Links (2004)

He is a good writer but there is a disconnect here. It's as if his heart just wasn't in it. The story flounders in a murky soup of characters and blurry ideas. Themes struggle with their identity crisis. Maybe this is exactly the intent. That's what I believed on first reading the book, that the style was recapitulating life in Somalia. ( )

Links addresses Somali clan politics and clan loyalties in the context of the civil war in Mogadishu. Jeebleh, the protagonist, born in Somalia, was arrested and imprisoned by the Siad Barre regime, and was exiled from the country in Barre's last days. His return to the city is prompted by a need to visit his mother's grave and offer her a proper burial right, and to tie up loose ends with his foster brothers and sister.

The book is interesting in its depiction of strife-torn Mogadishu, but fundamentally unconvincing as a novel. The characters never attain any real depth or demonstrate any convincingly true feelings, and the dialogue is stilted and leaden. Farah does provide some superficial insight into Somali clan loyalties, but his aggressively anti-clan posture makes this seem more like a lecture than a natural position for his characters to inhabit. ( )

"Mogadiscio had known centuries of attrition: one army leaving death and destruction in its wake, to be replaced by another and another and yet another, all equally destructive ... " (p. 14)

Jeebleh has been living in the United States for many years, and after his mother's death he decides to make a visit to his home country of Somalia. He intends to visit his mother's grave, and help search for a young girl -- a member of his oldest friend BIle's family -- who has gone missing. The novel opens with Jeebleh's arrival at the airport, where he encounters the mysterious Af-Laawe. From these opening moments it is difficult to discern good and evil; to know which characters can be trusted. The tension is palpable, just like day-to-day living in Mogadiscio.

Jeebleh begins to connect with old friends and associates. In addition to Bile, there is Caloosha, his brother, and a violent warlord; Shanta, Bile's sister; Faahiye, her husband; and Raasta, the missing girl and Shanta's daughter. With each encounter he becomes more embroiled in the conflict underpinning the civil war in Somalia, finally admitting, "I'm now part of the story, in that I've taken sides, and made choices that might put my life in danger." (p. 215).

Reading this book, I learned a bit about the civil war in Somalia. However, some aspects of the translation failed to convey the emotion and intensity the author undoubtedly intended. The book is also full of symbolism that I didn't fully grasp: either due to lack of background knowledge, or possibly again a weakness in the translation. ( )

Links was a very absorbing portrait of Mogadiscio and the impact of civil war and clan conflicts. Farah presents a frightening world where people may not be who they seem and violence is an everyday event. The protagonist, Jeebleh, has been living in the United States since being released from imprisonment for which his friend Bile's half brother, Caloosha, was responsible. He has returned to Somalia to help find Bile's niece and her friend who have been kidnapped, and also to properly bury his mother. In the process he grapples with who he is as a Somali who has left the country and returned. ( )