The God Who Begat a Jackal: A Novel [Hardcover]

Nega Mezlekia (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 2002

A Library Journal Best Book

Nega Mezlekia's memoir Notes from the Hyena's Belly was described in the New York Times Book Review as "the most riveting book about Ethiopia since Ryszard Kapuscinski's literary allegory The Emperor and the most distinguished African literary memoir since Soyinka's Aké appeared 20 years ago." Mezlekia now offers a first novel steeped in African folklore and teeming with the class, ethnic and religious struggles of pre-colonial Africa. In The God Who Begat a Jackal, the 17th-century feudal system, vassal uprisings, religious mythology, and the Crusades are intertwined with the love between Aster, the daughter of a feudal lord, and Gudu, the court jester and family slave. Aster and Gudu's relationship is the ultimate taboo, but supernatural elements presage a destiny more powerful than the rule of man. With Mezlekia's enchanting storytelling and ironic humor, readers glimpse African deities that have long since weathered away and the social cleavages that have endured through time.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The God Who Begat a Jackal, Nega Mezlekia's much-anticipated first novel and follow-up to his award-winning memoir Notes from the Hyena's Belly, is a story of doomed love set in feudal Ethiopia in the last days of premodern Africa. It is a time when caste-system slavery is essential to the economy, women are married by force at the age of 12, and warlords run their fiefdoms with the fitful tyranny of petty despots. Mezlekia's heroine, Aster, is the only child of one of these aristocrats, the ambitious Count Ashenafi. Aster is an extraordinary child: she is clairvoyant, can walk through walls, and possesses an unparalleled intellect. Her fiercely protective father cloisters her under perpetual guard and dismisses all of her would-be suitors. Inevitably, Aster falls in love with her guard, Gudu, the count's court poet, and together they set out to record Gudu's immense knowledge of his country's poetic tradition. But their affair is soon discovered, resulting in bitter intrigue and civil war.

While Mezlekia does spin a good tale, his novel is likely to disappoint readers who enjoyed Notes from the Hyena's Belly. Mezlekia's memoir owed much of its success to the consistently high quality of its language, which was full of arresting images but seldom flashy and never pretentious. The God Who Begat a Jackal, on the other hand, features undistinguished writing of the sort one would expect from a particularly bland fantasy novel. The novel can be enjoyed for its plot and social commentary, but it isn't the gem that it ought to have been. --Harvey Cornell

From Publishers Weekly

Though rich in ancient legend, this first novel by the Ethiopia-born author of the memoir Notes from the Hyena's Belly slips too often into conventional historical storytelling and formulaic romance. Set in what is today Ethiopia, toward the end of the 18th century, the novel charts a feudal uprising set in motion by Count Ashenafi's only daughter, Aster, when she consorts with Gudu, a slave who belongs to the count. At a very young age Aster proves that she has a gift of divination, for which she gains fame far and wide. But after she is raped by the emperor, her gift deserts her, and her only consolation is teaching the court entertainer and poet slave Gudu to write down his wealth of oral stories. Gudu is slowly awakening to the insurgent ideas of followers of a new god, Amma, who swear to undermine the historically unequal relationship between landowners and their bondsmen. Count Ashenafi's expedition to the hotbed of insurgency turns into a match of wills, while a shadowy, hunchbacked monk named Reverend Yiman arouses the peasants to embark on a kind of jihad. Mezlekia's tale begins to sound like a hackneyed modern-day allegory of colonial war, and the love story between Aster and Gudu, which can't end well, a convenient way to get readers to take sides. The author has the gift of spinning stories out of stories, however, and adventurous readers will be drawn onward by an inviting fragrance of romance and mystery. Agent, Jacqueline Kaiser of Westwood Creative Artists. 5-city author tour.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Picador; 1st edition (January 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312287011
• ISBN-13: 978-0312287016
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,759,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Haunting, mythical story with slight pacing problem, August 14, 2004

By 

Kelly Cannon Hess (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The God Who Begat a Jackal: A Novel (Paperback)

This haunting first novel is steeped in African folklore and brimming with the class, ethnic and religious struggles of pre-colonial Africa. Aster, the beautiful and intelligent daughter of a feudal lord dares to love one of her father's slaves. Gudu is a deep thinker, a gentle soul born into the lowest stratum of a brutal society. A captivating storyteller, he is among the most prized possessions of Aster's father, Count Ashenafi.

When Gudu and Aster's love is discovered, Gudu barely escapes with his life. He finds refuge and acceptance among Count Ashenafi's enemies, eventually leading them in war against the Count. All the while, the two lovers still dream of being together. Gudu builds a mansion for Aster in his adopted city, while Aster plots to avoid a forced marriage to a man of her father's choosing.

The middle of the book is slowed down somewhat by lengthy and tedious accounts of Gudu's exploits after he joins the Count's enemies.

Through a spare and lyrical prose, Mr. Mezlekia weaves a deeply felt tale that occasionally surprises us with its mythic occurrences, not the least of which involves the ultimate fate of the heroine.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good first novel but needed some serious editing, May 21, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The God Who Begat a Jackal: A Novel (Hardcover)

The love story was very engaging in this novel. However, about halfway through, it's lost and suddenly the plot became bogged down with historical information. It totally lost me and I found myself skipping pages. I think Nega is a great writer with much potential as a novelist. His first book was superb. I just think he needs to go back and perfect his novel writing skills. He's not there yet. The structure of this book was off. Historical elements are important but they need to be in the background, coloring the plot. More subtle. I eagerly await his next novel.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Suspending disbelief, July 23, 2002

By 

James Tsai - See all my reviews

This review is from: The God Who Begat a Jackal: A Novel (Hardcover)

Historical fiction is a genre that I always thought you have to suspend disbelief to a certain degree. That is usually supplanted strongly with the backdrop of history, allowing the reader to believe that the events actually have or at least may have happened.

Mezlekia unfortuanately sabotages this with his antics of magic and unlikelihoods in plot, that moves it more into a genre I'd like to call historical fantasy. But unlike Wilbur Smiths' River God series where the scenery of history and the fantastic elements he uses, Mezlekia writes a story that only confuses the reader and is filled with slow moving sections that only encourages skimming. Gudu and Aster's characters are developed well in some ways, but their motivations for some of their doings come across as baffling at times.

This is a good beach book, that's all it is really for me at the moment.