Dinaw Mengestu’s latest novel, Someone Like Us, delves deep into the intertwined themes of identity, belonging, and the immigrant experience in contemporary America. Mengestu, known for his poignant explorations of the Ethiopian diaspora and the complexities of life in the United States, once again captures the intricacies of the immigrant experience with a narrative that is both haunting and reflective.
The story begins with the sudden death of Samuel, an enigmatic and charismatic Ethiopian immigrant whose life is as mysterious as his untimely demise. The novel’s protagonist, Mamush, who considers Samuel his father, is drawn back to Washington, DC from France, where he has built a life with his wife and child. However, this return is not just about grieving a lost parent; it’s a quest for truth and self-discovery.
Mamush, much like Mengestu himself, is a journalist who has grown weary of the demands of covering global conflicts and the refugee crises that often dominate international headlines. His return to the Ethiopian community in Washington, DC, is both a personal and professional journey, as he investigates the circumstances surrounding Samuel’s death. But as Mamush digs deeper into Samuel’s life, the narrative shifts, revealing more about Mamush’s own internal struggles than about the mystery of his father’s death.
Mengestu expertly weaves a story that oscillates between the present and the past, with Samuel’s life and the broader immigrant experience in America as the central focus. Through flashbacks and reflective passages, Mengestu presents Samuel as a man caught between two worlds – Ethiopia and America. His ambitions to succeed in America, symbolized by his work as a taxi driver with dreams of expanding his business across the country, are juxtaposed with his feelings of displacement and the unresolved ties to his homeland.
Someone Like Us evolves from a mystery novel into a ghost story, not in the supernatural sense, but as a meditation on the ghosts of the past that continue to haunt the present. Mengestu’s narrative style, reminiscent of Teju Cole and Joseph O’Neill, captures the feeling of exile that permeates the lives of immigrants who straddle multiple identities and geographies.
The novel’s title, Someone Like Us, poses a quiet yet profound challenge to the reader: Who do we consider part of “us”? Mengestu invites us to broaden our understanding of identity and belonging, questioning whether the American dream can truly accommodate the diverse experiences and backgrounds of all its occupants.
Through Mamush’s journey, Mengestu explores the notion of inbetweenness – a state of existing between cultures, languages, and histories. The novel’s structure reflects this, with its narrative tightly bound within a few days, yet expansive in its constant movement through time and memory.
In the end, Someone Like Us is more than a story about a father and son or the immigrant experience; it is a reflection on the human condition, on the ways we search for meaning and belonging in a world that often feels fragmented and disjointed. It’s a novel that resonates with anyone who has ever felt caught between worlds, longing for a place to call home.
Mengestu’s Someone Like Us is a powerful addition to his body of work, reaffirming his place as a vital voice in contemporary literature. Through his lens, we see the American dream not as a singular, monolithic concept, but as a mosaic of stories and experiences, each as complex and multifaceted as the individuals who live them.
