Knots

by Nuruddin Farah

Book Overview

From the internationally acclaimed author of North of Dawn comes "a beautiful, hopeful novel about one woman's return to war-ravaged Mogadishu" (Time) Called "one of the most sophisticated voices in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594489246
• ISBN13: 9781594489242
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: Riverhead Books
• Length: 422 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Insight into living in Mogadiscio (Mogadishu)

Knots, by Nuruddin Farah, is a novel about a Somali-raised girl (Cambara) returning to Somalia as a mother grieving over the drowning of her only son and the unfaithfulness of her husband in Canada. It is an exceptional book about a woman, written by a man. Farah is Somali by birth, and the detail in his description of life in Mogadiscio (Mogadishu) shows. In this novel, Farah doesn't share the true reasons for Cambara's trip to Mogadiscio until the midpoint of the novel, in chapter 17. Up to that point, the reader is kept wondering about Cambara's secrets. Thus, the story is slow to develop, but intriguing enough to keep your attention. This was a fascinating story, but it slipped a point by having everything work in Cambara's favor throughout. Perhaps this is my bias, but I expected life in Mogadiscio to be more difficult than Farah portrayed. Regards, the rich tapestry in the writing made me stick to the end, which was very abrupt. I understand some of the characters in Knots have appeared in at least one other of Farah's novels. This one didn't have the feel of a sequel, and I'm sure it wasn't meant to be one.

Old Done, so far Excellent

I am almost finished with Knots, Farah's latest novel. I have read his previous triology (blood in the Sun) and Links. What I have not seen so far in any of the book reviews for Knots is that Knots is in some way a sequeal to Links, as it shares a few characters (Biles and Seamus). I will leave my final review for when I have finished the story, but I recommend any of the Farah's last 5 novels. The are a few grammatical errors (he is not a native English, but the blame is likely his editors), but overall he has a huge voice and opens the door for coming closer to understanding Somalia and its people.