For Eritrea, I read Gratitude in Low Voices: A Memoir by Dawit Gebremichael Habte. In this memoir, Habte describes his childhood in Eritrea (before its independence from Ethiopia) and then how he journeyed to Kenya and eventually obtained asylum in the United States. As an adult, he eventually returned to Eritrea to help rebuild the country after it achieved independence from Ethiopia. 

This book sounded like it would be a very interesting read.

Alas.

It was not.

The book ended up being a brutally long thank you note to all the people who have ever helped him in his life. He would stop the narrative, again and again, to share a biography of someone who gave him a library card or a teacher who pushed him to apply to college or an American employer who showed interest in Eritrea, but I was not reading this book to hear about how Nancy from H.R. enjoys singing with her church choir and was so brave when she needed knee surgery in her forties. If I was curious about Nancy from H.R., I would have read her memoir!

When Habte described his journey from Eritrea to Kenya, he focused on the boring logistics and glossed over the interesting bits. Apparently, he encountered a lion during this journey, but this was all he wrote: “For the first time I’d had close encounters with wild animals–his highness the king of the jungle (lion), zebra, giraffe, and, of course, the sneaky snake.” That’s it. That’s the entire lion story. He shares nothing else about that experience, and I do not mean to complain, but–

TELL US ABOUT THE LION!!!

Where were you? How far away was the lion? Was it night or day? Was your life in peril? Did you piss your pants or speak gibberish or beg for mercy from a higher power? Why do I know about who he met at the airport lobby when he was leaving Eritrea and nothing about this lion??? If I ever write a book about the craft of writing, I’ll have to include this guideline: always always ALWAYS tell us about the freaking lion.

Habte is a software engineer, and he has an inspiring story to share. Alas, he just needed a ghost writer or at least a co-writer to help tease out the interesting episodes of his life and downplay the dull tangents. On the bright side, he does know a lot about Eritrean history and he did an excellent job describing how the country was colonized first by Italy and then Ethiopia, making Eritrea the only African country to have been colonized by another African country. He also did a wonderful job explaining the negative effects of colonialism.

I just really wish he had told us about the freaking lion.