The book alternates storylines between a chapter set in Africa and a chapter set in the US told by Helen. It isn't entirely clear who the narrator of the chapters set in Africa is and exactly where and when in Africa these chapters are set.
For a book discussing names and identities and immigration and love, I have to admit that I was confused for a large portion of the book by the multiple Isaacs. The story was well done, but not particularly memorable.
This is a wonderful, intelligent, complex yet readable novel. It traces two phases in the life of a man we come to know as Isaac, firstly in Uganda, where, despite being a foreigner, he becomes involved in revolutionary activity through a friendship with a Ugandan youth (also called Isaac) and, later, as a refugee in the United States during a period of high racial tension.
Fascinating!
This was a whole segment of history I wasn't familiar with, except on a very superficial level.
