As they do in life, unanswered questions nag in Dinaw Mengestu’s new novel, “ Someone Like Us. ” That is what sets a man on a cross-country trip to understand his father’s past and, ultimately, his own. This is the Ethiopian-American novelist’s fourth novel.
His articles and fiction have been published by The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and others. He was a 2012 MacArthur Fellow and named a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 in 2007. He teaches at Bard College.
BOOKS: What have you been reading? MENGESTU: I’m reading “ Hangman ,” a new novel by a young writer, Maya Binyam. I’m deeply impressed by its quiet humor. I’ve also been working my way through the novels by Abdulrazak Gurnah, the 2021 Nobel Prize winner.
I’m just finishing “ By the Sea, ” which is extraordinary, and before that I read “ Afterlives .” Advertisement BOOKS: Do you make a point of reading prize winners? MENGESTU: Most of the time I’m already familiar with works that win prizes. I wasn’t with Gurnah’s.
Then Riverhead reissued some of his books recently. I wanted to read “By the Sea” when it came out but I had to wait until the semester ended. During the school year, I spend a lot of time rereading books I teach but there’s a lot of joy in rereading.
BOOKS: Are there books you especially enjoy rereading to teach? MENGESTU: I’ve taught Camus’s “ The Stranger ” several times. Each time I get a little closer to understanding all of the layers.