Dinaw Mengestu

The Tribune book section was uncharacteristically loaded with fiction reviews this week. One that really grabbed my attention was The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, by Dinaw Mengestu, which reviewer Laura Ciolkowski calls "eloquent" and "deeply moving." This quoted passage is particularly touching:

"Here we were, an older man and a girl young enough to be the man's daughter, sitting in a store on a winter morning reading a novel together. I tried not to notice too much, to simply just live, but that was impossible. Every time I looked at her I became aware of just how seemingly perfect this time was. I thought about how years from now I would remember this with a crushing, heartbreaking nostalgia, because of course I knew even then that I would eventually find myself standing here alone."

Given the Trib's usual record of reviewing a book months beyond its release date, long after the buzz has passed, it's rare for the newspaper to introduce me to a title and author I've not only never heard of before, but that I'm genuinely interested in. Kudos to the Trib, and Laura Ciolkowski, for this one.

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