Cover of Gifts

Gifts

Blood in the Sun seriesNext:Secrets(1998) →

Giftsis a beguiling tale of a Somali family, its strong matriarch, Duniya, and its past wounds that refuse to heal. As the story unfolds, Somalia is ravaged by war, drought, disease, and famine, prompting industrialized nations to offer monetary aid—"gifts" to the so-called Third World. Farah weaves these threads together into a tapestry of dreams, memories, family lore, folktales, and journalistic accounts.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 256 pages

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Liked Gifts? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Gifts. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Weep Not, Child Shares Africa, african literature, fiction
  2. Sweet Medicine Shares Africa, african literature, fiction
  3. The King of Kahel Shares Africa, fiction, historical fiction
  4. By the Sea Shares Africa, fiction, african literature

“People who read Gifts tend to reach for these next.”

  1. The Eighth Promise: An American Son's Tribute to His Toisanese Mother
  2. Telling Tales
  3. Surrender or Starve: Travels in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea
  4. The Prophet's Camel Bell

“If you want more of the same (historical fiction), start with these.”

  1. Keeping Hope Alive: One Woman: 90,000 Lives Changed
  2. Getting Somalia Wrong?: Faith, War and Hope in a Shattered State
  3. Aman: The Story of a Somali Girl
  4. The World's Most Dangerous Place: Inside the Outlaw State of Somalia

“If it was the Africa that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Cion
  2. London - Cape Town - Joburg
  3. Gwendolen
  4. The Slave Girl

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Avengers: The Initiative, Volume 6: Siege
  2. Blood Brothers
  3. The Hunter: A Chinese Folktale
  4. The Enchanted Wood