[heathcliff]

i just finished reading Love by Toni Morrison which I thought was absolutely fantastic and worth recommending...

anyone else read a book lately that they think is worth a shout-out??

[Jibril Cessay]

I just finished 'The Heart of Redness'by Zakes Mda....

It was such an exciting book. New post-apartheid South Africa is not the heaven people say it is...all the violent and the rampant AIDS scourge..And the country seems to be equally as corrupt as Kenya.

The Protagonist, Camugu has lived in the US for 30 years. Returning to SA, thinking that the new govt would review his CV and hire him, he is shocked to learn that u have to know somebody, who knows somebody, who knows someone who is politically connected or was once jailed for Anti-apartheid activism.

For 4 years, Camugu is disillusioned and under the guidance of a curious mate, he starts his own Communication agency and doesn't get all the contracts he wants. Growing increasingly dispirited, he decides to return to the US when he stumbles upon a graceful nubile, NomaRussia at a wake for a 'homeboy'...The laconic meeting between Nomarussia and Camugu, leads Camugu to Qolorha-by-the Sea where he gets caught up in a century old village row of Believers, Non-believers and amaXhosa colonial history...

I won't spoil the fun...This is a must read book. It's a very fast paced,humorous and tragic novel.

[Jibril Cessay]

U study during the week and soma a novel during the weekend. Works all the time.

[pix9]

Gr8 review Jib. I'll check out Heart of Redness. Am sure its neat, in true Mda fashion. Have you read 'She Plays with the Darkness'? What abt 'Ways of Dying'? Both are Mda pieces & i'd like to know what other readers think. Am currently reading 'The Madonna of Excelsior', which looks at what was called the immorality act in apartheid S.A, where black women were thrown into prison fof having sexual relationships with white men. Still reding it, but its gr8 so far....



Insist on your right to go off on a tangent ( Dambudzo Marechera 1978)

[Jibril Cessay]

I read Ways of Dying...it was a very sad read. Who could have guessed that one may make a living by being a professional mourner? I have heard of professional mourners in many places in Africa especially in Ghana. They cry mpaka u wonder if they were intimately liaised to the deceased.

I felt sorry for Noria cos she lost both Vuthas. I also felt sad for Toloki because of his austere lifestyle fashioned similarly to the Agori Sadhu. The violence that envelopes the lives of the slums people was incredible. The hostel people seem to pursue a meaningless war. They are the cause of many untold sufferings in the shanty-town where Noria had to rebuild her shack.

Ways of Dying is so poetic and graphically real.

I haven't read 'She plays with darkness'. A friend promised me the book for my birthday.

[heathcliff]

i learn something new everyday - have never heard of Zakes Mda but thanks to you jib and pix9, i'll now check it out... thank you much!!

currently reading Vernon God Little - but only on page 6 so cant give it a proper rating. its very promising though (i love books that make me laugh..)

[Moona]

Who could have
>guessed that one may make a living by being a professional
>mourner? I have heard of professional mourners in many places
>in Africa especially in Ghana. They cry mpaka u wonder if they
>were intimately liaised to the deceased.
>

I didn't know they existed til I watched this South African movie on Swedish TV. Can't remember the title, but it was about this yound man that heads for the city to study, the whole village turns up to send their son off, with a goat. Things go wrong over there when his useless uncle uses all of his money. That's when he starts making a living as a professional mourner. Never laughed so hard in my life.

[Jibril Cessay]

I'm currently reading 'The in-between world of Vikram Lall' by M.G. VASSANJI.

It's about the life of a Kenyan-Indian currently exiled in Canada. He talks about his colorblind days during the Mau Mau uprising, British bestiality in detaining mostly Kikuyus whom they felt were all rebelling against the Queen, the tragic murder of his playmates and their family in Nakuru leading to his family's departure to Nai. The Uhuru era is covered with a lot of pomp and detail. That was the time of riots in Tanganyika before it teamed up with Zanzibar to become Tanzania in 1964.

Kenya's future is spelled out during the first 6 years of Uhuru when she remains friendly to the queen and hostile to any communists or anti-imperialists.

Tanzania's liaison with China was not palatable for Kenya. Tanzania's support for the freedom fighters in Southern Rhodesia and Portugeuse East Africa is ambivalently received by Kenya. This is the same era that Jaramogi's political ambitions are stifled by talk of being a 'communist'. Kenya People's Union is formed in 1969 and Odinga is detained. The East African Federation formed somewhere in the mid-60's and is heralded as a sign of African Unity. But disparaging ideologies mire this marriage leading to its imminent divorce around 1977.

Some issues make u wanna pull ur hair out your head. For instance there is an Indian girl coerced into marrying an Indian guy, you also see that Jomo Kenyatta was not the honest man people claim he his. Freedom fighters are detained when they protest, land fragmentation becomes a painful thorn in Mzee's flesh. When JM Kariuki becomes an outspoken man and champion defender of the landless people, he is assassinated.

While, some people are waiting for the fruits of freedom, others in very high places are delving deep into the national coffers and fattening themselves. Innumerable Indians have their shops ceased from them, a number of Indian houses are equally taken by force. Droves of Indians rush to England to seek asylum and better lives.

The book spans from the State of emergency in 1952 to somewhere in the 90's. It's a sombre but intriguing read.

This is the first Historical Novel I have read written by a Kenyan-Indian.