This is the second book I have read by this author. This book, like the one I previously read, gives an insight into immigrant life in America, especially those of African descent. The main character of the book is Mamush. He is an Ethiopian American living in Europe with his wife and child. He returns to the United States because of his father figure Samuel. As the novel progresses, we are given glimpses of Mamush, his mother and Samuel as they assimilate to American life. These glimpses don’t provide a linear story line. While reading, I often struggled to figure out the time and place of the scene or whether it was a memory or delusion of Mamush. The unreliability of Mamush may be off putting to some readers, others will read it and feel it is a literary feat. It was the former for me.

This book is a somewhat confusing story about the son of Ethiopian emigrants attempting to learn about the struggles of his father amidst his own struggles with addiction.

A slow burn story that takes an interesting view into the Ethiopian community in America, immigration, family and love. It was a bit soul-searching and mildly character study. I wanted a bit more of a mystery and a little more of a connection. I found the writing style a bit dry and it kept me from fully feeling invested and really, I think, fully getting the story. Interesting but a little too slow for me to love it.
A slow burn story that takes an interesting view into the Ethiopian community in America, immigration, family and love. It was a bit soul-searching and mildly character study. I wanted a bit more of a mystery and a little more of a connection. I found the writing style a bit dry and it kept me from fully feeling invested and really, I think, fully getting the story. Interesting but a little too slow for me to love it.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

someone like us was an excellent read. I loved the writing and it was propulsive. Great character study. I would read more from this author.

This book is fiction, but I wonder how close to a memoir it could be. Not only did it read as a memoir, but the addition of the pictures throughout made it feel so. The story itself was raw, emotional, and real - dealing with themes around immigration, addiction, family, race, fatherhood, and marriage. The almost mirror image of Mamush and Samuel and how they walk through life and how they parent is evident, but with Mamush wanting to be better for his son. I did find Mamush rather selfish at times, especially when it came to his mother and wife. But I think that shows another dynamic that mothers do not have the option to act like they did, without devasting consequences for the entire family unit.

The writing was well done and read smoothly, however, the timeline did jump around making it confusing at moments. Eventually, you understand why the timeline is the way it is and I found that aspect interesting, especially when you are dealing with Mamush's grief in real time.

I can't say this is the most exciting book I've ever read, but the story showcases very real people, relationships, and systemic issues.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with a copy for an honest review. Unfortunately, I could never get into this book and kept starting it snd not finishing it. It just didn’t hold my attention and there was only so many times I could just keep picking it up and not read it before I had to call it quits.

I did not like this as much as I thought I would. The time line was a little confusing and difficult to follow. I enjoyed the mystery aspect. I was a little confused that the description of the book names his wife as Helen, but she is called Hannah in the book.

In general, this was an interesting book. Unfortunately, at times, I got lost as to what timeline I was reading about. Aside from that, I enjoyed this story of Mamush’s journey to learn more about his life and the people in it. The characters were interesting and well written. Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.

This one is very character driven as Mamush visits his home in Washington and reminisces on his family history and how the people in his life influenced him. It is a slower read and the story jumps around a bit from past to present.

I had a lot of trouble with this book. It is one of those books that I wanted to like so badly, but it just wasn't resonating with me at all. My plan is to revisit it.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It addresses some really important themes and I want to take the time to give it proper attention, perhaps in a few months.

Incredibly slow paced and just not the book for me. I tried giving it the best effort but after DNF’ing a second time, I moved on.

A book that’s rife with musings on what makes a home a home, diaspora, and family. Wasn’t for me but I’m glad this book is out there waiting to be picked up.

Thanks to the publishers at Knopf for an eARC in exchange for a review.

I'm of two minds on this book. A large part of me struggled with the book. I couldn't get hooked into the story. It was more character-driven than plot-driven. I was never quite sure of timelines of events as the book jumped all over the place. I also wasn't quite sure by the end what parts were reality or what parts were in the narrator's imagination. If you like ambiguous novels, this is for you. I was hoping for something a bit more concrete, perhaps a bit more about the specific Ethiopian-American experience. With that said the writing is lovely. I just couldn't get hooked into the story and felt confused a large part of the time.

I felt like I just couldn't get my feet under me with this book. Mamush leaves his son and wife behind in France while he heads to Washington, DC to visit his mother. It appears Hannah and Mamush's relationship is struggling and she does not trust he will be returning to her. In the meantime, Samuel, the only father Mamush has knows, is found dead. I wish I had taken notes because I feel there is great depth to this story that I just did not pick up on. The time jumps felt abrupt and I was often confused. I would read it again, especially if it was for a book club discussion where we could pull out all the pieces.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I finished this audiobook on my way home today and was just like, WHAT just happened?

