Review: The Parking Lot Attendant by Nafkote Tamirat

The Parking Lot Attendant by Nafkote Tamirat was captivating from page one. We're introduced to our narrator whose story begins on an undisclosed island where it's clear she and her father might be outcasts of sorts. This unnamed island has become home to the narrator and her father along with other Ethiopians that believed in Ayale.

Our narrator recounts the events that led to her being on this island that was to serve as a sort of Utopia for herself and the current residents but they all soon find that life isn't as easy as their deliverer, Ayale, would have them believe.

At the heart of the story we're being taken on a coming-of-age journey of a young girl who was once abandoned by her father only to have him return and then abandoned by her mother. Her father raises her almost at a distance. Neither are ever really close. There are few daddy and daughter moments. It is perhaps this distance relationship that drives her to fall madly for Ayale. He is close in age to her father but he's so different than he. 

Ayale is described as a born leader and is quite complicated. The narrator describes him in the most glowing of lights even as she sees that all that glimmers isn't gold. Before long a series of murders strikes this Boston based Ethiopian community that forces our heroine to see Ayale different. But not before he's already taught her to see the world different.

Nafkote Tamirat writes an engaging coming of age story that has offers a compelling voice. There was something about the way the story flows and the narrators voice that enticed me to read further. Yes, the story was interesting but I felt more entranced with the narrator. It's obvious that she's looking for something and is hopeful to have found it but can't quite obtain it.

I definitely would recommend this novel to friends. I think it's an interesting journey of finding ones self that readers will want to see all the way through. Tamirat has peaked my interest. I'll certainly be looking foward to more from this author.  ****

Copy provided by Henry Holt & Company via Netgalley