Youngthing

by Nuruddin Farah

I've never read or heard of Nuruddin Farah before.  From what I've gathered, he's a Somali novelist who has written a number of books.

This short story (with a nice illustration from Emmanuel Guibert), is set in contemporary Mogadishu, and concerns Youngthing, a recruit into the Shabab, the militant wing of the Union of Islamic Courts.  Youngthing failed as a suicide bombing candidate, and has instead been given the task of securing a house for the group to use against an expected intervention of Ethiopian troops.

Being uneducated and not very knowledgeable, Youngthing occupies the wrong house, which is already inhabited by an old man named Dhoorre, who is no friend to the movement.  When Youngthing's three bosses arrive, there is trouble waiting for just about everyone.

Farah's writing is nice.  He tells the tale in a straightforward way, but keeps shifting the narrator's perspective from one character to another, so we are given the fullest picture.  There are, perhaps, a few too many passages that exist simply to update the casual reader on what is going on in Somalia, but I suppose they are necessary.  I am interested in checking out more from this writer.