Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard

Against all odds, Mawi Asgedom, the author and protagonist of this memoir, manages to go from destitute Ethiopian refugee to Harvard graduate, becoming an esteemed member of American society.

Mawi is the second eldest of the Asgedom children, and he looks up to his older brother Tewolde greatly. When Tewolde is killed by a drunk driver, his death has a profound effect upon Mawi. Several years later, Mawi’s father Haileab is also tragically killed by a drunk driver, marking another death in Mawi’s life that changes the contours of Mawi’s existence and perspective. Mawi’s story is mostly one of triumph, but it is rife with tragedy.

Mawi’s story pieces together many disparate elements to give a holistic portrait of what it is like to grow up as a refugee in America. Family relationships, schoolyard trials, high school–the reader is given a window into these intimate scenes, thereby embedding an even deeper sense of empathy in the reader for the plight of refugees. 

The bulk of this story is told through Mawi’s eyes as a young child. Given that part of Mawi’s mission in writing this book is to give a