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The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
M. G. Vassanji, author of The Book of Secrets, winner of the first Giller prize, brings us a novel that is rich in sensuous detail and political insight, and brilliantly captures the tyranny of history and memory, and questions one's role and responsibility in lawless times.
Born in colonial Kenya, Vikram Lall comes of age at the same moment as the colony, which in 1953 is celebrating the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II even as the Mau Mau independence movement is challenging British rule. But while Kenya is being torn apart by idealism, doubt and violent political upheaval, Vic and his sister Deepa begin to search for their place in the world. Neither colonists nor African, neither white nor black, the Indian brother and sister find themselves somewhere in between in their band of playmates: Bill and Annie, British children, and Njoroge, an African boy. These are the friendships that will haunt the rest of their lives.
We follow Vic from a changing Africa in the fifties, to the sixties -- a time of immense promise. But when that hope is betrayed by the corruption and fear of the seventies and eighties, Vic finds himself drawn into the Kenyatta government's orbit of graft and power-brokering. Njoroge, on the other hand, can abandon neither the idealism of his youth nor his love for Deepa, coerced into marrying within her Indian community. But neither the cynicism of the one nor the idealism of the other can avert the tragedies that await.
Acute and bittersweet, The In-between World of Vikram Lall is told in the voice of the exiled Vic as he contemplates from the shores of Lake Ontario the tides that have brought him so far from home and thepossibility that even as history was shaping him, he has had a hand in altering its course.
Born in colonial Kenya, Vikram Lall comes of age at the same moment as the colony, which in 1953 is celebrating the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II even as the Mau Mau independence movement is challenging British rule. But while Kenya is being torn apart by idealism, doubt and violent political upheaval, Vic and his sister Deepa begin to search for their place in the world. Neither colonists nor African, neither white nor black, the Indian brother and sister find themselves somewhere in between in their band of playmates: Bill and Annie, British children, and Njoroge, an African boy. These are the friendships that will haunt the rest of their lives.
We follow Vic from a changing Africa in the fifties, to the sixties -- a time of immense promise. But when that hope is betrayed by the corruption and fear of the seventies and eighties, Vic finds himself drawn into the Kenyatta government's orbit of graft and power-brokering. Njoroge, on the other hand, can abandon neither the idealism of his youth nor his love for Deepa, coerced into marrying within her Indian community. But neither the cynicism of the one nor the idealism of the other can avert the tragedies that await.
Acute and bittersweet, The In-between World of Vikram Lall is told in the voice of the exiled Vic as he contemplates from the shores of Lake Ontario the tides that have brought him so far from home and thepossibility that even as history was shaping him, he has had a hand in altering its course.
439 pages, Hardcover
First published October 11, 2003
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About the author
M.G. Vassanji
29 books159 followersMoyez G. Vassanji was born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania. Before coming to Canada in 1978, he attended MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, where he specialized in theoretical nuclear physics. From 1978-1980 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Atomic Energy of Canada, and from 1980 to 1989 he was a research associate at the University of Toronto. During this period he developed a keen interest in medieval Indian literature and history, co-founded and edited a literary magazine (The Toronto South Asian Review, later renamed The Toronto Review of Contemporary Writing Abroad), and began writing stories and a novel. In 1989, with the publication of his first novel, The Gunny Sack, he was invited to spend a season at the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa. That year ended his active career in nuclear physics. His contributions there he considers modest, in algebraic models and high spin states. The fact that he was never tenured he considers a blessing for it freed him to pursue his literary career.
Vassanji is the author of six novels and two collections of short stories. His work has appeared in various countries and several languages. His most recent novel, The Assassin's Song, was short-listed for both the Giller Prize and the Governor-General's Prize for best novel in Canada. It has appeared in the US (Knopf) and India (Penguin) and is scheduled to appear in the UK (Canongate).
His wife, Nurjehan, was born in Tanzania. They have two sons, Anil, and Kabir. He lives in Toronto, and visits Africa and India often.
Awards: Giller Prize, twice; Harbourfront Festival Prize; Commonwealth First Book Prize (Africa); Bressani Prize. Order of Canada.
Vassanji is the author of six novels and two collections of short stories. His work has appeared in various countries and several languages. His most recent novel, The Assassin's Song, was short-listed for both the Giller Prize and the Governor-General's Prize for best novel in Canada. It has appeared in the US (Knopf) and India (Penguin) and is scheduled to appear in the UK (Canongate).
His wife, Nurjehan, was born in Tanzania. They have two sons, Anil, and Kabir. He lives in Toronto, and visits Africa and India often.
Awards: Giller Prize, twice; Harbourfront Festival Prize; Commonwealth First Book Prize (Africa); Bressani Prize. Order of Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 267 reviews
August 26, 2022
The title of this novel works well. Vikram Lall was 'in between' in all aspects of his life. In between cultures (of Indian heritage in Kenya - neither black nor white); in between relationships - the buffer between his forward thinking sister, who falls in love with a black man, and his mother, stuck in her traditional thinking; as a middle man - in between the American financiers laundering the money they are providing to corrupt politicians to prevent Kenya following Tanzania into communism; and also between his parents - his mother holding her ties with India, his father loyal to the British Empire.
The opening paragraph of the book reads: "My name is Vikram Lall. I have the distinction of having been numbered one of Africa's most corrupt men, a cheat of monstrous and reptilian cunning. To me has been attributed the emptying of a large part of my troubled country's treasury in recent years. I head my country's List of Shame..."
From his self imposed exile in Canada, Lall tells of his life story. His childhood as a third generation Kenyan, from a grandfather who came to work building the railway, and settled. His father, running a provision store in Nakuru, a town in the Rift Valley; his childhood friends Njoroge, Bill and Annie; and sister Deepa. In parallel, his tells the story of his exile, his current relationships - with sister Deepa, with Seema, and with Joseph, the son of his childhood friend Njoroge.
The story is set in post WWII Kenya, as the country is poised between British colonialism and independence. The indigenous Kikuyu, rebelling under the guise of the Mau Mau, with Jomo Kenyatta a figurehead in the revolt. The violence against the British, the rise of Kenya as an independent country, and the immediate fall into corruption, dishonesty and the ruthlessness of politics.
The setting, the main political and cultural characters and themes come across as genuine and well researched. The individual fictional tragedies and sadnesses woven through the factual settings are plausible and plot and characters are developed well in an enjoyable read.
The book covers a lot of ground, over a fifty year timespan from Vikram's childhood to the end of his story in what I guess is the 90s. A good read, 3.5 stars for me, rounded up in this case, because I enjoyed how well the true events were woven in.
The opening paragraph of the book reads: "My name is Vikram Lall. I have the distinction of having been numbered one of Africa's most corrupt men, a cheat of monstrous and reptilian cunning. To me has been attributed the emptying of a large part of my troubled country's treasury in recent years. I head my country's List of Shame..."
From his self imposed exile in Canada, Lall tells of his life story. His childhood as a third generation Kenyan, from a grandfather who came to work building the railway, and settled. His father, running a provision store in Nakuru, a town in the Rift Valley; his childhood friends Njoroge, Bill and Annie; and sister Deepa. In parallel, his tells the story of his exile, his current relationships - with sister Deepa, with Seema, and with Joseph, the son of his childhood friend Njoroge.
The story is set in post WWII Kenya, as the country is poised between British colonialism and independence. The indigenous Kikuyu, rebelling under the guise of the Mau Mau, with Jomo Kenyatta a figurehead in the revolt. The violence against the British, the rise of Kenya as an independent country, and the immediate fall into corruption, dishonesty and the ruthlessness of politics.
The setting, the main political and cultural characters and themes come across as genuine and well researched. The individual fictional tragedies and sadnesses woven through the factual settings are plausible and plot and characters are developed well in an enjoyable read.
The book covers a lot of ground, over a fifty year timespan from Vikram's childhood to the end of his story in what I guess is the 90s. A good read, 3.5 stars for me, rounded up in this case, because I enjoyed how well the true events were woven in.
October 29, 2022
The best part of this book was the geography- Kenya, Tanzania, London, Toronto, but also the interesting intersection of Hindu Punjabis living in Kenya as British/Kenyan citizens. The “in-betweenness” of the protagonist and his family, how they walked a line as brown-skinned people between the white Brits who looked down on everyone not white British and the black-skinned natives whose country they lived (and thrived) in was a type of tale I hadn’t read before.
Identity, love, work, ethics in a culture undergoing cataclysmic change from colony to independence, quite a ride. Not the best story, but I stayed engaged all the way through.
Identity, love, work, ethics in a culture undergoing cataclysmic change from colony to independence, quite a ride. Not the best story, but I stayed engaged all the way through.
March 13, 2016
I read this as part of Great African Reads group's focus on Kenya this year. This enabled me to realise that this book is in dialogue with Weep Not, Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o which sketches a racist portrayal (via second hand white supremacy) of the Kenyan Indian community in its provincial setting, inviting reply. Like Vassanji, Vikram Lall is a Desi Kenyan and this story is about growing up during Kenya's struggle for independence. I was looking forward to reading an Asian perspective, but from a political perspective I was increasingly critical of Vassanji's framing, which I found quite strongly reactionary. I couldn't find any reviews on GR critiquing the ideological framing of this book, which goes to show how well M. G has created the illusion of neutrality.
Unlike Weep Not Child which holds up racism in a colonial context for critique, the opening here seems designed to deflect any accusation of skin-colour prejudice. Vikram and his sister play with a black (Gikuyu) boy, Njoroge (the name of the protagonist of Weep Not Child) and are close to him. A white brother and sister enter the picture and join the group for a long, idyllic period. The novel almost fawns over the lovely white children; although the boy, William, is self-centred and insists on being the hero, he is described as intelligent and creative. Vikram falls in love with the white girl Annie, and admits that this distorts him emotionally, though since he staunchly refuses to be 'political' he does not acknowledge that this distortion has socio-political import.