I think I was trying so hard to piece together a timeline and a start to finish plot, but this story jumps around so much, and also sometimes I couldn’t tell if one of the characters was actually there, or if the time had jumped back because that character was supposed to be dead.

I really liked the writing and the characters, but I’d start to get into a rhythm and then something would shift or throw me off and I’d have a hard time catching back up again.

I think if you’re familiar with this author and his writing style you might enjoy this a little more on a first read/listen. But I think I’d need a second read through to really get into the story.

Thank you @netgalley and @aaknopf for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

The writing in this book pulled me in immediately, and the narration and the story just flowed so well. This was heartbreaking in it’s depth. I found the characters to be wholly formed, with realistic personalities and attributes.

Mamush, son of Ethiopian immigrants, leaves his wife and son at home in France when he travels back to the US to see his mother, only to promptly discover that Samuel, the only “father” he has ever known was found dead in his garage.

Beginning to seek answers to things he never asked before, Mamush takes us on a journey for the truth… about Samuel, about himself, about the devastation that addiction leaves in its wake.

This was such a beautifully written story that I didn’t want to end.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC for this book. While reading this book, I had some many questions about the decisions that Mamoush was making. I got a bit lost during Mamoush 's journey and couldn't distinquish between what was the present and what was the past. I would have enjoyed this book more if I was able to discuss it with other readers.

Overall Rating: 4.25 / 5 (rounded down to 4)

“Someone Like Us” is an emotional ride that is told in shifting timelines that all come together in the end to reveal a heartbreaking truth. The author was able to spectacularly tackle the themes of generational trauma, diaspora, and grief while following along with an unreliable narrator.

I would recommend this book to those that are fans of stories filled with reflection and don’t mind that a story is not told linearly.

For this not being a very long story, I found this packed in so much depth. We follow Mamush as he takes steps towards better understanding a past he was told never to question. Through even the smallest moments of reflection, we are revealed sides of Mamush’s life that he had kept locked away, even from himself. All of these smaller stories build up into a moment that I found myself having to hold back tears for.

Not only was I not expecting to tear up, I was also taken aback at how much I related to Mamush’s childhood. Being a first-generation Filipino-American with both parents that worked as many hours as they could, I quickly recognized the messaging that Mamush got at a young age. Although his life lessons were told in much different ways, I could definitely relate to the expectations being placed on him to be a model American citizen.

Ultimately what held me back from giving this a five star rating was how abrupt the use of shifting timelines felt. When this writing style was first introduced in the story I was worried that I had missed a chapter and kept re-reading sections but as things continued I was able to put myself in the proper headspace to fully delve into Mamush’s past and present.

I would definitely read future works by this author. I was most impressed at how they were able to make the moments that seem small feel incredibly heavy and life changing.

This delicate retelling of an immigrant story moved me with it's sparse yet profound language. The main character unravels the mystery of a fellow countryman's death by piecing together the immigrant experience in America. Mengestu touches on the complicated nature of being new to a country that doesn't have any written rules and how immigrants make their way around the nuances they encounter. This novel also hints at the meaning of family, identity and how to live a life with purpose. A beautiful novel that made me connect with the main character in a relatively short novel.

Someone Like Us:a standalone

By Dinaw Mengestu- new to me author

Published 7-30-24, Read 7-31-24

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for this ARC! I voluntarily give my honest review and all opinions expressed are my own.

Page Count: 272

Genre: AA Fiction, Literary Fiction

Tropes: humanity,war, genocide, family drama, hidden secrets, multiple POVS, world travel, journalism

Setting: Paris to Washington D.C.

Summary: Mamush, son of Ethiopian immigrants, has just been told by his mother that his father figure and biological father Samuel has died in the garage. Mamush’s marriage is on the rocks and he can’t connect with his physically disabled son,so he plans to travel and find out what happened to Samuel. He has Samuel’s autobiography/ manuscript to search for his beginnings.

TW: drug addiction, suicide, racism, police brutality

My Thoughts: This was such a deeply personal journey for Mamush that explores his family’s history, struggles, and triumphs. I loved the cabbie network because it reminded me of the Underground Railroad. The secrets kept, the downfall of the family due to addiction, and societal pressures make Mamush want to give up on the American dream. It’s a tale from present to past drawing on reality and dreams.

