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New Book by Hama Tuma The Case of the criminal walk and other stories |
Price US$ 15.00 To place your orders: Contact: sankisa@comcast.net |
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BOOK REVIEW The Case Of the Criminal Walk and Other Stories Hama Tuma's new book is a collection of short stories that reflect, for the most part , the Ethiopian society in many aspects and walks of life. Just for the reason of my own convenience though , my review will solely be limited to and focused on one story alone , The Other Son. It is a sad story of two bizarre Ethiopian families ,the victims of the barbaric brutality during the time of the fascistic dictatorship in the seventies and eighties. In that historical setting, the author explained at length how the two childhood friends who grew up together, went to the same elementary and high schools joined the same university and even were in the same faculty.; and shared every part of their lives together for so long, suddenly fall apart and became mortal enemies to the extent of destroying each other and their families as well. Because of their ideological antagonism and the differences in their party affiliations, these long time bodies, Mulu Negew and Abeje Biru became pathological enemies. Fetleworq Zena, Abeje's wife became victim of unfortunate circumstances, She was thrown in jail by Mulu who harbored long time jealousy and who was secretly and yet madly in love with her, finally raped and impregnated her where she finally died of child birth in prison. She was brutally tortured by Mulu's cadres before she died. Mulu's brutality didn't end up at only destroying Fetleworq but he also killed Dereje, her husband, and the father of her first son. Captain Birhanu of the Abadinna Police and a member of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID-Homicide Section) was in charge of the investigation of the mysterious death of Mulu who was found dead in his own room. I found the tenacity and investigative ability of Captain Birhanu to find out Mulu's killer very fascinating. In the course of his investigation process, Captain Brihanu had fascinating dialogues with both the old man , Fetileworq's father and Dagim his grand son. Dagim is Fetilworq's surviving son. When Captain Birhanu asked Dagim if he killed Mulu "to avenge his father and mother... as vendetta is the common Ethiopian response in such a situation" , Dagim's response is very interesting when he said, " That may have been so in your time. Principles to die for, courage, sacrifice, vendetta, underground, cyanide pills... and such are things of your generation, Captain . Not mine. We are the post- Red terror generation. We survive quietly and without great expectation. We are neither martyrs nor rebels. The ideals and dreams have perished with our dead parents. If the price is right we can sell off our mothers. Ask any young man queuing outside American embassy and he will tell you." The author tries to indicate the gap that exists between two generations in present Ethiopia. These two generations are distinctly and worrisomely known as pre and post-Revolutionary Ethiopia. It is a comprehensive view about the author's native land Ethiopia, both from its political and cultural settings. The readers may encounter various conflicts between old culture: a culture of vendetta , cruelty and savagery on one had and a culture of tolerance, forgiving and the need to live in harmony on the other, for a brighter future, that is. But in the traditional Ethiopian society, it might not be so easy neither to forget nor to forgive for generations.. In my view, it takes a fundamental transformation on the part of the society and a paradigm shift on the part of the opposition and the Ethiopian elite to create a climate conducive to live in peace and harmony. The thinking and perception of a traditional society like ours must be ready to fit in the twenty-first century. It is hoped that through gradual process of change from predominantly agrarian society to agro-industrial society, our nation will have a chance to focus on developmental progress. I personally would like to hope that tomorrow's Ethiopia, as an agro-industrial society, will have a chance to be free from ethnocentrism and forge ahead on eradicating disease, poverty, illiteracy and backwardness, hence, our nation may not have time left for vendetta and thinking about their past predicaments and agonies. Creating an all inclusive political and cultural landscape could be the basis for participatory democracy, which creates the supremacy of the people and the rule of law. To get there, our nation should start looking inwards rather than hoping to get "help" from outside. In this book , readers can also have a chance to see two distinct groups and their thinking , and that is between corrupt government officials and the nation who long for good governance for too long. In his narration of the present-day Addis Abeba, Hama Tuma tells the readers who might have left Ethiopia decades ago to nostalgically remember and yet sorrowfully feel about the present condition of Addis. If by chance one returns to the city from abroad toady, ".he may feel it was as if all the inhabitants of the sprawling City had taken a vow to rot and to stink their own city." The author also demonstrates his ability to invite the readers for a pictorial review of the capital city of that God -forsaken country called Ethiopia , systematically being destroyed by its present rulers. The visitor from foreign land will undoubtedly face that, "the stench is unbearable, a mixture of human excrement, rotting garbage piled high at every corner, the acid smell of sweating and unwashed bodies, of rancid butter women put on their hair, and of overflowing sewage pipes." In doing so, I would say Hama Tuma has explained the actual condition of the neglected part of the city remarkably well. To further explain the magnitude and depth of the poverty of our nation , Hama Tuma raised a very interesting issue when he said, “In the past , begging was an unbearable shame and tolerated only by those who were physically handicapped in one way or another. Nowadays, the State is an international beggar and everyone could beg and live with the shame." In my reading of the book, I have noticed new and yet unfamiliar phenomenon in Hama Tuma's writing of his new book. One is his usage of sexually explicit words , (like...well, I wouldn't dare to repeat it). Which I think is unbecoming of Hama Tuma. It was a shock to me to see those words in Hama Tuma's book. May be, time has changed or is this because of my upbringing in the traditional Ethiopian society? I don't found it pleasantly surprising and interesting. Halleluiah ! I am sure Hamu Tuma shall also quote the Holy Quran in his next book. SELAH- AL- NEBI ! They said prolific writing emanates from voracious reading. Well, if that is the case, the author is not unfamiliar with both. I found Hama Tuma's new book very fascinating and refreshing. I highly recommend the book for summer reading.
Good Job Hama Tuma! Zewal Zegeye
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