Vikram's uncle Mahesh is the only Asian character with radical views, and he is ridiculed and censured by the narrative, though rather subtly. Vassanji's strategy is to affect even-handedness and to make everything complicated, to haze politics with a sentimentality that is hard to reply to – the last thing I want to do is demand that politics divest from emotion or subjectivity – but here the lingering over particular griefs is part of a strategy of decontextualisation, which takes the violence of colonisation for granted to the extent that it recedes into the background while the violence of decolonisation is emphasised. The reader is forced to confront the fact that the Mau Mau killed a beloved little girl, which is unanswerable. The foregrounding of this fact makes it pivotal to the novel's ethics. The Mau Mau killed little girls, therefore we must unreservedly condemn them. Vikram also meets Mau Mau fighters after Independence and sees them as pathetic and irrelevant. Of course, this is because the state has discarded them – instead of realising the sovereignty and liberation of the people, it is transferring wealth and power into the hands of a new elite. Through his relationship with Njoroge, Vikram becomes part of the exploitative national middle class, seeing nothing wrong with this role as he is not interested in politics. He describes Gandhi as a strange man in granny glasses. He protests 'I prefer my place in the middle, watch[ing] events run their course... being an Asian, it is my natural place'. Critique is deflected by this sense of inevitable and essential roles. In Weep Not Child a cosmogony joining people to land is introduced through an older character's storytelling. In the present context of racialisation, this cosmogony is interpreted as racial, with negative consequences. Thus, racial essentialism is critiqued even as it fuses with traditional knowledge. It is harder for me to find such a critical (though nuanced) reading in Vikram Lall, but perhaps this is just me failing to appreciate the latter's greater sophistication...
For some reason, Vassanji parades groups of Masai for our pleasure, seemingly as a taste of the exotic. Perhaps he just wanted to acknowledge their presence and how a middle class Asian child might experience it. One neighbour is a Masai woman, who has become so fluent in the language and culture of the Asian family she has married into that her Masai-ness is invisible, but the other Masai are viewed as distant and incomprehensible.
Vassanji's presentation of Njoroge is crucial as he is the only developed black Kenyan character. Vassanji works respectability politics in drawing Njoroge and to make Vikram appear unprejudiced – after all, one of his best friends is Black(!) But throughout subtly racist and divisive language is used – As a child Vikram describes Njo's hair as 'hopelessly alien' and later he reflects 'I had always recognised that Njoroge and I were essentially dfferent'. Of Njoroge's son Joseph, the older Vikram living in Canada notes
Of course, Vikram Lall is just a character and readers are free to make judgements about him, but I do think that he has the author's sympathies, and I have not come across any reviews that find him problematic – reviewers have respectfully stuck to such aesthetic judgements as whether characters are well realised. I cannot separate ethics from aesthetics, but insofar as I am able to evaluate the book as 'entertainment' (which I feel it sets out to be) I found it just OK, strictly realistic, stiff and mannered in a style that suits Vikram himself. In terms of presenting an Asian standpoint on Kenya, other readers praise the book for this. I was left wondering whether the Asian-Kenyan perspective was predominantly reactionary, and considering how it is positioned as a settler standpoint.
In comparing this to Weep Not Child I reflected
Both novels relate horrific violent acts carried out by the Mau Mau and by police. However, Weep Not Child sketches a complex historical background for the Mau Mau and reveals the systemic violence of the police and colonial structure in connection. The Mau Mau comes from the generation of men who were forced to fight for Britain in WWII - Boro, Njoroge's brother, is intent on revenge for the death of his half-brother, Mwangi, in that war. In Vikram Lall there is little historical framework to place the violence; Vassanji does present parts of these narratives through the story of Mwangi, Njoroge's grandfather. The story is peripheral to the main action, and Mwangi remains an enigmatic figure to Vikram. In Weep Not, Child, Mwangi is the name of Njoroge's brother who is killed in the war. This treatment may be a way of hinting at what Vikram cannot make sense of from his standpoint. Mwangi's story in Vikram Lall is a potted version of the background of Weep Not, Child, a containment that, I think, neutralises it, renders it individual, tribal, marginal, forgettable. We can understand that the Mau Mau fight for independence, but Vassanji's emphasis on graphic violence and grief for victims simply invites the conclusion that their tactics are unconscionable. Police brutality is shown but sometimes the police are identified as black while there is no space to even question why black people might become police or otherwise complicit with the colonial power. The adult Vikram portraying the ignorance of child Vikram does not offer any critique of that ignorance.
Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Njoroge becomes increasingly devoted to Christianity, presumably under the influence of his education. To him, Jomo Kenyatta is Moses. As a child, Vikram Lall uses the Ramayana to contextualise the political and personal scene, making the Mau Mau into the demon Ravana. His friend Njoroge played Ravana when they play-acted the story as kids, and this parallel along with other aspects implicates Njoroge in the violence of the Mau Mau and the murder of Vikram & Njoroge's white mutual friends. In Weep Not Child, Njoroge is an emotional victim of Mau Mau terror, while all the real violence against him and his family comes from the state. This revision of Ngugi's Njoroge presents a very different story.
Unlike Weep Not Child which holds up racism in a colonial context for critique, the opening here seems designed to deflect any accusation of skin-colour prejudice. Vikram and his sister play with a black (Gikuyu) boy, Njoroge (the name of the protagonist of Weep Not Child) and are close to him. A white brother and sister enter the picture and join the group for a long, idyllic period. The novel almost fawns over the lovely white children; although the boy, William, is self-centred and insists on being the hero, he is described as intelligent and creative. Vikram falls in love with the white girl Annie, and admits that this distorts him emotionally, though since he staunchly refuses to be 'political' he does not acknowledge that this distortion has socio-political import.
Vikram's uncle Mahesh is the only Asian character with radical views, and he is ridiculed and censured by the narrative, though rather subtly. Vassanji's strategy is to affect even-handedness and to make everything complicated, to haze politics with a sentimentality that is hard to reply to – the last thing I want to do is demand that politics divest from emotion or subjectivity – but here the lingering over particular griefs is part of a strategy of decontextualisation, which takes the violence of colonisation for granted to the extent that it recedes into the background while the violence of decolonisation is emphasised. The reader is forced to confront the fact that the Mau Mau killed a beloved little girl, which is unanswerable. The foregrounding of this fact makes it pivotal to the novel's ethics. The Mau Mau killed little girls, therefore we must unreservedly condemn them. Vikram also meets Mau Mau fighters after Independence and sees them as pathetic and irrelevant. Of course, this is because the state has discarded them – instead of realising the sovereignty and liberation of the people, it is transferring wealth and power into the hands of a new elite. Through his relationship with Njoroge, Vikram becomes part of the exploitative national middle class, seeing nothing wrong with this role as he is not interested in politics. He describes Gandhi as a strange man in granny glasses. He protests 'I prefer my place in the middle, watch[ing] events run their course... being an Asian, it is my natural place'. Critique is deflected by this sense of inevitable and essential roles. In Weep Not Child a cosmogony joining people to land is introduced through an older character's storytelling. In the present context of racialisation, this cosmogony is interpreted as racial, with negative consequences. Thus, racial essentialism is critiqued even as it fuses with traditional knowledge. It is harder for me to find such a critical (though nuanced) reading in Vikram Lall, but perhaps this is just me failing to appreciate the latter's greater sophistication...
For some reason, Vassanji parades groups of Masai for our pleasure, seemingly as a taste of the exotic. Perhaps he just wanted to acknowledge their presence and how a middle class Asian child might experience it. One neighbour is a Masai woman, who has become so fluent in the language and culture of the Asian family she has married into that her Masai-ness is invisible, but the other Masai are viewed as distant and incomprehensible.
Vassanji's presentation of Njoroge is crucial as he is the only developed black Kenyan character. Vassanji works respectability politics in drawing Njoroge and to make Vikram appear unprejudiced – after all, one of his best friends is Black(!) But throughout subtly racist and divisive language is used – As a child Vikram describes Njo's hair as 'hopelessly alien' and later he reflects 'I had always recognised that Njoroge and I were essentially dfferent'. Of Njoroge's son Joseph, the older Vikram living in Canada notes
He had changed his hair, now it was gathered in small knots spread out over the head, a startling style that rather ominously reminded me of a famous picture of Mau Mau leader General China at his trial, a police constable standing on either side of him. I did not make a comment and understood that he is still very much involved with the Mu Kenya Patriots, the self-styled sons of Mau Mau. Seema took him skating once; he wore a hat and was spared the stares he would inevitably have attractedThus positioning black hair as terror. The older Vikram urges Joseph to keep away from the hazards of 'fruitless and deadly politics'. He justifies his mother's opposition to Njoroge's marrying her daughter, Vikram's beloved sister Deepa
Suppose she doesn't like the idea of half-breeds, I thought, suppose she wants to be able to speak to her grandchildren in her own tongue, in Punjabi or Hindi, and she doesn't want to be the talk of the Indian community in the whole of East Africa and be subjected to the contempt of other women, who will say she has a pukka kalu for a damad; suppose she wants to be able to hold her head up high in temple in front of these women, and to take her daughter and her family to Delhi and feel no shameTo me this is apologism masquerading as empathy, even if empathy is justified, because the language is hostile: 'half-breeds'. And if Vikram's mother has been sincere in loving Njoroge like her own son, as we are repeatedly told she does, won't she be able to overcome this 'shame'. Would she feel shame, or contempt for ignorant others? Anyway, I can see that Vassanji has made me look brutal and cold-hearted in criticising his position. How clever. Vikram's story, in which everything has two sides or more, stands in opposition to the supposed simplifications of radical politics. The folly of actually taking a position, choosing to uphold a story, taking a stand, may be courageous, but is ultimately fruitless and deadly, Vassanji suggests. Truly, it is hard to take a stand. I march for the Kurds, and a friend admonishes me. I boycott products from Israel, and a friend admonishes me. How do I know whose story to believe, whose struggle to support? But not to choose, is to accept the status quo, to be complicit with the injustice in front of you. Vikram is guilty of this. "the absence of an ideology is an ideology. It’s just a conservative ideology and everything that you see has it."
Of course, Vikram Lall is just a character and readers are free to make judgements about him, but I do think that he has the author's sympathies, and I have not come across any reviews that find him problematic – reviewers have respectfully stuck to such aesthetic judgements as whether characters are well realised. I cannot separate ethics from aesthetics, but insofar as I am able to evaluate the book as 'entertainment' (which I feel it sets out to be) I found it just OK, strictly realistic, stiff and mannered in a style that suits Vikram himself. In terms of presenting an Asian standpoint on Kenya, other readers praise the book for this. I was left wondering whether the Asian-Kenyan perspective was predominantly reactionary, and considering how it is positioned as a settler standpoint.
In comparing this to Weep Not Child I reflected
Both novels relate horrific violent acts carried out by the Mau Mau and by police. However, Weep Not Child sketches a complex historical background for the Mau Mau and reveals the systemic violence of the police and colonial structure in connection. The Mau Mau comes from the generation of men who were forced to fight for Britain in WWII - Boro, Njoroge's brother, is intent on revenge for the death of his half-brother, Mwangi, in that war. In Vikram Lall there is little historical framework to place the violence; Vassanji does present parts of these narratives through the story of Mwangi, Njoroge's grandfather. The story is peripheral to the main action, and Mwangi remains an enigmatic figure to Vikram. In Weep Not, Child, Mwangi is the name of Njoroge's brother who is killed in the war. This treatment may be a way of hinting at what Vikram cannot make sense of from his standpoint. Mwangi's story in Vikram Lall is a potted version of the background of Weep Not, Child, a containment that, I think, neutralises it, renders it individual, tribal, marginal, forgettable. We can understand that the Mau Mau fight for independence, but Vassanji's emphasis on graphic violence and grief for victims simply invites the conclusion that their tactics are unconscionable. Police brutality is shown but sometimes the police are identified as black while there is no space to even question why black people might become police or otherwise complicit with the colonial power. The adult Vikram portraying the ignorance of child Vikram does not offer any critique of that ignorance.
Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Njoroge becomes increasingly devoted to Christianity, presumably under the influence of his education. To him, Jomo Kenyatta is Moses. As a child, Vikram Lall uses the Ramayana to contextualise the political and personal scene, making the Mau Mau into the demon Ravana. His friend Njoroge played Ravana when they play-acted the story as kids, and this parallel along with other aspects implicates Njoroge in the violence of the Mau Mau and the murder of Vikram & Njoroge's white mutual friends. In Weep Not Child, Njoroge is an emotional victim of Mau Mau terror, while all the real violence against him and his family comes from the state. This revision of Ngugi's Njoroge presents a very different story.
April 20, 2015
"My name is Vikram Lall. I have the distinction of having been numbered one of Africa's most corrupt men, a cheat of monstrous and reptilian cunning. To me has been attributed the emptying of a large part of my troubled country's treasury in recent years. I head my country's List of Shame..."
The modern day history and cultures of Kenya is intertwined with the folklore and history of India by the protagonist, Vikram Lall, while hiding in Canada after he was used as a scapegoat by the corrupt officials in the Kenyan government in an international scandal.
The rich textures of a multicultural society is described in all it compartmentalized splendor.
"...every evening from the melting pot of city life each person went his long way home to his family, his church, his folk. To the Kikuyu, the Luo were the crafty, rebellious eggheads of Lake Victoria, the Masai backward naked nomads. The Meru prided themselves on being special, having descended from some wandering Semitic tribe. There were the Dorobo, the Turkana, the Boran, the Somali, the Swahili, each also different from the other. And then there were the Wahindi—the wily Asians who were not really African."Vikram Lall spends his time in Canada writing down the story of his family and himself, which begins during his innocent childhood days in the small town Nakuru, where his parents owned a provision store in the Valley Shopping Centre. His parents catered for the European settlers'needs, but was also popular for the samosas, dhokras, bhel-puri, and tea, which were consumed with gusto by their clientele in the community.
"It has occurred to me—how can it not?—that my picture of my past could well have, like the stories of my grandfather, acquired the patina of nostalgia, become idealized. But then, I have to convince myself, perhaps a greater and conscious discipline and the practice of writing mitigate that danger. I do carry my album of photos with me and my acquired newspaper cuttings and other assorted material, and there is always Deepa to check facts with. Still, what can ultimately withstand the cruel treachery of time, even as one tries to undermine it?"At the children's level, the clashing cultures, classes and prestige did not matter and children from different races made friends. They would ultimately be haunted by it in their later lives.
"So many such moments I could recall, gentle as dewdrops, transient and illusory like sunbeams; charming as a butterfly’s dance round a flower." ...The Mau Mau murders of white farmers and their families brought an end to this innocent era, in which Vikram, his little sister Deepa, his Kikuyu friend, Njoroge , the two British children, Bill and Annie, unknowingly prepared themselves for a new dispensation in Kenya.
"It was a world of innocence and play, under a guileless constant sun; as well, of barbarous cruelty and terror lurking in darkest night; a colonial world of repressive, undignified subjecthood, as also of seductive order and security—so that long afterwards we would be tempted to wonder if we did not hurry forth too fast straight into the morass that is now our malformed freedom.
" It was the nights that curdled the blood, that made palpable the terror that permeated our world like a mysterious ether.Jomo Kenyatta, who later became the first Black president, lend prestige to the guerilla fighters' campaign although he denied being their leader.
The Mau Mau owned this darkness, which cloaked them into invisibility"...
"Some Mau Mau used to put the body parts of their enemies into the stew they used for their oathing ceremonies."
In his later years, working for the government in various positions, Vikram had to deal with the aftermath of the political and social revolt in the country as well as the heartbreak of his childhood friends who did not make it. He witnessed the greed and betrayal by the new leaders, who enriched themselves on an unprecedented level, but who failed to fulfill their promises to the veteran Mau Mau guerrillas who had to leave their land, their lives and their families to fight for independence from the British. Upon their return, they found their land taken by the new rulers and their cronies, and had to discover that they were used by an elite who never intended to pay them for their services in any form whatsoever. They did not want to be reminded of the brutal killings they inspired in the name of liberation from the oppressors.
" The three-piece-suited African leader with a son at Harrow wants no reminder of the primitive processes that were sometimes at work behind the freedom struggle." ...Vikram soar in the government ranks at the right time.
" They had only recently walked out of the forest, members of two gangs, having deposited their weapons at the Nyeri police station, and now they wanted to know where was the reward they had been promised when they left everything behind to go fight for freedom. We are poor and despised, our land was taken away, confiscated by the Bilitis, the British, given to the Humungati, the dreaded Home Guard, as payment to hunt and kill us; now where is the compensation promised to us, where are the European farms we were told would be ours after uhuru, where are the big houses, where is the wealth?…"
"Middle-aged retired guerrillas who had once given up all to live in the forests, to rule the nights, to draw blood and terrorize in the name of freedom, and to suffer and risk death for themselves; who with homemade guns and machetes had sorely tested the military might of the British, thus hastening independence."...
"We gave up our property, we gave up good jobs with our English bosses who were generous for the times…Why do our politicians call us outlaws and bandits, aren’t we the army of the people? Even now we are ready to defend them…"
"In this new decade of the 1970s which had just set in, when I found employment that would alter my life in previously unthinkable ways, our times were actually turbulent and reckless, in a manner I can only describe from a personal point of view and in hindsight. But I make no moral judgement on the time or its people, I am quick to add, I am hardly in a position to do so. Independence had brought an abundance of opportunities, the British and the Europeans vacating lucrative farms and businesses and well-paying jobs, foreign aid and loans promising contracts and kickbacks; this was a time to make it, once and for all, as a family, as a clan, as a tribe—the stakes were mountain-high. ..."Vikram has to come to terms with his memories, his involvement in the events that influenced the outcome for Kenya, his family, his friends, his children and himself.
"And this in the tinderbox cold-war climate of the period, foreign governments peddling influence, bribes, arms. Many of the newly powerful had never been in close proximity to such authority before, such organization, such influence, such access to wealth as had become possible. From pit-latrine to palace, was how one foreign journalist crassly described these changes in fortune; he was quickly deported. But his fault was more his limited imagination; ...
"Money and power were all around me, the one dizzying and glamorous, the other intimidating and coercive, and the two often went together." ...
"Black chauvinism and reverse racism were the order of the day ..."
"Njoroge too was beginning to believe that the freedom movement and the Mau Mau had been betrayed—that ours had become a country of ten millionaires and ten million paupers, as J.M. himself had loudly proclaimed ..."
"My boss was said to belong to a secret Inner Circle of the President’s men, who had sworn to keep the presidency among themselves, or at least within the Kikuyu people. ..."
"Total corruption, I’ve been told, occurs in inches and proceeds through veils of ambiguity."
A perfect title was chosen for this novel. Vikram was in-between countries, cultures, relationships, ideologies, social mores and values when he started out recording his memories of a lifetime in Kenya. He has to come to terms with a country that has been run off the tracks by dishonesty, ruthlessness, theft and lies, with the indirectly blessing of the power players of the world.
The novel is as much a historic-fictional tale of Kenya, as it is the soul-wrenching journey of a man who has to come to terms with himself and the future he has carved from his past.
All lives have an innocent beginning, concluded by a guilty ending, fueled by subjective perceptions. However, life is not always about perceptions only. It is also about survival on different levels by people who simultaneously become the victims and victimisers in their own lifestories and have to find their identity, history and heritage. Most endings are never written, most stories never told.
A slow-moving, exhausting read. However, a story which brings more truth and insight into the tales of Africa and its people, particularly the minorities, including the Indian population, who were born Africans but denied their rightful citizenship or respect by the new conquerors. Human rights is only a method to madness. A fallacy. An irony of history. Being born in Africa does not mean you have a right to be called African. Some Africans are simply not welcome or acknowledged. The winner takes all. God quietly helps us all, cry the minorities of the world !
The book is similar to The Wizard of the Crow by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
You have to mentally prepare yourself for the experience. It is a novel about a warm, loving family, cold-bloodedly dropped into the hands of a ruthless political destiny.
October 17, 2016
This got really political and lost me. I like reading classics and literary fiction for the character development, and this one just leaned to the dry side. Some aspects were interesting, but the climax of the book and what it was leading up to was a bit of a let-down.
March 7, 2013
The Globe and Mail say this book belongs "in a category with Tolstoy's War and Peace. As a fan of Russian literature, especially Tolstoy, I had to give this book a read. This turned out to be a good decision; just as Tolstoy pulls readers back into Russian history, Vassanji takes readers on a journey through time in Africa. Alternating between the present and past, the narrator, Vikram Lall tells the remarkable story of his life as an Indian boy growing up as a minority in Nakru. I am instantly glued to the pages, intrigued even more by Lall's admission up front that he has "the distinction of being one of Africa's most corrupt men, a cheat of monstrous and reptillian cunning."
Already a fan of Vassanji (When she was Queen), I expected images formed by words, vivid settings and unforgettable people. He does not disappoint with idealistic and ambitious Lall, rebellious Deepa, Lall's sister, and fearless Njoroge, their childhood friend. Through the years, their relationships deepen, grow apart and fracture in ways we in Canada could not predict or understand. The clashing cultures of India and Africa come alive in this novel, and the choices the characters make are often surprising and more than a little unsettling.
"...I recall a shiver at the back of my neck, a quiver of excitement, of fear for them both. The die had been cast. She did not seem to understand the seriousness of her offence, not to me but to the values of our times and people. We did not marry blacks or whites, or low-castes or Muslims; there were other restrictions, too subtle for us of the younger generation to follow; Hindu Punjabis were the strong preference always. Times were changing, certainly, but Deepa in her typical impulsive way had leaped ahead of them."
This is a book that informs as well as enchants--I really did not understand the conflicts between the different people within Africa before reading this, and I also gained a new appreciation for the Indian culture and the need for its people to retain their beautiful traditions, no matter where they live.
Already a fan of Vassanji (When she was Queen), I expected images formed by words, vivid settings and unforgettable people. He does not disappoint with idealistic and ambitious Lall, rebellious Deepa, Lall's sister, and fearless Njoroge, their childhood friend. Through the years, their relationships deepen, grow apart and fracture in ways we in Canada could not predict or understand. The clashing cultures of India and Africa come alive in this novel, and the choices the characters make are often surprising and more than a little unsettling.
"...I recall a shiver at the back of my neck, a quiver of excitement, of fear for them both. The die had been cast. She did not seem to understand the seriousness of her offence, not to me but to the values of our times and people. We did not marry blacks or whites, or low-castes or Muslims; there were other restrictions, too subtle for us of the younger generation to follow; Hindu Punjabis were the strong preference always. Times were changing, certainly, but Deepa in her typical impulsive way had leaped ahead of them."
This is a book that informs as well as enchants--I really did not understand the conflicts between the different people within Africa before reading this, and I also gained a new appreciation for the Indian culture and the need for its people to retain their beautiful traditions, no matter where they live.
January 8, 2010
This is my first book of the year, and it took me quite some time to get into it.
Few things annoy me more than when an author decides to ignore such a useful stylistic conventions as using quotation marks to offset dialogue! I like quotation marks. It makes the book easier to parse and gives me a clear idea of who is saying what. I discarded Blindness for similar reasons. Had I not been more favourably disposed to M.G. Vassanji after reading The Assassin's Song , I might have done the same thing.
I have an inkling as to why Vassanji chose this departure from the norm. By abandoning quotation marks—in effect, dialogue itself—everything everyone says comes to us via Vikram and is interpreted and filtered through Vikram. All of the characters speak in Vikram's voice, and his is the only voice in the book for that reason. Still, this was an annoying aspect of The In-Between World that did not encourage me to continue reading.
After about the first third of the book, the story picks up as Vikram moves into adulthood. It's painful. That can be a good thing—and I didn't expect a story of unmitigated happiness here. Vassanji is capturing the zeitgeist in the microcosm of an individual, and seldom is the zeitgeist a wholly good one. Vassanji is careful, however, to portray the bad and the good. It was a time of murder and corruption, but it was also a time of hope and inspiration.
As a depiction of Kenya in the late twentieth century, this book fails to yield the scope required for a detailed understanding of the political dynamics at work. However, the interactions between the characters, particularly between Vikram and his relations, give us an idea of the pressures the external world puts upon everyone in Nairobi. Nairobi is much like the main character: a nexus of European, particularly British worldviews with East African identity and cultures. And that portrayal of personal transformation, of a change of identity as Kenya comes of age and gains independence, is the most rewarding part of The In-Between World.
This book has a perfect title. The In-Between World of Vikram Lall describes precisely what it is about. Vikram is in-between everything and everyone. As an Indian born and raised in Kenya, he is neither an "African" nor an outsider. He is alien to his own country. Among his family, he can never seem to take sides in issues. And in Kenya at large, he becomes a power and money broker, not out of avarice but because he gets caught up in larger affairs.
It's this sense of "going with the flow" and powerlessness that prevents me from sympathizing with Vikram. He only takes responsibility for his actions at the end; that's why he's telling this story, I suppose. It's difficult to criticize this, since it's an intentional component of Vikram's characterization, yet it detracted from my enjoyment of the book. As much as the life of an Indian family in Kenya fascinated me, as much as I cringed at the tragedy of Deepa and Njoroge's love, Vikram's constant disavowal of responsibility looms over the narrative like an approaching storm cloud.
If I have to generalize (and you know I do), I'd say that this is a worthy book. My criticism is subjective, so I don't want to warn people away because I disliked the lack of quotation marks or the characterization of the narrator. There's something in this book that will appeal to everyone, even if few people will find everything about the book appealing. Am I so sure it was worth the Giller? No, but then again, it's probably a good thing that I don't have to decide these matters.
Few things annoy me more than when an author decides to ignore such a useful stylistic conventions as using quotation marks to offset dialogue! I like quotation marks. It makes the book easier to parse and gives me a clear idea of who is saying what. I discarded Blindness for similar reasons. Had I not been more favourably disposed to M.G. Vassanji after reading The Assassin's Song , I might have done the same thing.
I have an inkling as to why Vassanji chose this departure from the norm. By abandoning quotation marks—in effect, dialogue itself—everything everyone says comes to us via Vikram and is interpreted and filtered through Vikram. All of the characters speak in Vikram's voice, and his is the only voice in the book for that reason. Still, this was an annoying aspect of The In-Between World that did not encourage me to continue reading.
After about the first third of the book, the story picks up as Vikram moves into adulthood. It's painful. That can be a good thing—and I didn't expect a story of unmitigated happiness here. Vassanji is capturing the zeitgeist in the microcosm of an individual, and seldom is the zeitgeist a wholly good one. Vassanji is careful, however, to portray the bad and the good. It was a time of murder and corruption, but it was also a time of hope and inspiration.
As a depiction of Kenya in the late twentieth century, this book fails to yield the scope required for a detailed understanding of the political dynamics at work. However, the interactions between the characters, particularly between Vikram and his relations, give us an idea of the pressures the external world puts upon everyone in Nairobi. Nairobi is much like the main character: a nexus of European, particularly British worldviews with East African identity and cultures. And that portrayal of personal transformation, of a change of identity as Kenya comes of age and gains independence, is the most rewarding part of The In-Between World.
This book has a perfect title. The In-Between World of Vikram Lall describes precisely what it is about. Vikram is in-between everything and everyone. As an Indian born and raised in Kenya, he is neither an "African" nor an outsider. He is alien to his own country. Among his family, he can never seem to take sides in issues. And in Kenya at large, he becomes a power and money broker, not out of avarice but because he gets caught up in larger affairs.
It's this sense of "going with the flow" and powerlessness that prevents me from sympathizing with Vikram. He only takes responsibility for his actions at the end; that's why he's telling this story, I suppose. It's difficult to criticize this, since it's an intentional component of Vikram's characterization, yet it detracted from my enjoyment of the book. As much as the life of an Indian family in Kenya fascinated me, as much as I cringed at the tragedy of Deepa and Njoroge's love, Vikram's constant disavowal of responsibility looms over the narrative like an approaching storm cloud.
If I have to generalize (and you know I do), I'd say that this is a worthy book. My criticism is subjective, so I don't want to warn people away because I disliked the lack of quotation marks or the characterization of the narrator. There's something in this book that will appeal to everyone, even if few people will find everything about the book appealing. Am I so sure it was worth the Giller? No, but then again, it's probably a good thing that I don't have to decide these matters.
August 21, 2017
Vassanji has written a beautiful and tragic epic of 20th century Kenya. Jomo Kenyatta, the first President, was brutal. As were the Mau Maus, when they hacked apart women and children in their war to end British colonialism.
These horrors provide a context, but not the core. There are more subtle, personal brutalities at work. Vikram Lall is an Indian Kenyan, well-placed in-between conflicts and threats. He finds racism in every aspect of life – from his mother, to his colleagues, to his best friend. Lall is a tireless listener, a principled voice of understanding. And a model of complacent corruption. He makes a strong case that it’s impossible to be otherwise, in Kenyan positions of power.
Lall loves his country – the marvel of the railway, the vibrancy of Nairobi, and the beauty of the land. No matter how brutal, the Rift Valley is home. Within that tortured context, Lall must carve out his peace. It feels as if this novel is Vassanji’s quest to do the same.
These horrors provide a context, but not the core. There are more subtle, personal brutalities at work. Vikram Lall is an Indian Kenyan, well-placed in-between conflicts and threats. He finds racism in every aspect of life – from his mother, to his colleagues, to his best friend. Lall is a tireless listener, a principled voice of understanding. And a model of complacent corruption. He makes a strong case that it’s impossible to be otherwise, in Kenyan positions of power.
Lall loves his country – the marvel of the railway, the vibrancy of Nairobi, and the beauty of the land. No matter how brutal, the Rift Valley is home. Within that tortured context, Lall must carve out his peace. It feels as if this novel is Vassanji’s quest to do the same.
December 7, 2013
So much terror and love and loyalties and human failings to explore in this book. And what a sense of safety to do it in the hands of an exceptional storyteller and word artist such as Vassanji. It was a bonus, as well, to learn about the political history of Kenya in the 1950s – 80s through the richly imagined characters who embodied all aspects of those 3-way racially charged times. As for my 4 stars instead of 5 … I simply could not buy into that last page. So much to ponder en route to that final page, though.
October 28, 2014
Vikram Lall, the narrator of this engrossing story, looks back over the last fifty years of his life. From the safety of his self-imposed exile in Canada, he takes the reader through a selection of pertinent years. The choices are years that were pivotal in his personal life and intimately linked in the historical development of his home country of Kenya. The passage of time allows him to describe the people and events in a dispassionate voice which affects the reader deeply. While not openly self-critical, he paints an honest and detailed portrait of himself. Addressing the reader directly at the outset, he asks us to form our opinion on whether or not his reputation as "one of Africa's most corrupt men, a cheat of monstrous and reptilian cunning" is justified. The result is a multi-layered novel of extraordinary depth, rich with memorable characters, dramatic action and a high level of authenticity in its representation of the environment and the realities of the time. Intimately familiar with cultural context - being from the same ethnic Indian-Kenyan background as his principal characters - as well as the political circumstances, Vassanji has created a panorama that seamlessly merges historical realities with his characters' private dramas in broad, yet precisely placed strokes.
Kenya's struggle for independence from Britain, spearheaded by the Mau Mau movement, brought danger to all ethnic groups. Young Vikram and his sister Deepa, while protected by their caring family, are pulled into the drama when violence hits close to home. The family's store is the centre of their lives: well connected not only within the Asian community, but also with regular British customers. The African Kenyans living around the Asian estate are tolerated rather than respected. Loyalty to the monarchy overrides any concerns about the growing ethnic conflicts. Their grandfather, one of the many Indian labourers brought to East Africa to lay down the railway tracks, had settled in this beautiful and potentially prosperous country. Their father only returned once to the Punjab to find a bride; Vikram never visited the country of his forebears. The children's close circle of friends transcend the racial divisions with British siblings, Bill and Annie, as well as Njoroge, son of the estate's African gardener. Their idyllic life sees the five full of fun and games, emotional ties growing that will influence the rest of their lives. Innocence comes to a sudden end: accusations of murder hit the black neighbourhood. Tensions and suspicions are on the rise. Njoroge goes into hiding after his grandfather is arrested. Having drawn us into the intimacy of his characters' existence, Vassanji's depiction of the events that follow leaves a deep resonance with the reader. Mau Mau rebels, known for their violence against white Kenyans are pursued by British and Kenyan police with equal force. In the hunt for any potential rebels innocent Africans are caught in the net of police brutality. Vassanji brings out the conflict's different perspectives in a fairly neutral way, yet the emotional tensions are palpable under the calm surface of the narrative.
With Independence in 1963, violence and conflict shifted but did not disappear as Kenyans of all ethnic backgrounds had to grapple with old and new challenges. Corruption and nepotism were integral part of the ruling elite which did little to disguise their machinations. While Vassanji's power brokers are fictional characters, some resemblance to the actual political scene is without doubt intended. The Asian Kenyan community has split loyalties: a growing number of them flee Kenya in response to the restrictions imposed on their economic activities and with acts of violence against them increasing. Others, like the Lall family, having always regarded Kenya as their home, take Kenyan nationality and congregate in Nairobi to adjust their life to the new realities. Conflicting emotions and loyalties are tested more than ever. Can Vikram's love for his rebellious uncle Mahesh survive the revelations of earlier acts of betrayal? Restrictive traditional mind-sets clash with the younger generation's ambitions and their determination to overcome racial and cultural differences and stereotypes. In Deepa, Vassanji exemplifies these tensions empathetically. She revolts against her family's and the community's poorly hidden racism, which remains pervasive in all ethnic groups sharing the country. Vikram and Njoroge are each entangled in the web of politics in their own way. Njoroge follows his vision and dreams. Vikram, on the other hand decides to take an easier route, going with the flow of the political system and not taking a stand. In the end, though, he becomes the victim of his inclinations and his hiding in Canada may not be a permanent solution to his circumstances. The author vividly conveys the complexities of that period through Vikram's musing on his actions at the time and his reaffirmation of his own identity and roots.
Vikram's question in the prologue will not be easily answered, yet deserves consideration and reflection. Very few authors, if any, from Vassanji's background or any other, familiar with East African history over the last sixty years, have been able to tackle the fundamental issues of that time with such depth of comprehension and sensitivity for the human tragedies it entailed. Beyond its specific historical and cultural context, Vassanji's novel is one of the most gripping, beautifully rendered story of human strengths and failures, deep emotions, perseverance and resilience.
Kenya's struggle for independence from Britain, spearheaded by the Mau Mau movement, brought danger to all ethnic groups. Young Vikram and his sister Deepa, while protected by their caring family, are pulled into the drama when violence hits close to home. The family's store is the centre of their lives: well connected not only within the Asian community, but also with regular British customers. The African Kenyans living around the Asian estate are tolerated rather than respected. Loyalty to the monarchy overrides any concerns about the growing ethnic conflicts. Their grandfather, one of the many Indian labourers brought to East Africa to lay down the railway tracks, had settled in this beautiful and potentially prosperous country. Their father only returned once to the Punjab to find a bride; Vikram never visited the country of his forebears. The children's close circle of friends transcend the racial divisions with British siblings, Bill and Annie, as well as Njoroge, son of the estate's African gardener. Their idyllic life sees the five full of fun and games, emotional ties growing that will influence the rest of their lives. Innocence comes to a sudden end: accusations of murder hit the black neighbourhood. Tensions and suspicions are on the rise. Njoroge goes into hiding after his grandfather is arrested. Having drawn us into the intimacy of his characters' existence, Vassanji's depiction of the events that follow leaves a deep resonance with the reader. Mau Mau rebels, known for their violence against white Kenyans are pursued by British and Kenyan police with equal force. In the hunt for any potential rebels innocent Africans are caught in the net of police brutality. Vassanji brings out the conflict's different perspectives in a fairly neutral way, yet the emotional tensions are palpable under the calm surface of the narrative.
With Independence in 1963, violence and conflict shifted but did not disappear as Kenyans of all ethnic backgrounds had to grapple with old and new challenges. Corruption and nepotism were integral part of the ruling elite which did little to disguise their machinations. While Vassanji's power brokers are fictional characters, some resemblance to the actual political scene is without doubt intended. The Asian Kenyan community has split loyalties: a growing number of them flee Kenya in response to the restrictions imposed on their economic activities and with acts of violence against them increasing. Others, like the Lall family, having always regarded Kenya as their home, take Kenyan nationality and congregate in Nairobi to adjust their life to the new realities. Conflicting emotions and loyalties are tested more than ever. Can Vikram's love for his rebellious uncle Mahesh survive the revelations of earlier acts of betrayal? Restrictive traditional mind-sets clash with the younger generation's ambitions and their determination to overcome racial and cultural differences and stereotypes. In Deepa, Vassanji exemplifies these tensions empathetically. She revolts against her family's and the community's poorly hidden racism, which remains pervasive in all ethnic groups sharing the country. Vikram and Njoroge are each entangled in the web of politics in their own way. Njoroge follows his vision and dreams. Vikram, on the other hand decides to take an easier route, going with the flow of the political system and not taking a stand. In the end, though, he becomes the victim of his inclinations and his hiding in Canada may not be a permanent solution to his circumstances. The author vividly conveys the complexities of that period through Vikram's musing on his actions at the time and his reaffirmation of his own identity and roots.
Vikram's question in the prologue will not be easily answered, yet deserves consideration and reflection. Very few authors, if any, from Vassanji's background or any other, familiar with East African history over the last sixty years, have been able to tackle the fundamental issues of that time with such depth of comprehension and sensitivity for the human tragedies it entailed. Beyond its specific historical and cultural context, Vassanji's novel is one of the most gripping, beautifully rendered story of human strengths and failures, deep emotions, perseverance and resilience.
June 26, 2018
This is written from the eyes of a young Indian Vikram Lall living in Kenya from the fight form independence, the rule of Kenyatta and the changes after Kenyatta's death. Lall's grandfather came to Kenya as an indentured labourer to work on the Kenyan railways. The family came from Punjab and were Hindu so they were outcastes in Africa unable to return to their traditional home now in Pakistan.
There were parts of the book that were interesting - the view of whites and natives on the Asians, the racism in all cultures and the forbidden love of Lall's sister with the local Njoroge. But at times the writing read like a political history of Kenya and the ending was a bit of a slow burn which fizzled out.
There were parts of the book that were interesting - the view of whites and natives on the Asians, the racism in all cultures and the forbidden love of Lall's sister with the local Njoroge. But at times the writing read like a political history of Kenya and the ending was a bit of a slow burn which fizzled out.
May 28, 2009
I picked this one up as part of my continuing efforts to read all the winners of the Giller prize. (I've read 12, I think, of 16.) MG Vassanji is a two-time winner of the prize and his other winner, The Book of Secrets, is still on my to-be-read pile. (It's also on my mental to-be-bought list, but one day...)
From The New Yorker, a description: In this novel set among Kenya's Indian diaspora, two ill-fated loves—Vikram Lall's for a young English girl, his sister's for a young African man—symbolize their family's tenuous social position as neither privileged oppressor nor righteous oppressed. Vikram, now in exile in Canada, recounts Kenya's painful process of decolonization and his own role laundering money for government officials, an activity that he justifies as the survival tactic of one considered "inherently disloyal" because of his race.
I enjoyed this book; I wasn't sure if I would. It has a sort of slow movement and beginning, a sort of memoir of someone you're not sure you're interested in knowing. But then the background and the history, the Mau Mau Uprising and then Independence and the corruption later began to interest me, as well as the in-betweenness of Vikram and his family - Indians who consider themselves African, but who nevertheless do not feel they belong in the country they call home.
I think what keeps me from giving this book 5 stars is the dispassionate retelling of the story. Vikram does talk about his coldness, but somehow his disengagement kept me just that much disengaged as well.
From The New Yorker, a description: In this novel set among Kenya's Indian diaspora, two ill-fated loves—Vikram Lall's for a young English girl, his sister's for a young African man—symbolize their family's tenuous social position as neither privileged oppressor nor righteous oppressed. Vikram, now in exile in Canada, recounts Kenya's painful process of decolonization and his own role laundering money for government officials, an activity that he justifies as the survival tactic of one considered "inherently disloyal" because of his race.
I enjoyed this book; I wasn't sure if I would. It has a sort of slow movement and beginning, a sort of memoir of someone you're not sure you're interested in knowing. But then the background and the history, the Mau Mau Uprising and then Independence and the corruption later began to interest me, as well as the in-betweenness of Vikram and his family - Indians who consider themselves African, but who nevertheless do not feel they belong in the country they call home.
I think what keeps me from giving this book 5 stars is the dispassionate retelling of the story. Vikram does talk about his coldness, but somehow his disengagement kept me just that much disengaged as well.
October 30, 2016
A wonderful book if one has lived in Kenya and knows the geography and the people by personal experience. I was fortunate to have lived there so it was very authentic and vivid. If I hadn't lived there, this would drop to a three, because the world Vassanji paints is so hard to enter.
The story is set in Kenya as World War II ends, the British Empire dissolves, nationhood is bestowed on former colonies, and many dreams and hopes are steadily betrayed. In the middle of those broad sweeps, the story follows a family of East Indians, and ultimately becomes a story of race, cultural constraints, and coping with the slow changing expectations of those while larger norms are in contrast undergoing rapid and profound transformations.
The beauty of the story is in the emotional ties expressed between the main character and each of his family members - his sister in particular, his aunts and uncles and his parents. In a colonial setting of that time, Africans are part of the family, and both Asian and Africans wrestle with the extra legitimacy of the Europeans - colonizers they are as a population, but with all the foibles of anyone as individuals.
The story flows downhill, following the slide from excitement and possibility for nationhood, post racial perspectives, and equitable wealth for all, towards corruption, new racial tensions, and the economic distress still seen today. So, this isn't a happy story, just realistic, complex, and varying shades of ethical grays.
The story is set in Kenya as World War II ends, the British Empire dissolves, nationhood is bestowed on former colonies, and many dreams and hopes are steadily betrayed. In the middle of those broad sweeps, the story follows a family of East Indians, and ultimately becomes a story of race, cultural constraints, and coping with the slow changing expectations of those while larger norms are in contrast undergoing rapid and profound transformations.
The beauty of the story is in the emotional ties expressed between the main character and each of his family members - his sister in particular, his aunts and uncles and his parents. In a colonial setting of that time, Africans are part of the family, and both Asian and Africans wrestle with the extra legitimacy of the Europeans - colonizers they are as a population, but with all the foibles of anyone as individuals.
The story flows downhill, following the slide from excitement and possibility for nationhood, post racial perspectives, and equitable wealth for all, towards corruption, new racial tensions, and the economic distress still seen today. So, this isn't a happy story, just realistic, complex, and varying shades of ethical grays.
February 26, 2016
I liked the first part best, the part when the narrator is a child. But as the story progressed I felt less engaged. I'm not quite sure what didn't work for me, though. If I figure it out, I'll come back.
December 22, 2008
I found the writing a bit stilted although the subject matter was most interesting
October 25, 2013
Hands down, one of the best and most compelling works of fiction I've read in a long time. Rich characters and an interesting historical context.
September 17, 2023
It was brilliant the first time I read it, and even more so the second time.
This is the second time I have read The In between World of Vikram Lall. This book is more shocking, painful, and engrossing than it was the first time I read it. Highly recommended for anyone attracted by powerful writing, an unusual setting, and complex, flawed, and heartbreaking characters. One of my favorite books.
This is the second time I have read The In between World of Vikram Lall. This book is more shocking, painful, and engrossing than it was the first time I read it. Highly recommended for anyone attracted by powerful writing, an unusual setting, and complex, flawed, and heartbreaking characters. One of my favorite books.
December 3, 2010
Although this Booker prize-winning story seems to start slow with the adventures of some young playmates in the dusty streets of a Kenyan town, the story becomes compelling. From the beginning Vassanji drops subtle hints of tragedies to come that affect the playmates as they grow; the English boy and girl representing the British colonial administration, the Kikuyu boy representing the tribal people, and Vikram and his sister Deepa representing the Indians brought in to build the railway who become many of merchants. It is a society sharply divided and very class conscious. Normally these three races would not mix, but they become fast friends in a period set against the terrible Mau Mau violence preceding independence from the British.
The story is told in the voice of Vikram, and weaves through the fortunes of these three groups from the 1950’s. Vikram is attracted to the English girl, his sister to Njorge,the Kikuyu…both forbidden loves. The story proceeds through the glory years of Jomo Kenyatta, the father of Kenya to his death chronicling Vik’s increasing wealth—almost accidental wealth as he becomes a go-between to launder American money at first to keep Kenya from going communist like Tanzania, then huge amounts of development money siphoned off by the powerful.
The tale aptly depicts the racial tensions, the predicament of the Asian minority, the attrocities against British by the Mau Mau and against tribals. Against this broad background Vassanji weaves individual tragedies and sadnesses.
Vassanji writes of Vikram thinking back over his life and events in Kenya and to his friends while in a self-imposed exile in Canada in a locality in Northumberland where I now live. The writing is dense, at times a bit tedious, and without the normal conventions of dialogue. He uses no quotation marks to set off speech. The short segment at the end of most chapters brings one back to Vik’s exile, and hints more and more fully about catastrophe to come.
Vassanji has done us a great service in portraying Kenya during tumultous decades. Impressions of Kenya will remain with me, as will the fated characters…but I could wish he had left out some of the dense sections.
The story is told in the voice of Vikram, and weaves through the fortunes of these three groups from the 1950’s. Vikram is attracted to the English girl, his sister to Njorge,the Kikuyu…both forbidden loves. The story proceeds through the glory years of Jomo Kenyatta, the father of Kenya to his death chronicling Vik’s increasing wealth—almost accidental wealth as he becomes a go-between to launder American money at first to keep Kenya from going communist like Tanzania, then huge amounts of development money siphoned off by the powerful.
The tale aptly depicts the racial tensions, the predicament of the Asian minority, the attrocities against British by the Mau Mau and against tribals. Against this broad background Vassanji weaves individual tragedies and sadnesses.
Vassanji writes of Vikram thinking back over his life and events in Kenya and to his friends while in a self-imposed exile in Canada in a locality in Northumberland where I now live. The writing is dense, at times a bit tedious, and without the normal conventions of dialogue. He uses no quotation marks to set off speech. The short segment at the end of most chapters brings one back to Vik’s exile, and hints more and more fully about catastrophe to come.
Vassanji has done us a great service in portraying Kenya during tumultous decades. Impressions of Kenya will remain with me, as will the fated characters…but I could wish he had left out some of the dense sections.
March 24, 2008
Synopsis
Sweeping in scope, both historically and geographically, Vassanji weaves a rich tapestry of vivid characters, real and imagined, in a Kenya poised between colonialism and independence. Vikram Lall, like his adopted country, inhabits an 'in-between world': between the pull of his ancestral home in India and the Kenya he loves passionately; between his tragic past in Africa and an unclear future in Canada; between escape from political terror and a seemingly inevitable return home ...a return that may cost him dearly. A master storyteller, Vassanji intertwines the political and the personal - the rise of the Mau Mau in the last days of imperialism looms large over a plot centring on two love stories and a deep friendship. The result is a sumptuous novel that brilliantly explores the tyranny of history and memory, and questions the individual's role and responsibility in lawless times.
This a large sweeping novel, taking us from the 1950's to the 1990's. It concerns an Asian family in Kenya - during the years of political upheaval. the novel starts with Vikram Lall reflecting upon how he came to be known as one of his country's most corrupt men. This is a story of politics and corruption, but mostly it is a love story, as well as a story of friendship and belonging. Vikram Lall loves his country of Kenya, and yet he is continually seen as Asain rather than Kenyan. His career sees him making money out of corruption, but it is not untill later while in exile in Canada that Vikram lall begins to examine his responsibility in the events that shaped his and his family's lives.
Sweeping in scope, both historically and geographically, Vassanji weaves a rich tapestry of vivid characters, real and imagined, in a Kenya poised between colonialism and independence. Vikram Lall, like his adopted country, inhabits an 'in-between world': between the pull of his ancestral home in India and the Kenya he loves passionately; between his tragic past in Africa and an unclear future in Canada; between escape from political terror and a seemingly inevitable return home ...a return that may cost him dearly. A master storyteller, Vassanji intertwines the political and the personal - the rise of the Mau Mau in the last days of imperialism looms large over a plot centring on two love stories and a deep friendship. The result is a sumptuous novel that brilliantly explores the tyranny of history and memory, and questions the individual's role and responsibility in lawless times.
This a large sweeping novel, taking us from the 1950's to the 1990's. It concerns an Asian family in Kenya - during the years of political upheaval. the novel starts with Vikram Lall reflecting upon how he came to be known as one of his country's most corrupt men. This is a story of politics and corruption, but mostly it is a love story, as well as a story of friendship and belonging. Vikram Lall loves his country of Kenya, and yet he is continually seen as Asain rather than Kenyan. His career sees him making money out of corruption, but it is not untill later while in exile in Canada that Vikram lall begins to examine his responsibility in the events that shaped his and his family's lives.
August 3, 2012
This was recommended reading for the ACM Tanzania program. It's clear why. The drama of this book is intertwined with the drama of Tanzania's independence and growth as a young nation. Vikram's early years are colored by the dark, fearful nights of the Mau Mau revolutionaries, by the blind oppression of the British; his later years are defined by the corruption of Kenya's post-colonial government. His unique personality flows from the cultural interactions between the immigrant Indian community and the native Maasai and Kikuyu peoples. It's almost a formula for a didactic, historical fiction meant to teach Tanzanian history and issues to exchange students.
Yet for all that, it never seems forced or awkward - it embodies those issues without being limited by them. Vikram's internal life, the life and character of his mind, are portrayed with as much reality and idiosyncracy as any character I've ever read. I feel like I know what it was like to be Vikram Lall. That's a pretty strong achievement for an author. On the other, less important, hand, I have no idea what it would be like to be around Vikram Lall. I never got a sense of how he interacted with people.
While the novel was technically great - the protagonist was realistic, and the history was weaved in subtly and flawlessly - it wasn't really that interesting. As a drama of family and relationships and culture, it's a genre I generally find bland and uninteresting. Hence, while it was well done and informative, 3 stars because it lacked intrinsic interest.
Yet for all that, it never seems forced or awkward - it embodies those issues without being limited by them. Vikram's internal life, the life and character of his mind, are portrayed with as much reality and idiosyncracy as any character I've ever read. I feel like I know what it was like to be Vikram Lall. That's a pretty strong achievement for an author. On the other, less important, hand, I have no idea what it would be like to be around Vikram Lall. I never got a sense of how he interacted with people.
While the novel was technically great - the protagonist was realistic, and the history was weaved in subtly and flawlessly - it wasn't really that interesting. As a drama of family and relationships and culture, it's a genre I generally find bland and uninteresting. Hence, while it was well done and informative, 3 stars because it lacked intrinsic interest.
September 12, 2019
In a promising new world, democracy can only rise through equality of rights. The shocking truth about our behaviors shows that we’re causing the disparities of the state within which we live. Racism, jealousy, and envy led to the need for survival; where all his alien, but your own community, where alliances arise to ensure "security".
The in-between world of Vikram Lall shows exactly how communities differ across Kenya. From the elites represented by the European, the Hindus being the faithful merchant and the oppressed state of Africans; all sharing different views, demonstrating the aspects in which they live. The story allows to see through the eyes of Vikram Lall, son of an indian merchant. The movement of Kenya from a British Colony to a corrupted African country; “when the promise of a brave new world unfurled beneath the clear blue sky” (Pink Floyd, Goodbye Blue Sky) offered to the Africans upon independence. Where one fights for his own self, often exceeding his needs, we find a divided Kenya. With the hope of building a strong country goes the hope of benefiting from it; for the individual wellbeing to the group comes corruption. A subtle process that captures you into a vicious cycle of greed; if not you, then someone else will take your place. Thus, the promising new world collapse and the hope for a representative state dies with it.
The in-between world of Vikram Lall shows exactly how communities differ across Kenya. From the elites represented by the European, the Hindus being the faithful merchant and the oppressed state of Africans; all sharing different views, demonstrating the aspects in which they live. The story allows to see through the eyes of Vikram Lall, son of an indian merchant. The movement of Kenya from a British Colony to a corrupted African country; “when the promise of a brave new world unfurled beneath the clear blue sky” (Pink Floyd, Goodbye Blue Sky) offered to the Africans upon independence. Where one fights for his own self, often exceeding his needs, we find a divided Kenya. With the hope of building a strong country goes the hope of benefiting from it; for the individual wellbeing to the group comes corruption. A subtle process that captures you into a vicious cycle of greed; if not you, then someone else will take your place. Thus, the promising new world collapse and the hope for a representative state dies with it.
Read
June 24, 2007This is a great book for its characters, less the narrator's than the profound understanding he shows for the people who are a part of and affect his life. There is no depiction of good or evil, just people caught inside the strenghts and weakness of who they are and the circumstances in which they live. There is a poignant space throughout the book, a despair almost - a space we typically bridge with anger and judgement - where the human limitations of people with great power: political leaders, parents, lovers, make them simply incapable of doing irreparable damage to the people entrusted to their care.
January 31, 2011
Giller Prize Winner 2003. This was a good book, and very good in some ways. But it lacked in some ways too. I enjoyed Vikram, getting to know him, getting to understand him... and I enjoyed learning about Kenya and some of its politics. It was an aspect of African history that I had no idea even existed, and so that was interesting to read about. Although the "big sin" that he was hiding from wasn't even brought up until the final few chapters... it just seemed "small" in comparison to all the other "sins" that were perhaps less "criminal" but not "less". I don't know if that makes sense to other readers or not.A good book but not great.
December 25, 2008
I really wish there were parts of stars iin this rating system. I would give this one a 3.7. I enjoyed this book primarily because I liked learning about Kenyan independence from the perspective of its Asian citizens - interesting stuff on family, race, ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, that sort of stuff. I liked the characters. This book didn't blow me out of the water, but it is a quick read and one I would recommend - would be a good one for a book club.
November 14, 2014
This book has everything in it: family, friendship, love, post-colonialism, racism, sexism, corruption, passion, tragedy, betrayal....everything! A truly talented writer, Vassanji tells us the story of Vik Lall, a loveable yet often spineless character who is deemed to be one of the most corrupt men in Africa. We meet Vik as a child, and watch his life unfold in Kenya in a tumultuous time. Just read it-- I finished it some months ago, and am tempted to read it again already.
July 22, 2013
Story based in Nakuru, small towns around Nakuru and Nairobi soon after independence. It tells stories of what Indians went thru and the fear that they had live with. For me, it was a fascinating read since I grew up in Nakuru.
July 8, 2023
"I long believed that mine were crimes of circumstance, of finding oneself in a situation and simply going along with the way of the world." P.372
I dilly-dallied for five months reading this novel. Not because it was boring me, or because a lack of familiarity with the subject matter made it hard to get stuck into (though it's true that I knew virtually nothing about Kenya's independence from England and even less about the chaos that ensued). This was a hard one to get through because I could tell almost immediately that while I was interested in learning something of those events and of that time period through the novel, this was a book with a... difficult perspective.
Our protagonist, the titular Vikram, is born into an established Desi family in Kenya and the narrative opens in 1953. The very first characters we meet besides our protagonist are his sister and their three childhood playmates; a boy called Njoroge, and a brother and sister from an English family. Of this period of his life, Vikram says:
This rather ominous statement, given to us on page one, forms the backbone of the entire narrative and never truly leaves us.
Because, you see, Vassanji seems to be trying to accomplish a few things in this novel. Things that snarl up within each other like: the legacy of colonialism, strained race relations between majority and minority ethnic groups, a corrupt post-colonialist government, violent freedom fighters who sprang up out of an additional ostracised minority group. And there's also a Romeo and Juliet style love story that predictably ends badly. Not to mention the underlying question posed in the title of: where in this new world do people like Vikram belong/do people like Vikram (i.e., Asian families long established in Kenya) belong in this new world?
There's... a lot going on.
All of this getting mixed up together in the stew of a novel should have made for some compelling plot points and nicely complex and nuanced characterization of all of our main characters.
It does not.
Because, you see, Vassanji cleverly lets us in on the stance he's going to take on all of this kerfuffle in the title; that's right -- this is a centrist take. A 'there were bad people on both sides' take.
He pays a lot of lip service to the idea that Kenya gaining independence from the British is good, actually, but then every single British character in the story is decent and good and they all have tragic things happen to them. And all of the freedom fighters/Mau Mau we meet are pretty objectively bad people who murder children only to get shunted sideways in a pathetic little heap once the new, crooked regime takes over.
So that was a choice.
There's a large cast of recurring characters on top of a large number of historical events/plot points, and that weighs things down too because not every character we meet has the space to be equally fleshed out, and so many of them end of fulfilling two-dimensional archetypes. Vikram's sister, Seema, and Njoroge in particular suffer from this problem.
Vikram himself, our protagonist and narrator, is also deeply uninteresting. He tells us in the book's first paragraph that he's essentially the villain of the story. But then kind of hedges that assertion, much like he does every other thought he has. The lad lives this wild life and yet never takes a single stand on anything. Does he support his sister's forbidden romance with Njoroge? Kind of. How does he end of with his wife? She's kind of just given to him. How does he end up being this super high-level con-man? Eh, he sort of just falls into it accidentally.
Passive protagonists can be interesting if the point of their passivity is to be a POV character for the reader, the fly on the wall, the observer. But if Vikram's this story's Nick Carraway, we desperately needed and never got a Jay Gatsby.
And it's all in service to this idea that he can't pick a side because there are 'good and bad people on both sides.' So, what's the result of this maddening centricity? He ends up getting swept up in a tide of decidedly not good things and just runs around being a menace for the last third of the book. Thanks, I hate it.
The framing device of Vikram's exile in Canada and his relationships there ultimately doesn't matter for as much room in the narrative as it takes up, and in the end that central question of identity, of 'where do I belong?' gets answered, but not in a way that feels engaging or new. He belongs in Kenya. Why does he belong there? Is it because of the connection he feels to his grandfather who helped build the railway there? Is it because he grew up there? Is it because he travels elsewhere and realizes home was the place he came from? Who knows because we never find out. He just decides to mosey on back after Njoroge's incredibly forgettable and ultimately unimportant son goes back there and gets arrested.
The entire last act (the last 100 pages or so) feels rushed -- a jarring contrast to the texture and care that were clearly put into the first half of the novel set during Vikram's childhood.
And that's a pity, because in terms of perspective and raw writing talent, Vassanji had everything needed to write a very nuanced and fresh take on a tumultuous time in Kenya's (and Africa's more broadly) history. But, alas.
That all being said, I will give him credit for having some really lovely descriptive passages and a banger of an opening paragraph:
I dilly-dallied for five months reading this novel. Not because it was boring me, or because a lack of familiarity with the subject matter made it hard to get stuck into (though it's true that I knew virtually nothing about Kenya's independence from England and even less about the chaos that ensued). This was a hard one to get through because I could tell almost immediately that while I was interested in learning something of those events and of that time period through the novel, this was a book with a... difficult perspective.
Our protagonist, the titular Vikram, is born into an established Desi family in Kenya and the narrative opens in 1953. The very first characters we meet besides our protagonist are his sister and their three childhood playmates; a boy called Njoroge, and a brother and sister from an English family. Of this period of his life, Vikram says:
"I call forth for you here my beginning, the world of my childhood [...] It was a world of innocence and play, under a guileless and constant sun; as well, of barbarous cruelty and terror lurking in darkest night; a colonial world of repressive, undignified subjecthood, as also of seductive order and security -- so that long afterwards we would be tempted to wonder if we did not hurry forth too fast straight into the morass that is now our mal-formed freedom. p.5
This rather ominous statement, given to us on page one, forms the backbone of the entire narrative and never truly leaves us.
Because, you see, Vassanji seems to be trying to accomplish a few things in this novel. Things that snarl up within each other like: the legacy of colonialism, strained race relations between majority and minority ethnic groups, a corrupt post-colonialist government, violent freedom fighters who sprang up out of an additional ostracised minority group. And there's also a Romeo and Juliet style love story that predictably ends badly. Not to mention the underlying question posed in the title of: where in this new world do people like Vikram belong/do people like Vikram (i.e., Asian families long established in Kenya) belong in this new world?
There's... a lot going on.
All of this getting mixed up together in the stew of a novel should have made for some compelling plot points and nicely complex and nuanced characterization of all of our main characters.
It does not.
Because, you see, Vassanji cleverly lets us in on the stance he's going to take on all of this kerfuffle in the title; that's right -- this is a centrist take. A 'there were bad people on both sides' take.
He pays a lot of lip service to the idea that Kenya gaining independence from the British is good, actually, but then every single British character in the story is decent and good and they all have tragic things happen to them. And all of the freedom fighters/Mau Mau we meet are pretty objectively bad people who murder children only to get shunted sideways in a pathetic little heap once the new, crooked regime takes over.
So that was a choice.
There's a large cast of recurring characters on top of a large number of historical events/plot points, and that weighs things down too because not every character we meet has the space to be equally fleshed out, and so many of them end of fulfilling two-dimensional archetypes. Vikram's sister, Seema, and Njoroge in particular suffer from this problem.
Vikram himself, our protagonist and narrator, is also deeply uninteresting. He tells us in the book's first paragraph that he's essentially the villain of the story. But then kind of hedges that assertion, much like he does every other thought he has. The lad lives this wild life and yet never takes a single stand on anything. Does he support his sister's forbidden romance with Njoroge? Kind of. How does he end of with his wife? She's kind of just given to him. How does he end up being this super high-level con-man? Eh, he sort of just falls into it accidentally.
Passive protagonists can be interesting if the point of their passivity is to be a POV character for the reader, the fly on the wall, the observer. But if Vikram's this story's Nick Carraway, we desperately needed and never got a Jay Gatsby.
And it's all in service to this idea that he can't pick a side because there are 'good and bad people on both sides.' So, what's the result of this maddening centricity? He ends up getting swept up in a tide of decidedly not good things and just runs around being a menace for the last third of the book. Thanks, I hate it.
The framing device of Vikram's exile in Canada and his relationships there ultimately doesn't matter for as much room in the narrative as it takes up, and in the end that central question of identity, of 'where do I belong?' gets answered, but not in a way that feels engaging or new. He belongs in Kenya. Why does he belong there? Is it because of the connection he feels to his grandfather who helped build the railway there? Is it because he grew up there? Is it because he travels elsewhere and realizes home was the place he came from? Who knows because we never find out. He just decides to mosey on back after Njoroge's incredibly forgettable and ultimately unimportant son goes back there and gets arrested.
The entire last act (the last 100 pages or so) feels rushed -- a jarring contrast to the texture and care that were clearly put into the first half of the novel set during Vikram's childhood.
And that's a pity, because in terms of perspective and raw writing talent, Vassanji had everything needed to write a very nuanced and fresh take on a tumultuous time in Kenya's (and Africa's more broadly) history. But, alas.
That all being said, I will give him credit for having some really lovely descriptive passages and a banger of an opening paragraph:
My name is Vikram Lall. I have the distinction of having been numbered one of Africa's most corrupt men, a cheat of monstrous and reptilian cunning. To me has been attributed the emptying of a large part of my troubled country's treasury in recent years. I head my country's List of Shame. These and other descriptions actually flatter my intelligence, if not my moral sensibility. But I do not intend here to defend myself or even seek redemption through confession; I simply crave to tell my story. p.3
January 2, 2018
Vikram Lall is in-between: he's in-between the early part of the 20th century and the later part, between the Cold War and the new wave of accountability that attended the end of simply pouring money from the West to fight communism. He's between being Punjabi Hindu and Kenyan whatever, and he's between his childhood and lifelong love and his adulthood and family. He's not a businessman, exactly, and not a government worker, exactly. Not a revolutionary, exactly, not immoral, not moral, not cold or hard hearted. Liable to have his heart break at a memory, an insight, an insult from the child of a friend now gone, not exactly his fault.
Vikram Lall is a survivor who steps ever so slightly this way and that, never calling attention to himself and never sure of what, exactly, he is.
This is a wonderful book, both on the character and the historical level. Vikram Lall is every man writ large, and, at the same time, very very small. His story tells of the changes in east Africa after the retreat of the British and before the establishment of effective national governance, a time when everything swayed constantly, and pieces ran into each other in a random but occasionally predictable fashion. It is the story of hard work, traditional values, electronic transfers to millions of dollars, and the slippery slope between "moral" living and corruption.
Vikram Lall is a survivor who steps ever so slightly this way and that, never calling attention to himself and never sure of what, exactly, he is.
This is a wonderful book, both on the character and the historical level. Vikram Lall is every man writ large, and, at the same time, very very small. His story tells of the changes in east Africa after the retreat of the British and before the establishment of effective national governance, a time when everything swayed constantly, and pieces ran into each other in a random but occasionally predictable fashion. It is the story of hard work, traditional values, electronic transfers to millions of dollars, and the slippery slope between "moral" living and corruption.
June 20, 2018
Excellent story by this Canadian author who is new to me. The novel is set during the waning days of the British Empire in Kenya. I knew some about the time and place, about the Mau Mau and expulsion of the British, but gained a lot by reading this novel.
Vikram Lall is Indian by descent but calls Kenya his home. His parents remember what happened in India and live to see similar occurring in Kenya. As the African peoples seek liberation from their British 'masters' atrocities occur and corruption and oppression exists both pre and post independence. The age old tale of today's liberators becoming tomorrow's ruthless dictators.
The story made me think of how it must have been when the British Empire spanned much of the globe and the tumultuous changes that occurred during and after independence, for both the British and the native people of the country. The effects are still being felt today with ever more divisions being drawn and genocides and ethnic cleansing sweeping back and forth across nations and continents.
Very interesting period of history and great characters.
Vikram Lall is Indian by descent but calls Kenya his home. His parents remember what happened in India and live to see similar occurring in Kenya. As the African peoples seek liberation from their British 'masters' atrocities occur and corruption and oppression exists both pre and post independence. The age old tale of today's liberators becoming tomorrow's ruthless dictators.
The story made me think of how it must have been when the British Empire spanned much of the globe and the tumultuous changes that occurred during and after independence, for both the British and the native people of the country. The effects are still being felt today with ever more divisions being drawn and genocides and ethnic cleansing sweeping back and forth across nations and continents.
Very interesting period of history and great characters.
August 26, 2019
This book is separated in to three parts, documenting the life of Vikram Lall and the history of Kenya since the 50s. It brings in the Mau Mau Rebellion and the end of British rule, the beginning of the new independent country, the betrayal of the Mau Mau and the widespread corruption of the country's new political elite. It is really easy to read and strikes a good balance with the different elements of the story. I'm not sure if I will remember it for a long time but it was certainly enjoyable and is a good accessible way into Kenyan history.
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