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Feb 2nd, 2015

Book Review: Dertogada by Yesmake Worku

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By: Dagem Lemma

Doctor Miraj walks into a room where a patient is waiting for him. He’s having what he thinks to be just another day at the hospital. Little does he know that his whole life is about to change in one conversation; little does he know that he is about to embark on a path that will have him come against the CIA, NASA, and several other secret agencies from world-leading countries. He’s about to discover dark secrets one would not wish to know held by people one would not wish to know dark secrets about. Twisted roads of love, passion, failure, and costs of patriotism await him. He’s about to discover…Dertogada.

Yesmake Worku’s first novel appearance shook the Ethiopian book market to its core by having escalating sales upon the first publication of “Dertogada”. When it came out in the year 2008 (2001, Ethiopian calendar) everyone wanted to read it. From late middle school students up to late adults, all hands from all walks of life wanted to hold that mystic of a book. Having some 21 publications up to date, and two other succeeding novels, Dertogada ranks as one of the all-time bestselling books in Ethiopia.

Every single page is colored with such vivid pictures that would have you travel both back in time and to alternate universes (also other countries), while also occasionally having you stop and reflect for a moment. The philosophies, ideas, dreams and hopes bleeding from the conversations paint an elegant, yet bold picture of a better tomorrow. More specifically, a better Ethiopia. And that’s what it is: a hope for a better Ethiopia. This is Dertogada.

The Plot

Top scientists from top research facilities and secret agencies around the world all go suspiciously missing one by one. Agencies go into turmoil upon these sudden and unexplainable disappearances. Seeing that they were top-profile assets for their respective companies, and that they were all monitored very closely, only added confusion to the investigations, which are already undergoing. One thing in common they all have that went unnoticed, was that they were all Ethiopians.

Scientist, Engineer Shagiz Ejigu, a highly-esteemed engineer who works for the National Aeronautics Space Agency (NASA), and one of the most influential scientist to have walked the earth (and the moon), and has designed several defense systems for NASA—also an Ethiopian—is the only one that seems to not have disappeared along with the other renowned scientists. He’s laying back on a hospital bed waiting for his doctor, a one Doctor Miraj, who’s just walked in. After this doctor converses with his patient, and discovers very unusual conspiracies going on in his life, he is bestowed up on him a responsibility to solve a certain mystery that would soon, somehow, help his patient…help his country.

This mystery he has to solve appears to be very secretive and requiring precise steps to carefully follow, and the core of it all lies on a tattoo he’d had as a child on his back that resembles one letter in the Amharic alphabet. But, being the conversant person Dr. Miraj is, the task should be simple. This task is a dream for the betterment of his country. This task is one to be done with complete selflessness and true faith in his homeland. Will he be able to fulfill this responsibility, solve the mystery and reach his appointed destination? Would he be able to overcome the challenges, setbacks, obstacles that would come ready to cripple him completely? Would he be focused? Only time will tell.

The Characters

We’re introduced to not one but various characters. In fact, the protagonist isn’t fully recognized until after a few chapters into the book. His name is Dr. Miraj, a very intelligent and knowledgeable person who spends most of his leisure reading books and playing his guitar. We’re introduced to him through a conversation that takes place in a hospital room between him and Engineer Shagiz. Although the highly-esteemed engineer’s life is not thoroughly described (except for the fact that he’s contributed greatly for NASA, and seems to be the most controversial figure at the time), we see that he’s a shadow that directs the young doctor into achieving his task.

Sipara Finhas, a childhood lover of Miraj, is now one of the top agents of Mossad. Born and raised in a women’s monastery on one of the six islands on Lake Tana, located in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, Sipara is one of the many Ethio-Jewish residents who fled to Israel during the late sixties. And as she fled, she’s tragically separated from her juvenile love, who also grew up in the men’s monastery on a different island. Their love affair is one that reflects the costs of love.

We meet another character who appears physically very unpleasing to the eye—Diwola, a right-hand slave of the most notorious mob-boss in Sicily, Italy. Diwola, a character with bruised past and questionable attitude, is one whose journey crosses path with the other characters. His enormous physique and scarred face depicts the intense violence he has engaged in and the absence of fear or reluctance to engage in other ones. His conflictions, often causing him to find himself in convicting first-person dialogues, are one that any reader finds himself in. His journey eventually becomes a personal one rather than just another job.

Through all of these, and other relatively minor characters, we witness unlikely paths crossing, unpredicted truths unveiling, and unprecedented hope emerging. The roads these souls are to take within this journey of a book is a mere preamble in this greater hope that is to be ingrained in carried on by generations to come.

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The Author

Yesmake Worku’s fictional skills are all apparent throughout the pages. What seems to capture the observant reader’s attention is the author’s success in bringing forth such an ensnaring work of fiction on his first debut as a novelist. After examining the connections he has made between current reality and Science Fiction within the book, and how he effectively and without having the reader’s confusion, introduced and explained entirely new inventions and engineerings, it’s not hard to judge Worku’s great width (and depth) of imagination.

His knowledge about History is also noteworthy. Being the skillful craftsman he is in twisting conspiracies and would-be ancient historical incidents and rumors to bring about an end-product purely thriller, Worku not only educates his readers, but also leaves them on the edges of their seats by his cogent arguments and “claims” about what truly lies behind landmark schemes done in ancient Ethiopia. But, respect should also be given for how Worku narrated some of Ethiopia’s historical misfortune (and also fortune) as they were without altering them for the sake of fiction. Painful journeys of immigrating previous-generation Ethiopians, the power struggle, the cry for freedom, the cost of freedom are painted throughout the plot and seem to seek to resolve traumas through some of the philosophies painted on the pages, which also leads us to…

Within every conversation, every narration, every detail-depiction Worku has so talentedly written out, there are philosophies—some apparent, some subliminal—even advices, words of wisdom anyone can take from the book and put it to quotidian use being sure they are true words of advice. But most of all, and this to be admired and praised the most from Yemake Worku’s attempts, is the one that aims to elicit one patriotic zeal from the reader. There is no apparent “primary audience” that Worku has set out to communicate to, to speak to, and this aids him greatly in getting his message across to every Amharic-reading minds.

It also aids him in that, any person who can read Amharic can read this book and be sure to develop an intriguing love for Ethiopia, a true wish for a better hope, the best hope for her. It’s not even necessary to finish the whole book for one to feel this patriotism: some of the various interesting characters one meets throughout the book and their conviction for their homeland, for her growth and emancipation from poverty, is one that shakes to the core and provides a reflecting mirror, in a way asking, “What about you? What do you feel towards the country that bore you, the very root of who you are, your identity? Are you striving to free her from the exploitation and abuse she is so restlessly receiving from leaders, countries and the like?. . .” Do you have a better hope for Ethiopia?.

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