The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears; Dinaw Mengestu

 

Title: The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
Author: Dinaw Mengestu
Publication Year: 2007
Publisher: Recorded Books
Edition: Audiobook 

Reader: Dion Graham (excellent)
Source: Library
Date Completed: 2/2/2011
Setting:Washington, DC and Ethiopia
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Recommend: Yes 

In The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, Sepha Stephanos, the story's narrator and protagonist, is an Ethiopian Immigrant, who fled his native country seventeen years earlier during the Revolution. After he had witnessed his father being beat to death by soldiers, he came to America seeking a better life. He moved to an African American section of Washington, DC, and initially, worked long hours doing heavy labor as a bellman. Wanting more for himself, he borrowed money to buy a convenience store in a run-down section of DC called Logan Square. His only friends are two other immigrants like himself.  Kenneth is an Engineer, who has seemed to make it in America, and his other friend, Joseph is a waiter at a prestigious dining establishment in DC. The three ex-Pats from Africa meet for drinks and stories once a week.

With his store barely making it, and his days long, he is feeling alone and isolated. Sepha is finding it harder and harder to get up and go to his store each morning, even though it is very close to where he lives. Business is bad, his customers are often prostitutes who come in for a candy bar or a can of soda. To pass the time while working in his store, he spends his time reading the 4-5 books he gets from the library each week.  Soon things in the neighborhood begin to change through  revitalization projects. Next door to his store, Judith McMasterson, a white history professor, buys the 4-story, run down mansion, and begins a restoration project. Judith and her 11-year old biracial daughter, Naomi begin to bring some joy into Sepha's life.  The 3 of them meet for tea and conversation, and, Stepha who has a passion for books begins to share that love of literature with Naomi, by reading his books to her each day after school in his store. Naomi's favorite is The Brother's Karamazov, because she knows that it will take a long time to finish, and she enjoys spending time talking to Sepha.  Naomi becomes a surrogate daughter of sorts to him, and for the first time since he has been in America he gets to feel what having a family might be like. When racial violence strikes the neighborhood,  he risks losing his new found happiness.

The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears is a poignant and haunting debut novel, that tells a story of what it is like to be an immigrant in a strange country. It beautifully portrays the loneliness and isolation, that I am sure many in this situation experience. Sad at times, hopeful at other times, it is a story that was beautifully written and a story that will not be easily forgotten.  As I am sure some of you realize, the title: The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears comes from a passage in Dante’s Inferno, that  Sepha's friend Joseph believes to be “the most perfect lines of poetry ever written”.  

The audio book was narrated by Dion Graham, who did an excellent job. Recommended.