ደህንነቱ

ቅምሻ

By author Yismake Worku.

‘Dehnenetu’ is a novel by author Yismake Worku. The book is a flow of story connected to ‘Kibur Dingay’ (The Precious Stone) and ‘The Cats of Ogaden’. It is a work of art with its own approach, its own world, and its own question.

The story turns around the life of Dr. Didimos. The whirlpool of his life does not release him. After his first wife takes her own life, he is sent to prison. A man who had been wealthy, who loved his children, who had passed heavy decisions through his life — and yet, for a fault he himself did not create, he is imprisoned. From inside the prison he searches for a way out. This grows into a quest for another truth bound to the truth.

Didimos tries to examine his past life, the people he encountered, the events that formed, and the truth behind his imprisonment. And he finds that the thing arranged to imprison him went beyond a simple criminal charge.

While in prison, Didimos gains new information. His discussions with other prisoners reveal to him that there is another world hidden within the story. In particular, the word ‘Dehnenetoch’ (the well-beings) and the people and plots revealed after it change the direction of the narrative. Gradually Didimos draws closer to identifying the one behind his imprisonment. He grows to suspect Klemenchos (Mento), the former driver. This discovery is more than a discovery for him. The driver who had driven him to marry his wife has been entangled in the ordeal all along.

The singular aspect of ‘Dehnenetu’ is how it links the world of imagination to the concrete life of a person. Within the book a type of magic called ‘Mijlwat’ (transformation) is described — a magical power that turns a person into an animal. Didimos recalls how he had earlier been turned into a dog and the time it took to return to human form.

This imaginative element does not merely give the story a flavor of adventure; it makes a person question himself, his identity, and the description others give of him. The book is not confined to the trouble of a single individual. National history, corruption, flaws in order, power, justice, truth and falsehood all meet within the story.

‘Dehnenetu’ is not a book that shows only the dark side. In its opening, amid trouble, there appears the image of a person who seeks hope, who strives to bring a solution not only for himself but for others.

Dehnenetu is a novel that links mystery with social questions, imagination with real life, and individual story with national history. The reader follows Didimos from his prison, then journeys with him to understand his past life, hidden secrets, the true faces of people, and the plot that coiled around him.

This is not merely the story of one person. As we follow it, it becomes the story of all of us.