Dreams in a Time of War

March 22, 2010
Celebrated African author and activist Thiong'o tells no ordinary coming-of-age tale. The fifth child of his father's third wife—one of an extended family whose collective experiences range from rural farming and carpentry to WWII rifleman—Ngugi skillfully recounts the challenges and calamities of growing up in British-occupied Kenya. Born in 1938, he recalls a boyhood framed by his pursuit of education (he had a unspoken pact with his mother to always do his best) and by his developing awareness of nationalist politics. Through teachers and local storytellers he hears of such world figures as Winston Churchill, Jomo Kenyatta, and Jesse Owens; at home he eventually discovers that within his own family there are both Mau Mau rebels and colonial sympathizers. Tensions between tradition and modernity, a theme Ngugi explored in his first novel, 1964's Weep Not Child
), become apparent in his fascination with the Old Testament and Christianity, and his fear when he is interrogated by military authorities. For readers, sequential time surrenders to a sense of narrative and an engaging humanity.

January 21, 2010
Man Booker International Prize nominee Thiong'o (Wizard of the Crow) here tells the story of growing up in Kenya under the shadow of two wars: World War II (in which Kenya, a colony of Great Britain, fought with the Allies) and later, Kenya's brutal fight for independence from Great Britain in the 1950s. His is a compelling, strange world: Thiong'o is the fifth child of his father's third wife, and the cast of characters around him is a diverse and mesmerizing bunch. The problem is Thiong'o sometimes breaks the cardinal rule of show, don't tell. Nor is he always successful at weaving the historical into his own personal narrative. He's best when he shares glimpses from his everyday life. Uneven but still an interesting glimpse of life in long-ago Kenya. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/09.]-Tania Barnes, Brooklyn, NY

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2010
When Ngugi is accepted into an elite high school in Kenya, worried about where to get a pair of shoes, his brother is a Mau Mau guerrilla in the mountains. The world-renowned Kenyan writer looks back at his growing up in the 1950s in this crisp, clearly told memoir, which evokes the rising African nationalism of the era in all its conflict and complexity. The many fans of Ngugis fiction will feel the truth of the young mans viewpoint and applaud his blasting of stereotypes about the country the whites had discovered. Marcus Garvey is Ngugis inspiration, both for his sense of self-reliance and for his ideas about nationalism versus the missionary and colonial projects, which always assumed the fragility of the African mind. He remembers settler newspapers that portray terrorist massacre without rhyme or reason while the freedom fighters have no media to voice their side. A fascinating look at twentieth-century African history, but also a moving intellectual odyssey in which Ngugi learns to revere both modernity and tradition but to reserve a healthy skepticism of both.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)