I read it.
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