I'll start off by saying that, even though this is a two-star book for me, I appreciate this new perspective I have on Somalia and the effort that went into the allusions (or Links, if you will) to Dante's Inferno throughout this book. These aspects are the most positive ones I take with me from this book.

Since this was a book I had to read for class, it was expected it wouldn't be something I really wanted to read. I think what was so disappointing to me was just how much this book dragged on, despite the fact that it was about revenge, war-torn Somalia, rescuing kidnapped children, and self-identity. The plot sounds like there's going to be action at every turn, but there was a lot of conversation and wandering. (And drinking coffee.)

The main character, Jeebleh, goes through a journey of self-discovery as he returns to Somalia; the country he was born in and imprisoned in by his close friend's half-brother Caloosha. After having a near-death experience in New York, he recalls the loose ends he wants to tie in Somalia. He wants to pay respects to his dead mother, he wants to help recover the kidnapped girls, Raasta and Makka, and lastly, wants to enact his revenge on Caloosha.

One of the most confusing things about this book is how the characters seemed to operate. They always knew what the other one was thinking and allowed themselves to be taken to places without knowing where they were going. I'm not sure how realistic this is because if I was in a dangerous country, I'm not so sure I would just get in the first car that someone (potentially Caloosha) had arranged for me. There was just a lot of weird tension and behavior that came across as unnatural, rather than situational.

I was also unsatisfied with how Jeebleh carried out each of his tasks. It was confusing to me that everything played out for him in the end. The perspectives shifted around at points where I really wanted to be in Jeebleh's head to know what was going on. This was likely intentionally done to add a bit of mystery at the end, but it just made the ending vague and empty to me. Jeebleh's whole character was very unpredictable and odd, so I didn't find myself glad that he'd acheived his goals.

Lastly, I felt as if the female characters in this book were one of two things: strangely described or nonexistent. I found myself confused when reading descriptors about Bile's sister, Shanta, and the girls Raasta and Makka. And the first moment a female character actually speaks in the book, other than a brief line from a phone call with Jeebleh's wife and daughters, is almost halfway in the book! While I'm not expecting Jeebleh's story to be heavily focused on the female experience in Somalia, I was a little concerned that he didn't once think of the fate of some of the women and feel something. He didn't even seem to think about this in relation to the fact that his wife and daughters, had they been Somalian and in Somalia, could be subjected to some of the cruelties experienced there.

I wouldn't say to write this book off completely due to my taste; it's still worth reading to learn about another culture, if nothing else. Just don't go into it expecting a lot of action.