Things They Lost

 Things They Lost by Okwiri Oduor, 268 pages.

Ayosa Ataraxis Brown's special gift is for remembering. Although she is just a lonely child living alone in her ancestral home, she remembers the decades before her birth, when she was just a wriggling thing that followed her mama around. Nabumbo Promise Brown was a brilliant photographer, but she is not a brilliant mother, and Ayosa never knows when she will come of go. Ayosa spends her days dancing and listening to the death news with the ghostly Fatumas who live in her attic, and trying to avoid being snatched by wraiths pretending to be her mama. Then, against all odds, Ayosa makes a human friend and suddenly has to consider who truly deserves her loyalty. 

This was a really interesting piece of magical realism set in Kenya. I really liked Ayosa as a character, and thought her voice came through very strongly throughout. The cast is small, but each member is slowly built up into interesting characters. There is also something very aching about Ayosa's loneliness, and her need to be needed. I really enjoyed this book, and I think it would be great for enjoyers of magical realism.

When Stars are Scattered

 

When Stars are Scattered by Omar Mohamed & Victoria Jamiesan  256 pp.

This graphic novel and National Book Award Finalist is the true story of Omar, the author, and his brother Hassan who are living in the Dadaab Somali Refugee Settlement in Kenya. After running after their village is attacked, Omar and Hassan are separated from their mother. They are put in the care of an older woman refugee because their mother had not been found. Omar is very protective of his brother who has special needs. Hassan does not speak and has seizures. Omar is given the chance to go to school but at first cannot be convinced because he feels it's his job to care for his younger brother. Finally he is convinced to attend the camp school. Soon they are interviewed for the possibility to leave the camp to go live in another country. The wait is very long before the boys are finally sent to the U.S. After fifteen years in a refugee camp Omar completed college and started Refugee Strong, a nonprofit helping to fund education and health programs for refugees.

Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom

Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom by Condoleezza Rice, 486 pages. Narrated by Condoleezza Rice and Grace Angela Henry.
Former National Security Adviser and Secretary of State, and current Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy, Rice is well-suited to tell us the stories of governments in transition moving towards democracy, and then sometimes away from it again.
Rice witnessed the dissolution of the Soviet Union firsthand, as part of George HW Bush's National Security team, and she tells of how Russia, Ukraine, and other regions of the fomer USSR lurched toward a more democratic way of governing and then backed away, sometimes violently.
Yushchenko (leaning towards democracy) versus Yanukovych (leaning towards his good friend Putin) in Ukraine; Uribe against the FARC and the AUC in Colombia, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf trying to rebuild Liberia after the warlord Charles Taylor was overthrown all have their stories told here. And Rice is an excellent storyteller. She comes across as a supremely intelligent, compassionate, and competent diplomat. Her insider's view of the George W Bush administration makes one nostalgic for a time when you only suspected the President didn't know what he was doing.