Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7101 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-04
• Released on: 2007-09-04
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Not unlike the AIDS pandemic itself, the odyssey of Haregewoin Teferra, who took in AIDS orphans, began in small stages and grew to irrevocably transform her life from that of "a nice neighborhood lady" to a figure of fame, infamy and ultimate restoration. In telling her story, journalist Greene who had adopted two Ethiopian children before meeting Teferra, juggles political history, medical reportage and personal memoir. While succinctly interspersing a history of Ethiopia, lucidly tracing the history of AIDS from its early manifestation as "slim disease" in the late 1970s to its appearance as a bizarrely aggressive [form] of Kaposi's sarcoma in the early 1980s, and following the complex path of medication (a super highway in the West, a trail in Africa), Greene rescues Teferra from undeserved oblivion as well as rescuing her from undeserved obloquy (false accusations of child selling). As with her previous books (Praying for Sheetrock; The Temple Bombing; Last Man Out), Greene takes a very close look at what appears to be the fringe of an important social event and illuminates the entire subject. Ethiopia is home to "the second-highest concentration of AIDS orphans in the world"; even as some of the orphans find happy endings in American homes, Greene keeps the urgency of the greater crisis before us in this moving, impassioned narrative. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
Melissa Fay Greene documents the tragic lives of the children of Ethiopian AIDS victims. Greene focuses on the efforts of Haregowoin Teferra and her orphanage while chronicling how the Ethiopian government and much of the world ignore these innocent children. Greene herself has adopted two children from the orphanage. The highly personal book is read with intensity by Julie Fain Lawrence. Lawrence's emphasis of key phrases and critical events allows listeners to share in what Greene calls "an unfolding disaster." Despite the nature of the material, the story also celebrates the human spirit, and Lawrence's style allows listeners to share Greene's belief that these children can survive, and thrive, in a world that prefers to ignore them. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
The horrific numbers behind the AIDS pandemic in Africa, "the most terrible epidemic in human history," have little resonance for most people in the West: "the ridiculous numbers wash over most of us." But this searing account humanizes the statistics through heartbreaking, intimate stories of what it is like for young orphans left alone in Ethiopia. Greene's story focuses on one rescuer, Haregewoin Teferra, who has opened her home and compound in a rickety hillside neighborhood of Addis Ababa and taken in hundreds of the untouchables thrown in the streets and left at her door. She cannot turn them away. Yes, the comparisons with Mother Teresa are there, but this is no hagiography; the middle-aged Teferra is "just an average person with a little more heart." Greene tells the stories in unforgettable vignettes of loss, secrecy, panic, stigma, and, sometimes, hope, even as she documents the big picture of "the human landslide," the history and science of epidemiology and transmission, and expresses her fury at the "crimes against humanity" of the multinational drug companies whose expensive patents have denied millions access to the life-saving medicines. Just as moving are the personal stories of international adoptions in the U. S., including two Ethiopian children taken into Greene's own Atlanta family. The detail of one lost child at a time, who finds love, laughter, comfort, and connection, opens up the universal meaning of family. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

A truly moving experience
This was a wonderful book! Having myself been to Addis Ababa recently (July 07) with my daughter to pick up her adopted Ethiopian baby boy (4 months old), you can just imagine how this story of one woman's love for so many orphans resonated with me. The book is a quick read -- something interesting in every chapter. The author intertwined Haregewoin's up and down story with bits of Ethiopian history and the unwinding spread and theories of HIV-AIDs plus added her own experience with H. and the adoption her own Ethiopian children -- which made the reader come away with a true cultural experience. H. is truly a "Mother Theresa" figure and an inspiration to all women. Thank you, Melissa, for introducing us to her. I really enjoyed having the photos of many of the children and their adoptive families to relate to. I will be sure that my daughter reads this book and I have suggested it to my book club in Boulder, CO which will read it in the fall. -- Gayle Weiss

There is No Me Without You
I like what the story is about, however the book has so much detail it is hard to get through the first chapters.

There Is No Me Without You
I found the book There Is No Me Without You throughly enjoyable. I learned so much about the AIDS/HIV epedemic in Africa, how it's spread, the devastation of many African countries, the deplorable track record of the major drug companies in denying access of proven AIDS/HIV drugs, and the terrible tragedy of the millions of orphans now without parents. I also appreciated being able to follow the life of one woman who made a difference and how it came to be the Ethiopian orphans are now being adopted around the world. This book touched me personally. Just before Christmas our daughter and son-in-law traveled to Ethiopia and adopted two babies. These two precious children are deeply loved by their new parents, their three older siblings, and us--their grandparents.