Rating:4/5*

Real Rating: 4.5* of five

I am a very, very white old man. I experience none of what Mamush does, or expects to, on a daily personal basis. My Young Gentleman Caller is half-black (he prefers lowercase to uppercase "Black"). There are times I am utterly oblivious to what that idiotic blood quantum theory of human identity means because I get none of it. What I *do* get is profiled, when traveling, as an American...some indefinable something about me is ineradicable, and inescapably American. Among anti-semites I am always assumed to be a Jew. (Among Jews as well, which can get awkward.) As a gay man, and an old one, I'm often seen as not queer enough, or just a bit too queer. Can't win for losin'.

So when I read Author Mengestu's books, I am not just pruriently peeping in on his characters' struggles with identity and its ramifications.

The great strength of Author Mengestu is his lovely language. One of my all-time favorite aperçus of his is from <I>How to Read the Air</I>: "There is nothing so easily remade as our definitions of ourselves." (Note to self: Why haven't we reviewed that one?) This book, too, is full of meaty thoughts on identity, on the mutability of selfhood, on the complexity of being alive in an interwoven web of love and fear and distrust, trying to spin new threads as old ones fray, of making the effort to stick yourself to the ones you thought you wanted to escape. The way webs form...from the center outward, directed by a design and made for a purpose...is, however, the opposite of that other great center-driven natural structure: the hurricane. These form when a depression becomes so empty that everything around it is drawn in to fill its vacant space in the atmosphere. Mamush, with the best of intentions, is a hurricane. “You’re like a donut. There’s a hole in the middle, where something solid should be,” says his wife.

He sticks to nothing, nothing sticks to him. His deep and abiding depression formed in his deeply uprooted "family." His mother and father escaped imploding Ethiopia, and in a truly terrible series of bad decisions, engendered their child Mamush. Neither, though they are friends, wants to raise a child with the other. Mamush has the ordinary single-mother experience of childhood with all its spaces and silences and absences. His father would've been absent no matter what because he is a man on a mission to help other Ethiopian immigrants starting a taxi business to employ them in the US. Tgat makes him professionally unrooted, always in motion, at the mercy of those around him, subject to their moods and attitudes in service of making a living. Mamush is his father's son. He abandons a job as a journalist...someone who observes from the sidelines...to run away from the ever-darkening US. It's the way these men live. He starts a family in France, which honestly sounds like one of the worst ideas anyone ever had. That, unsurprisingly, just presses his depression even lower down: his son is disabled, a hard, hard road for the best prepared parent. Predictably, it's a terrible stressor for Mamush. At his mother's summons to come home to DC and help her figure out where his father has got to, he's outta there leaving son and wife to struggle along without him.

It's deeply telling that he misses his plane. It's even more telling that he, on a whim with no forethought, then switches his ticket from DC to Chicago. It wasn't just a whim, really, as his parents had lived with him in Chicago before settling in DC. His unmooring from his plans, from his family, from his career, is all in service of a Quest. Who doesn't love a Quest? He's so turbulent, such a low-pressure spot in his own life, that he's attracting chaos at such a huge rate he must find a way to fill himself from the center outward or succumb to that destructive chaos.

A man in search of a center, a man whose essence is unquiet and kinetic, who now wants something he's never had and has no tools in his kit to create, is a danger to himself and others until he finds the thing that can act as solid ground. Standing still is only possible when there's solid ground under you. Then the hole formed so early in life, made from the same stuff as the edges are, is the small nugget of solidity he can stand on. From this small, awkwardly shaped piece, a center is formed, and the spinning of that web of intent, design, and adhesion can begin.

This is when Mamush says to his father: “There isn’t one story. Things start and end abruptly. Some pages are just a single paragraph. I don’t always understand who’s speaking or what’s happening. If what you’ve written is fact or fiction.”

Homecoming, homegoing, home is now within reach. It is a beautiful moment in a book that, for almost half its length, made me want to slap the hell out of Mamush, out of his parents, and maybe most of all his idiot wife who had a child with this deeply unready man. All comes out well, or at least "well" is finally in sight, for Mamush. Guaranteed? No. Delivered? Not really. But visible at last.

I think Dinaw Mengestu deserves a stonking medal for taking me on this journey that irked and annoyed me, but lured me on with his usual glorious phrasemaking music, then delivered me to an ending I could both believe completely and feel satisfied with. Kudos to you, sir.