Black Mamba Boy [Paperback]

This is the story of Jama, and details his journey from being a young boy to an adult. I enjoyed this book. The writing style is highly descriptive, but easy to read, and it is easy to conjure up the reality of Jama's hard life. His tales of losing his mother, life as a homeless orphan, and eventually becoming a responsible married man, with a family, are described in detail, and you do transport yourself to Somaliland and watch as Jama lives his life. Sections of the book are traumatic, others are uplifting, as we learn about the pain mankind can inflict, as well as the generosity and kindness often given without a thought.
My only wish about this book is that it was a bit longer, and described Jama's homecoming. It would have rounded the book off and I would have understood how Nadifa, Jama's daughter and the author of the book, came to be writing the story.

Unfortunately I was one of those who didn't particularly get on too well with this book. The synopsis/storyline has been given by almost every other reviewer so I won't repeat it.

I was initially drawn to this book because reading the back cover I thought it would be `A Thousand Splendid Suns' type of story and although it does give an harrowing account of a young boy's struggle through grief, hunger, war, and indeed East Africa, it seems to lack a certain emotion or humanness. I didn't really find Jama a likeable character - he was feral, aggressive, dirty, a thief, didn't even know where the mother he loved so much was when she was dying and hadn't lived with or even seen his mother for months. There seemed to be little care or love between the family members. It also seemed too amazing to be true that a young under nourished teenage boy can travel on foot through 200 miles of desert, from province to province and country to country avoiding death all the way, and the first bar/shop he walks into at each place he just happens to meet his mates he grew up with.

This book has been likened to The Kite Runner and Half Yellow Sun but I think this book just misses and if you're expecting the delights of books such as those you may be disappointed.

Jama is a young boy growing up in East Africa in the 1930s. His father left when he was a baby to earn more money elsewhere, so Jama lives with his mother in Aden, Yemen. He feels an outcast and is often in trouble. His mother works hard and Jama spends his days getting into mischief. Afer his mother's death he goes to live with family in his homeland of Somalia and runs away to find his father, travelling all across the region, even though he is just a child for much of it. Overall, you are reading about approximately twelve years of someone's life.

Jama is an engaging character who you easily warm to; he is cheeky, mischievous but full of street smarts, but at the same time naive, intent on following his dreams, and undaunted by the distance he needs to travel to find his father. For our part, we share Jama's journey into manhood both literally and metaphorically as he experiences World War II, working for the Italians and then the British, risking his neck for a war that has nothing to do with his world. Of the supporting characters, only Jama's friend Shidane stands out, the only boy more street smart and cheekier than Jama. Don't think of these boys as good people, they are trying to survive, and they will steal and lie to get what they need which can be a bit uncomfortable for us more privaleged readers.

As interesting and engaging as this story was I do have a few niggles. I did find the book hard to relate to at times, the terrible poverty and hunger is something I have been fortunate enough to not experience, but some of the feats that Jama performs during his journey, such as walking for days in the African heat with little water or food, seem beyond human endurance and a bit far fetched. The coincidences also seemed too much for me, characters we meet reappear at other points in the book in a different country, whilst the ex-pat Somali community maybe close-knit, I thought some of these coincidences a bit too much of a long shot. However, the real kicker for me was the ending. The book virtually just stopped, with very little conclusion and several loose ends. It wasn't so much that I felt I wanted it to continue, more so that I felt a bit cheated that Jama's story hadn't been rounded off a bit neater.

This is Nadifa Mohamed's first novel; she was born in Somalia but did much of her growing up in the UK. The book is inspired by her father and his friends, who did the long journeys across parts of Africa during the war years, and had first hand experience of the Italian fascists. I enjoyed her writing style, once I had got used to Jama as a character I got into the book and overall really enjoyed it. She can be concisely descriptive, which is how I like it - enough so that you can visualise the scenery and atmosphere, but not so that you get frustrated that the story is being neglected. I would be interested to read any of her future work.

I would recommend this book to readers interested in the region, and the impact of World War II. As I have mentioned, it is a `journey' book, so those who like neat conclusions or fast paced action may not find it is what they are looking for.