Ethiopia's 1974 revolution tears a family in half in this striking debut. Mengiste is as adept at crafting emotionally delicate moments as she is deft at portraying the tense and grim historical material, while her judicious sprinkling of lyricism imbues this novel with a vivid atmosphere.That the novel subjects the reader to the same feelings of hopelessness and despair that its characters grapple with is a grand testament to Mengiste's talent.
Publisher's Weekly
An arresting, powerful novel that works on both personal and political levels.
Kirkus
Lucid and compelling... Beneath the Lion's Gaze is an extraordinary novel, which assembles a dauntingly broad cast of characters and, through them, tells stories that nobody can want to hear, in such a way that we cannot stop listening. Although set more than thirty years ago, Mengiste's novel is timely and vital. Its illumination of a world unfamiliar to most shows us how individuals will fight to retain their humanity in the face of atrocity.
Bookforum
Beneath the Lion's Gaze is an important novel, rich in compassion for its anguished characters
New York Times Book Review
Both brilliant and overwhelmingly powerful
New African Woman
With some particularly visceral scenes of suffering this tale of "the human capacity for viciousness" also captures the nobility and self-sacrifice employed, at great cost, to hold together a world "breaking in two
Guardian