There Are Many Nice People Here, But None As Nice As You
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu / Constance Howes
Book Reviews | August 2, 2007 | Comments (15)
If I knew every Pajiba reader personally, I would probably try to send you each a copy of The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears with a quick note saying something like, Forget any list you made of books you should, but probably aren’t, reading. This one rocked my world and broke my heart. I insist that you read it immediately! Love, Constance. Sure, I’m bossy. But I’m also serious. This book is that good.
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu paints a passionate, precise portrait of Ethiopian immigrant, Sepha Stephanos. Sepha operates a convenience store in a dilapidated section of Washington D.C. called Logan’s Circle. At best, he is an apathetic shop keeper who spends much of his time sitting idly, watching paint peel or selling candy to prostitutes who trick near the statue of the neighborhood namesake. At worst, Sepha is a drunk. His only friends are Joseph and Kenneth, who are also immigrants and in their youths fled from war-torn Africa to the United States.
Mengestu describes these characters fondly, but unflinchingly. Joseph is a career waiter at the prestigious Colonial Grill where politicians regularly congregate for meals. Initially, Joseph was proud of his proximity to power and dreamt of earning his literary doctorate at MIT. After 19 years however, those particular hopes have been replaced by unfinished pages of poetry and large quantities of alcohol. Kenneth, the most financially successful of the trio, works as an engineer and defines American success as the ability to say the same thing over and over again without ever realizing the humor or futility of it. His cultural scrutiny is not limited to the United States, however. When an embittered Joseph criticizes his friend’s corporate assimilation, Kenneth retorts, “That’s what Africa is right now. A continent full of poor illiterates dying in slums. What am I supposed to miss? Being sent into the street to beg white tourists for money?” The three men play drinking games along the lines of “Name that African massacre, dictator or coup” and relate horror stories of bloated corpses in the streets and snatched family members as if relating a television program or the price of milk.
Mengestu dissects the reality of cultural stereotypes as Sepha treads between two disjointed national identities that leave him stranded and alone somewhere in the middle. One identity is defined by his youth in Africa and his father’s murder. The other is a middle-aged American who half-heartedly subsists at the barrel’s bottom. When Judith, a white history professor, moves into the predominantly black neighborhood of Logan’s Circle, Sepha is impulsively drawn to her as a kindred, foreign spirit. Judith’s painful visibility forces him from his comfort zone and shakes his heart from hibernation. His charming interaction with Judith’s precocious, 11-year-old daughter Naomi is my favorite part of the book. Since Sepha’s store offers the only safe haven in the neighborhood to both mother and daughter, Naomi begins to loiter there after school and on weekends. After a few weeks of stammering and staring, she and Sepha strike up a friendship and decide to read “Fee-a-Door” Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov aloud to one another. Mengestu really displays his chops as a writer with this relationship. Friendship between an older man and young girl can easily be misinterpreted. The beauty of this one is that it is so productive for them both. When they are together, Naomi can be forthright without fear of judgment and Sepha revels in being needed.
Exposition of Sepha’s present is meted out with excerpts from his past. The author’s prose is modest but brilliant. As the protagonist’s life unfolds, so does the explanation of previous events that prompts certain action or, more accurately, inaction in his career and relationships. Despite his apathy however, Sepha remains an easy character to love.
The title of the book is taken from lines of Dante’s Inferno that are admired by Joseph who claims; “The glimpse from hell into heaven is understood best by an African. Except that for Africans, they begin in hell, they come out just for a moment, and then they return.”
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears is not necessarily a pity party for sad sack immigrant Sepha. It is a clear, honest reckoning of life’s baggage that has him and the rest of the human race on a very short leash. I think what really won me over about this book is that Mengestu is not on a crusade to nail the lid on any political coffins.Instead, he examines expectations of the American dream by its triumphs and its failures. Above and beyond mere politics, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears is about people seeking the elusive thread of purpose in their own lives.
Constance Howes is a book critic for Pajiba and a graphic designer living in Philadelphia. Her hobbies include making out and messing shit up. In short, she’s a firecracker. She blogs over at I Love You in the Face.
Comments
Posted by: Manny at August 2, 2007 3:13 PM
First! Pnwed! Oops...I mean, great review Constance. Spot on.