From a Crooked Rib

From a Crooked Rib is the first published novel by Somalian novelist Nuruddin Farah.

Overview

Published in 1970, the novel is a bildungsroman and was the 80th novel in the Heineman African Writers Series. The novel was originally composed while Farah was a student in India during 1968.^[1] The British publisher who first edited the novel was surprised the novelist was a man, because the novel closely follows the perspective of an orphaned woman and her coming of age.^[1]

Reception

Reflecting on the novel in 2006, New York Times critic Elsa Dixler called the novel "a young writer’s novel, with an intermittently shaky point of view and language that can be awkward, but it demonstrates Farah’s extraordinary ability to enter the consciousness of an unsophisticated woman."^[1]

References

Further reading

• Moolla, F. Fiona (2014). "From A Crooked Rib & the Bildungsroman". Reading Nuruddin Farah: The Individual, the Novel & the Idea of Home. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. pp. 48–74. ISBN 9781782042389. 
• Moore, G. H. (1984). "Nomads and Feminists: The Novels of Nuruddin Farah". The International Fiction Review. 11 (1). 
• "Book review: A Crooked Rib by Judy Corbalis". Radio New Zealand.