What do You think about A Grain Of Wheat (1994)?
James Ngugi, A Grain of Wheat (Heinemann, 1967)Another entry (the thirty-seventh, to be precise) in Heinemann's always above average African Writers Series. Ngugi gives us the story of Kenya on the verge of independence (the action takes place in the days before, and the day after, Uhuru). While the book's main focus purports to be on one of his principal town's inhabitants, Gikonyo, it soon becomes evident that the story is about the town itself. And this is where Ngugi falls short.The structure itself could have been, handled deftly, exceptionally clever. Make Gikonyo synecdochic of the town, which is synecdochic of the region in which the town lies, which is synecdochic of all of Kenya. Unfortunately, the complexities waylay the book quickly, and while Gikonyo and his travails are never completely displaced, too much else is going on for him to be the book's main focus. Ngugi tries to compensate by having other main characters whose struggles mirror other parts of the Kenyan experience, but the whole thing gets confusing time and again.This is not to say the book is bad; the stories therein are engaging, and Ngugi's style is a page-turner. There's just a lack of continuity that can be disconcerting at times, and lengthy sections of flashback tend to leave the reader unaware of exactly what time frame he's supposed to be thinking about some of the time. It could have used a good editor, and perhaps a little rearranging to make things clearer.Hard to give a succinct recommendation to this one. As should be obvious from the above, it's not an easy read, and it's laden with symbolism, so if you're looking for something light, this isn't the place to stop. Still, getting through it is something of a rewarding experience, and when the symbolism is firing, it's wonderful; each of the major characters is there for a reason, and after a few days of digestion, as the main thrusts of the book sortthemselves out, it becomes clear what a powerful work this book almost is. If you're the kind of person who can listen to a badly-recorded bootleg tape and not mind the recording quality because you get so caught up in the music itself, you'll probably be able to appreciate this. ** 1/2
—Robert Beveridge
After finishing the book, I kept wondering, how was Ngugi able to weave all those characters together and bring out such a testament of the after colonial days?The initial character I meet, Mugo, seems to be of no much value although you'd ask why he is the initial character. The way other characters' stories overtake his until the climax, I suspected he had a very crucial role.Kenyan names are hard, all the Ws. I got lost a bit but at the end you reconcile all the characters you meet.I felt tha
—Joel Ntwatwa
This book is fantastic on so many levels. It's set on the eve of Kenya's independence and manages to humanize a complicated and bloody history in a way that lots of books set around war don't. It tracks a few different people and their experiences--yes, experiences which are all colored by racial tensions and colonialist rule and revolution, but somehow the author manages to keep the story true to each individual experience rather than resorting to broad generalizations about oppression and war. I'm having a hard time explaining it, but this book made me cry and cry for horrible circumstances and impossible choices and what happens when people aren't treated as human. And yet it still feels cautiously hopeful at the end. I had a hard time at the beginning keeping all the different names straight, but this book was well worth the effort it took to (initially) keep flipping back to remember who was who. I'm so glad I read this.
—Stasia
