There Is No Me Without You: One Woman's Odyssey to Rescue Africa's Children

#803
Title: There Is No Me Without You: One Woman's Odyssey to Rescue Africa's Children
Author: Melissa Fay Greene
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Year: 2006
480 pages

Audiobook.

In some ways, this book is overambitious. The author attempts to tell three intertwined stories: AIDS in Africa/Ethiopia, one woman's efforts, and much more peripherally, the author's adoption of two Ethiopian children. However, these strands are not balanced and don't ultimately braid together in a satisfying and even way, though it's sufficient. Less well-executed is the narrative voice, which cannot find its genre--is it reportage, indignant essay, or fiction? It's not intended to be fiction, but the frequent interior monologues and statements about how people other than the author (who is also a character) feel and what they're thinking are incredibly jarring and decrease my belief in the story's veracity. They raise questions about Greene's assumptions. Since many of these putatively nonfictional passages rely on pathos, they're particularly intrusive. The audiobook version features swelling emo instrumental riffs at especially poignant moments, which was startling and annoying.

Someone must tell Greene that "lowly" does not have a primary meaning of "quietly" or "in a low voice," but "humbly." She uses it several times.

These criticisms aside, it's an engaging and maybe even important book, probably an accessible way to interest a book group in AIDS prevention and intervention in Africa.