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Lo Sguardo Del Leone (2010)

by Maaza Mengiste(Favorite Author)

3.86 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

8854503592 (ISBN13: 9788854503595)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Neri Pozza

review 1: Beneath the Lion's Gaze is a chronicle of the lives of a middle class family and neighborhood in Addis Ababa, throughout the Ethiopian revolution in 1974. In disturbing and passionate descriptions of brutal events, the author tells a gripping story of family, of the bonds of love and friendship set in a time and place that are capable of stripping away humanity and breaking down faith.The gruesome depictions draw a very vivid picture of how a brutal regime, assuming a moral high ground, is cowing those it claims to protect. Eventually, everyone come to the conclusion that their moral high ground is a very fragile thing. The cruelty is unbelievable, yet sadly, for many living under repressive regimes, it is business as usual, hidden away and not talked about.The most strik... moreing descriptions are those of parent child relationships. Very raw, unabashed and unapologetic deep love, respect, need and reverence that is rarely portrayed in Western fiction or indeed considered "normal".This is definitely a novel worth reading. Despite the uncomfortable flow and structure at times and the use of too many Amharic terms, the novel is written in beautiful prose and has very well drawn characters.
review 2: “Beneath the Lion’s Gaze” is one of the most culturally-profound, unforgettable, deeply moving novels you've probably never heard of, but should consider reading. The mechanics are flawless; the prose is eloquent; the characters are powerfully identifiable; settings and atmosphere transport with vivid clarity. However, be cautioned – some scenes are quite graphic and disturbing. Unlike propaganda, truth doesn't masquerade as honey: “Sign this . . . we have a new and better way for you to rule . . . the voices floated from the radio . . . there will be no bloodshed, the radio said, only justice.” The iron-fisted, sickle-silencing propaganda radio, lied. Much blood was shed and the Lion roared. Other than drought, famine, disease, and hollow-eyed starving children heartbreakingly portrayed on late night television, I had very little knowledge of rural Ethiopia, and zero knowledge of modern urban culture or political structure. Prior to reading Maaza Mengiste’s eloquently penned, razor-edged novel – Beneath the Lion’s Gaze - I had never heard of Derg rule, the 1976-1978 Red Terror communist takeover; hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children (upper echelon all the way down to the poorest of poor) were brutally tortured to death then thrown along city sidewalks and byways and left to rot, as a warning to all who dare to counter revolt.However, this gripping novel is far more than a graphic fictionalized recounting of injustice, brutality, uprisings, dismantling of a three-thousand-year throne, slaughtering of innocence, ration cards, underground meetings, and university counter revolutionaries. Yes, it is so much more. At its nucleus, it is a story of family bonds: fathers and sons, sons and wives, wives and children – mother and child. And how sometimes it’s only after we've been shaken to our core, stripped of all self-serving pride under the pressure of trials and tribulations, do we realize that without love, there isn’t anything worth living or fighting for: “The human heart, Hailu knew, can stop for many reasons . . . what keeps it going is the constant unending act of being pushed, and the relentless anticipated response of pushing back. Pressure is the life force.” less

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