All Our Names

"I came for the writers and stayed for the war," says one of the narrators in this latest book from Mengestu (How To Read the Air), which in its focused and lean, beautiful writing is his best book yet. Mengestu blends this narrator's story of an African homeland rent by warfare he helped foment with that of Helen, the social worker with whom he becomes involved after escaping to America. Through his characters, the author examines Africa's plight (paralleled by continuing racism in America), the risks of revolution, the lure of power, and, especially, the enduring strength of love. Our young man in Africa has arrived in the city from the hinterlands, eager for an education. He learns something very different from what he expected when he meets the charismatic Isaac, who stirs an uprising at the university (where he isn't even registered) and finally pulls his new friend into a rebellion that turns shockingly bloody, sometimes hurting those it would help. Woven into the story of this essential friendship is the socially reticent Helen's fierce and touching involvement with the client she knows as Isaac.