book data
159 ratings, 3.86 average rating, 13 reviews
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published
February 22nd 2005
by Penguin Classics
binding
Paperback, 432 pages
isbn
0143039172
(isbn13: 9780143039174)
description
The puzzling murder of three African directors of a foreign-owned brewery sets the scene for this fervent, hard-hitting novel about disillusionment in...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 292)
Read in January, 1991
The following quote is from Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin, Eds. The Post Colonial Studies Reader (New York: Routledge, 1995), 162, 163.
"The central experience which informs his [Ngugi's] historical consciousness is the Mau Mau armed struggle which Kenyan peasants and nationalists had to wage against Brittish colonialism....Ngugi's views have been articulated against the background of the obvious domination of the vital sectors of contemporary Kenyan national...more
"The central experience which informs his [Ngugi's] historical consciousness is the Mau Mau armed struggle which Kenyan peasants and nationalists had to wage against Brittish colonialism....Ngugi's views have been articulated against the background of the obvious domination of the vital sectors of contemporary Kenyan national...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
African Lit Students, socialists
This book is very much a transitional novel by a great writer on his way to becoming legendary. Framed as a mystery story, Ngugi Wa Thiong’s 1977 book weaves the interrogations and recollections of four people suspected of involvement in a deadly fire. The result is a damning indictment of post-colonial government in Kenya. The narrative is well-crafted, and the characterization, while somewhat broad, is nonetheless compelling and sympathetic for the four main characters, whose futile attempt...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
african lit enthusiasts
The most telling thing I can say about this book is that I was within 20 pages of the end and I was hungry so I got up to make myself a sandwich, and didn't finish the book until later that night.
The pace of this book is slow. It has about 4 climaxes. It never really drew me in. But it has some great moments, and some interesting lessons. I see the four main characters as symbols of the four post-colonial African peasant archetypes. The prostitute, the merchant/beggar, the socia...more
The pace of this book is slow. It has about 4 climaxes. It never really drew me in. But it has some great moments, and some interesting lessons. I see the four main characters as symbols of the four post-colonial African peasant archetypes. The prostitute, the merchant/beggar, the socia...more
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It's been a while since I've read this, and I was torn between 3 and 4 stars because of that, and not remembering precisely how I felt about it when I read it. That being said, this post-colonial novel written by N'gugi wa Thiongo, a Kenyan, set in Kenya, is fascinating in part because of its structure. It deals with issues of traditionalism versus modernism, encroaching westernization in post-colonial rural Kenya, and personal character struggles, through the lense of being structured in the ...more
Read in January, 2000
recommended to Leopold Bongozozo by:
my brotherrecommends it for: anyone
this book will forever live... its a best description of how african leaders are and will always be. one day they cry for our votes then one day they make us regret ever voting for them.
Read in April, 2004
recommends it for:
Students of African History
This book is a little like Animal Farm in that it is a story that has it's heroes, heroines, villans, and a moral to the story, but that also behind that it is a scathing attack of the people that were in power in Kenya at the time of independence. Ngugi Wa'Thiongo was actually imprisioned because of the people he offended in writing this book. So, it is a great book even if you don't know the history behind it, but if you do know the history it is just that much better!
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Read in May, 2008
Decent as agitprop, less effective as a novel, good as a vehicle through which to preach on the evils of capitalism before, during and after colonialist occupation and the need for class struggle. Hmmmm ... if I'd been wondering whether ousting white rulers was sufficient for Kenyan liberation, this would be a good book to set me straight. I enjoyed reading more in the second half, as some of the characters came more to life, becoming more than megaphones.
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Read in December, 2005
Can't remember exactly when I read this, sometime within a year of returning from Japan (Fall 2005-2006). Best novel I've read so far from Africa (ok admittedly I haven't read that many novels from Africa). The mystery at the outset is just the lens which Thiongo uses to paint a devastingly portrait of postcolonial Kenya. The writing never disappoints, the story never lets down. Worth re-reading.
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Maybe I would've enjoyed this dramatic political commentary/fiction piece if I knew a single damn thing about Kenya or its torturous, tumultuous history.
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A book that tries to capture the way a "Kenyan" might speak. A scathing critique of neo-colonialism.
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Check out the description. It sounds timely and important, as well as highly interesting.
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