My Fathers' Daughter in Around the World

Aug 14, 2022 Claire rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: around-the-world, autobiography, around-the-world-2022, memoir, adoption

An excellent portrayal of a young woman's discovery of her family and the return to meet them, to encounter her cultural origins for the first time.

She writes with an honesty about her feelings and sometimes lack of, and the often latent emotional response that comes later. These encounters often put her in the "freeze" state, making her seem disassociated from the significant encounters, a common reaction by an adoptee, a survival mechanism that's been hardwired into their nervous system from t ...more

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Dec 05, 2019 Sue Kozlowski rated it really liked it

Shelves: 196-countries, debut-novel, memoir, non-fiction, z-196-read-eritrea

I read this book as part of my quest to read a book written by an author from every country in the world. The author of this book is from Eritrea.

I thought this was a beautiful book and I learned a great deal about Eritrea. Eritrea is located on the eastern coast of Africa, just above Ethiopia. It is located on the Red Sea, across from Saudia Arabia. Its seaports have been important for centuries.

Eritrea has been owned and occupied by many countries, including Italy and Britain. It was once part I read this book as part of my quest to read a book written by an author from every country in the world. The author of this book is from Eritrea.

I thought this was a beautiful book and I learned a great deal about Eritrea. Eritrea is located on the eastern coast of Africa, just above Ethiopia. It is located on the Red Sea, across from Saudia Arabia. Its seaports have been important for centuries.

Eritrea has been owned and occupied by many countries, including Italy and Britain. It was once part of Ethiopia, but it fought to gain its independence in 1991. The country requires military service and many people move out of the country to escape it. Many people are very poor and the country has some of the worst human rights abuses in the world.

Hannah was born in Asmara and her mom died in childbirth. She was adopted by an English couple and grew up in England. She is contacted by distant cousins and decides that she would like to trace her roots. With much trepidation and fear, Hannah travels to Asmara to meet her birth family. The love of her immediate and extended family is amazing.

While walking in Asmara, Hannah makes an observation that I have never thought of. On pg. 63, Hannah thinks, "There's another big difference that it takes me a while to pin down. It's not about what people are wearing or the language they are speaking, but it's no less obvious. It's the way everyone is walking, or rather carrying themselves. At first, I think it is the fact that everyone seems to be strolling. It must be too hot to rush, I reckon. But it's more than that. It's even those not walking, just standing around, chatting in groups, waiting at bus stops...... Everyone looks so comfortable, so relaxed, walking around as if they own the place. So this is what black people look like when they are not having to constantly look over their shoulder, or justify their presence. When they are not always waiting for the next bit of aggression, expecting to be singled out, ignored, or given too much attention depending on the situation."

A few pages later, Hannah is talking to her friend that is guiding her through Asmara:

"I tentatively tell Teame how I think people walk taller here, or am I just falling into the Western anthropologist's trap of making stupid assumptions about "proud Africans"? To my relief, he smiles and then laughs and says, "When you go from Africa to the U.S. or Europe on a scholarship you get treated differently, badly, but it doesn't matter because you always have Africa, you can always come back. You will be different now that you know you can always come here. If they treat you badly back at home, if someone is racist to you, it won't matter so much because now you know what it feels like to belong somewhere."

Of course, being a white American, I have never thought that the way Africans act and carry themselves, might actually look different when they are in their own countries - because they are home and feel safe. It is such an obvious observation that I have never thought about.
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Jul 28, 2022 Rachel rated it liked it

Shelves: around-the-world-challenge-2022, audiobooks, biography-memoir, takes-me-somewhere-else, 52-book-club-2022, english-authors, draaaagged, around-the-world, read-in-2022, international-authors

My Fathers’ Daughter is a memoir by British-Eritrean author Hannah Azieb Pool. Hannah was born in Eritrea, adopted from an orphanage and raised by British parents in England. As an adult she discovers she was not in fact an orphan, but her biological father and siblings are still alive. In 2003 she decides to return to Eritrea to meet her family.

I read this book as part of my read around the world challenge. As such I like to find out a little about each country. Eritrea is a small country in n My Fathers’ Daughter is a memoir by British-Eritrean author Hannah Azieb Pool. Hannah was born in Eritrea, adopted from an orphanage and raised by British parents in England. As an adult she discovers she was not in fact an orphan, but her biological father and siblings are still alive. In 2003 she decides to return to Eritrea to meet her family.

I read this book as part of my read around the world challenge. As such I like to find out a little about each country. Eritrea is a small country in northeast Africa, bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan and the Red Sea, with Asmara its capital. The three main working languages are Tigrinya, Arabic and English. Eritrea has been a largely Christian country since the fourth century, and was part of the medieval kingdom of Medri Bahri. It became an Italian colony in 1869 or 1870 during the Scramble for Africa, and was so until 1942, then fell under British rule for ten years, then Ethiopian. The Eritrean War of Independence lasted for 30 years and the country finally ruled itself in 1993. It is a one party presidential republic with no elections and some serious human rights abuses. Eritrea has compulsory military service which many flee the country to escape. There is also a strong UN peacekeeping presence. More than 100,000 lives were lost between 1998 and 2000 in the border wars with Ethiopia.

It is difficult to review a memoir as one cannot really rate another person’s memories, experiences or life, but this is just my reaction to the writing and the book. The entire book is taken up with Hannah’s two week trip to Eritrea and her preparation for it. While it is a valuable topic, and Hannah is an honest reflective writer, the extended monologue became quite repetitive. I enjoyed the little insight we were given into Eritrea but felt the endless analysis of her every thought could have been edited significantly. There were many scenes involving Hannah deciding whether to wear a dress or skirt, whether her jeans were too tight, and whether she should have a drink or smoke before meeting various family members. Oddly, despite the book’s attempt to be deep and reflective, many of the observations made were fairly superficial and seemed similar to stereotypical impressions about Africa formed by many European tourists. Although this is an important story about family, loss and identity, it was a somewhat disappointing read. My favourite line was, "When you go from Africa to the U.S. or Europe on a scholarship you get treated differently, badly, but it doesn't matter because you always have Africa, you can always come back. You will be different now that you know you can always come here.” ...more

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