The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears Audiobook By Dinaw Mengestu cover art

The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears

By: Dinaw Mengestu
Narrated by: Dion Graham
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.19

Buy for $17.19

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel
Ethiopian émigré Dinaw Mengestu is a skilled observer of people who offers a colorful debut work of fiction. Insightful and swiftly paced, this novel evokes past and present in the course of its compelling narrative. It's the `70s, and one D.C. neighborhood is undergoing big changes. In the mix is Ethiopian grocery owner Sepha Stephanos - a man with a complex past who fled his homeland after seeing his father brutalized by themilitary. He hopes for new prospects in D.C.'s gentrification process, but his store is struggling. Next door to his apartment building lives Judith, a successful white woman working to renovate her house. As Sepha bonds with Judith and her biracial, 11-year-old daughter Naomi, he is inevitably subject to the mounting pressures of race and class that are in flux around them.©2007 Dinaw Mengestu (P)2008 Recorded Books Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Political World Literature Middle East

Critic reviews

Mengestu has told a rich and lyrical story of displacement and loneliness. I was profoundly moved by this tale of Ethiopian immigrant's search for acceptance, peace, and identity. (Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns)
This is not a story for only an immigrant audience. The author, Dinaw Mengestu, writes in a way that makes this a universal story. In doing so, he does what the best writers accomplish. ( The Oregonian)
[W]onderfully written and moving. ( Esquire)

People who viewed this also viewed...

Someone Like Us Audiobook By Dinaw Mengestu cover art
Someone Like Us By: Dinaw Mengestu
Beautiful Writing • Eloquent Prose • Superb Narration • Absorbing Storyline • Intricate Descriptions • Authentic Accents
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

no

Any additional comments?

the book drags on from one disappointment to the next. Good news is never realized, the main character just constantly struggles in a depressing story of an immigrant's life trying to realize a better life in the US.

Life unfulfilled

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a book about the struggle of leaving your home and family, and trying to build a new life elsewhere. The book looks inside its characters, it's not action packed. If you expect a happy ending, don't read it. Moreover, if this were a "feel good" book, the book would not be as affecting. The writing is beautiful, as was the narration. Full disclosure: I didn't expect to be drawn into this book but I loved it. I will be reading more from this talented author!

Overall Experience - Beautiful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I liked it all -story and characters and reader kept me very interested to the end

Terrific story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What did you like best about The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears? What did you like least?

The narrator was incredible. The voices of different characters were clearly distinguishable. He did a great job with the reading.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It was a bit anti-climactic.

Was The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears worth the listening time?

Yes!!!

Fantastic Narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
So sincere and beautifully written. It’s got a good balance of humour and seriousness to sum up the feelings of being an immigrant. I ended up listening to it in one day!

Relatable and compelling story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Beautiful story about an Ethiopian man who immigrated to America in the seventies and owns shabby grocery store in Logan Circle. Covers the immigrant experience, love and gentrification. I really enjoyed every word.

Enchanting!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Well-told story of an Ethiopian immigrant who runs a corner grocery store in Washington, DC. The characters come to life in Dion Graham's narration. Especially good is his African accents as well as the various American characters. High recommend it as an engaging story.

Compelling story, excellent narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a fascinating and beautiful book. Dion Graham reads it well, though sometimes he feels a bit off. But the story is so wonderful and so absorbing that nothing else seems to matter.

Beautiful, wonderful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I thoroughly enjoyed this revelation of an immigrant's life in the US that is at once deeply personal and able to reflect on nearly universal truths. Dion Graham's narration is superb, as is Mengestu's writing.

Raw, poignant, moving

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What a beautiful story. The only thing I can point out is, it would be perfect if the narrator pronounce ethiopian words correctly.

Beautiful story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews