Review by New York Times Review
THE BEST MEMOIRS operate at two levels. On one, the author simply recalls past experiences in all their raw subjectivity. The second involves a certain analytical distance, as the writer - wryly, perhaps, or with amusement - watches his younger self coming to terms with a society and an era, subjecting this immature version to the same meticulous scrutiny as the epoch in which he was raised. "Dreams in a Time of War" (2010), the first in a series of autobiographical volumes being written by Kenya's most celebrated novelist, performed effortlessly at that more sophisticated level. In it, Ngugi wa Thiong'o recalled a boyhood growing up in a Kikuyu compound outside Nairobi in the 1940s and '50s, when the Mau Mau uprising challenged British rule. He exposed the imperial project's inherent racism while acknowledging its transformative impact on reluctant subjects. The tone was calm and nuanced, with his polygamous father's cruelty toward his mother coming in for as much criticism as the arrogance of British officialdom, and due recognition paid white teachers at Alliance High School, who opened up the world to questing African pupils. In this, his third memoir, that critical distance has gone. Ngugi is now in neighboring Uganda, attending the prestigious Makerere University. One gets a sense that Ngugi's worldview in his early 20s differed only superficially from his worldview today, now that he is in his late 70s, so perhaps detachment has become impossible. This is an angry book, peppered with memories of slights, insults and arguments that may date back more than half a century but clearly have lost none of their bite. It opens with a slap-in-the-face incident. The National Theater in Kampala has refused to stage a one-act play the student Ngugi has written - "The Wound in the Heart" - because the story features the rape of a Mau Mau rebel's wife by a white district officer. The British Council, he is told, does not believe a British officer "can do that." Ngugi, whose family spent years in one of the fortresslike "protected" villages created to curb Mau Mau's reach and whose own brother joined the movement, knows better. It proves a temporary reversal, but sets the scene. The book tracks the blossoming of a politically conscious young writer's talent in the nurturing environment that was Makerere in its prime. Egged on by fellow students, encouraged by the progressive dean Hugh Dinwiddy and offered tips by a visiting Chinua Achebe, Ngugi finds his creative voice just as a continent is finding its freedom. The convictions he forms will last a lifetime: the quest for African dignity and self-realization, a rejection of Western hegemony, a passionate call for Africans to tell their own story in their own indigenous languages. There's no denying the injustices perpetrated during British rule, but undigested fury does not always make for good reading. So keen is Ngugi on landing anti-imperial punches that at times his touch becomes leaden. He rails against Waitina, a British official who defiles both men and women, while admitting the character may be no more than a generic boogeyman. He also gets things wrong. Joseph Mobutu never rechristened himself "Leopard Mobutu" in conscious or unconscious echo of Belgium's repressive King Leopold. He actually rebaptized himself Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga - "The rooster that watches over all the hens"; "the Leopard" was a glorifying nickname adopted by his subjects. It will be interesting to see whether Ngugi's next memoir will be set in postindependence Kenya and be equally feisty. While colonialism presents African writers with the softest of targets, criticizing still-living African politicians and modern-day regimes is fraught with risk. During the regime of former President Daniel arap Moi, Ngugi's writing got him imprisoned and forced into exile; when he returned to Kenya in 2004 during the presidency of Mwai Kibaki, he was attacked by armed robbers and his wife raped. Plenty of material there for rage, I would think, and not much likelihood of distancing. MICHELA WRONG'S first novel, "Borderlines," came out in paperback in Britain this summer.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 23, 2016]
Review by Booklist Review
In 1959, Ngugi fled the turbulence of his native Kenya for Makere University, in Uganda. The four years he spent there nurtured his budding creativity and opened his eyes to the contrast between the lofty ideals they were taught and the brutal realities of colonialism throughout Africa. Challenging the colonialists' claim to understand the African mind, Ngugi recorded through plays, articles, and short stories the complex portrait of dissent, corruption, and intrigue played out against the backdrop of postcolonialism and the Cold War. Looking back on his youth, he explores the subtexts of lessons from the British, subtle nuances he could only understand with the passage of time. He details the creative process of writing his works, drawing on cultural, familial, and social influences and a growing political awareness to produce Weep Not, Child (1964), A Grain of Wheat (1967), and Petals of Blood (1977). This is a powerful recollection of a turbulent time that produced leaders from Tom Mboya and Jomo Kenyatta to the tyrannical Idi Amin in response to the brutality of a dying colonialism.--Bush, Vanessa Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Thiong'o, a Kenyan novelist (Wizard of the Crow) and a UC Irvine English professor, has penned an eloquent, perceptive memoir about coming into his own as a writer. He focuses on his four pivotal years as an undergraduate at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, where he wrote articles, composed plays, and discovered his voice as a novelist. Outside the university's confines was a continent in flux; Thiong'o entered Makerere in 1959 as a colonial subject, and left in 1964 as a citizen of independent Kenya. He vividly describes how the colonial regime's atrocities haunted him and shaped his sensibilities. As he taps his memories and his country's history for material, he includes insightful commentary on the Land and Freedom Army resistance movement (once known as Mau Mau, a now-disavowed term), the distortions in European and American views of Africa, his social rites of passage at the university, his discovery of the Négritude school of poetry, his uncle's imprisonment in a British concentration camp, and his mother's (and mother country's) sacrifices for his education. Evocative, poignant, and thoughtful, Thiong'o's courageous narrative will linger in readers' minds. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Kenyan author Ngugi (English & comparative literature, Univ. of California, Irvine; Decolonizing the Mind) has written an autobiographical masterpiece that marks his entry into Uganda's Makerere University (1959) as a college student and British colonial subject, to his exit as a citizen of an independent African state (1964). The memoir painstakingly documents the powerful forces that have formed his writing identity-the colonial and postcolonial history of Kenya as well as the influence of numerous authors, from Charles Dickens to -Chinua Achebe. Most remarkable is his ability to observe in great detail both political and public pasts as they intersect, inform, challenge, and shape his private life as a student and emerging -talent. While tracing significant moments in Kenyan history, the author unfolds the rich complexities that make up his memories. VERDICT Postcolonial historians and readers of African literature will find this work to be an indispensable addition. As essential as Achebe's There Was a Country, this is a riveting read in African history and literature.-Misty Standage, Ivy Tech Community Coll., Evansville, IN © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The celebrated African novelist, playwright, and activist, born in Kenya in 1938, revisits the early experiences that convinced him he was a writer.Wa Thiongo (English and Comparative Literature/Univ. of California, Irvine; In the House of the Interpreter, 2015, etc.) is a genial tour guide on this journey through his early years. One theme continually appears: his gratitude for his mother, who encouraged him early and often. The author proceeds in a gentle chronology as he takes us through his home life, schooling, and his discovery that he wanted to writeand that he had a natural talent for the craft. He wrote plays in school (winning a competition) and then began freelancing for local publications, including an extensive stint with a newspaper; he eventually resigned when he realized his passions lay in fiction and drama. Throughout, there are illustrations from his youth, including photos of people and clippings of his early publications and plays. Bubbling just below the surfacesometimesnbsp;onnbsp;the surfaceis the fierce politics of the era, which featured the end of colonialism, the rise of brutal dictators, and countless ethnic clashes. As he acknowledges, the author was fortunate to avoid trouble early, but he also alludes to later years when he was incarcerated, experiences that are likely to appear in a subsequent memoir. Throughout, wa Thiongo is careful to credit not just his mother, but some key teachers, friends, and significant supporters. Although the text communicates a clear pride in his accomplishments, the author notes repeatedly that his successes came not just from his talent and work ethic, but also from those who believed in him. He was able to study literature and literary theory at Makerere University in Kampala, Congo, and later at the University of Leeds. Through it all, the desire to weave dreams remained aflame. A writers coming-of-age tale featuring an artistic mix of pride and humility. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by New York Times Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
