The Case of the Criminal Walk and Other Stories

Book excerpt: Stories from Ethiopia where the reality is more astonishing than fiction "The Case of the Criminal Walk and Other Stories" presents a collection of short stories by Ethiopian writer Hama Tuma. As one reviewer put it, the stories of Hama Tuma ' give a voice to the plight of the ordinary people, tackling the themes of the tragedy of the Ethiopian people as a whole, including corruption and poverty, contrasted with the strength of the human spirit'. These are tales of a City on the one hand and that of a nation and a people on the other. As the famous Kenyan writer, Ngugi Wa Thiongo, put it in a review of Hama Tuma's earlier book, "The Case of the Socialist Witchdoctor and other Stories," Hama Tuma continues to "brilliantly capture the contradictions that make up the real Ethiopia of the twentieth century." In Ethiopia, the tragedy continues despite change of government and Hama Tuma delves into the tormented souls of his compatriots to highlight not only the suffering but also the hope and optimism that makes the living, however hard the struggle, tolerable and worthy.