An interesting debut novel that really took me by surprise. The unnamed narrator is the teenage daughter of Ethiopian immigrants in Boston. She is witty and sardonic in her observations; it makes the reading of the book enjoyable, but there's also an uneasy feeling of unreliability. Especially when she talks about the titular attendant, a man named Ayale who seems to be the leader of a network of Ethiopians, and may have malicious cult-like intentions.

At times it was difficult to perceive reality from the narrator's perspective. There was an ebb and flow to the storytelling, and the last section ramped up the suddenly very real danger that seemed to only have lurked in the background through most of the book. The last lines gave me chills.

As a Tournament of Books contender, I'm eagerly anticipating the judge's commentary and decision about this book. It's a book, I think, that warrants further discussion.