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jennygoodier's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Incredible. Traumatic, historic and beautiful all in one. Written in poetry with such a depth of feeling and such masterful execution of flashback memory. I truly cannot put into words how moving the depiction is of Odidi and Anjany's sibling relationship is. But also Akai-Mas revelations at the end we're crushing.
I am so glad I stumbled upon this in Oxfam. Kenya has had a tragic history due to colonialism and I think reading about it through the lens of a family torn apart has really put that further into perspective for me. I will now do some more learning about Kenyas history.
Favourite quotes:
There is something unnamed and shameful about lonliness created out of rejection.
Sometimes the anguish was a phantom limb, raw, weeping, and invisible.
Next, he waits for the bite of despair that is the companion to his waking.
Kenyas official languages: English, Kiswahili, and Silence.
I'll find you silly./A smile inches it's way out of the depths of her heart.
...and looks into a place in his being where Kai Lokorijom has lived from the day he first saw her.
Giggles colour the darkness. It pours into so many emptinesses.
"Create room for trying again."
I am so glad I stumbled upon this in Oxfam. Kenya has had a tragic history due to colonialism and I think reading about it through the lens of a family torn apart has really put that further into perspective for me. I will now do some more learning about Kenyas history.
Favourite quotes:
There is something unnamed and shameful about lonliness created out of rejection.
Sometimes the anguish was a phantom limb, raw, weeping, and invisible.
Next, he waits for the bite of despair that is the companion to his waking.
Kenyas official languages: English, Kiswahili, and Silence.
I'll find you silly./A smile inches it's way out of the depths of her heart.
...and looks into a place in his being where Kai Lokorijom has lived from the day he first saw her.
Giggles colour the darkness. It pours into so many emptinesses.
"Create room for trying again."
syllareads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
drdreuh's review against another edition
adventurous
sad
slow-paced
3.75
Evocative and challenging. Owuor's prose is lyrical, and Dust required all of my attention. It starts slow and confusing and is written somewhat upside down. The most critical plot points are not revealed until the end, and then as reflection. I would have loved to have read them in real time, much earlier. Although I love reading real paper books, I also wish I had a copy of Dust as an e-book so that I could search for the instances of key characters who pop in and out and then in again, and are actually pivotal to the story.
The setting, Northern Kenya - partly in the 60s - 70s and partly in the aughts - was new to me. Although I live in East Africa, I know embarrassingly little about the Mau Mau rebellion. The depiction of Kenya as a place of brutality did not align with what I thought I knew.
The characters are complex. Interwoven Kiswahili, Luo and other languages is nice. One word time markers (Now. Later. etc.) is an interesting and effective device, and help to keep a sort of rhythm. There are aspects of the storytelling that I know I do not get, which probably somewhat diminished my experience of Dust - important things that come up again and again, like "water songs". In so much of the book, Owuor makes obscure reference to really, really big things, some of which I get (the White Christian saviors) and a lot of which I do not (a lot of the particular forms of brutality in the Mau Mau era). In this way, though, Owuor sort of opens a door on a crack. You choose whether or not to explore deeper. There is a lot of fleeing in Dust, not all of which makes sense to me.
I suppose I have mixed feelings about Dust overall, but Owuor's vivid imagery is worth the effort of pushing through.
Lines I loved:
"Memories are solitary ghosts."
"... as long as there was enough to move the day, beyond a grumble, people didn't really care to know why their lives had become harder."
"To name something is to bring it to life."
"'Tribe Unknown' was a lucky thing to be."
"Tears are rain. They water soil. Restore life."
"A story repeated often enough became fact."
"... birds chirp, a raucous choir in need of a sane conductor."
The setting, Northern Kenya - partly in the 60s - 70s and partly in the aughts - was new to me. Although I live in East Africa, I know embarrassingly little about the Mau Mau rebellion. The depiction of Kenya as a place of brutality did not align with what I thought I knew.
The characters are complex. Interwoven Kiswahili, Luo and other languages is nice. One word time markers (Now. Later. etc.) is an interesting and effective device, and help to keep a sort of rhythm. There are aspects of the storytelling that I know I do not get, which probably somewhat diminished my experience of Dust - important things that come up again and again, like "water songs". In so much of the book, Owuor makes obscure reference to really, really big things, some of which I get (the White Christian saviors) and a lot of which I do not (a lot of the particular forms of brutality in the Mau Mau era). In this way, though, Owuor sort of opens a door on a crack. You choose whether or not to explore deeper. There is a lot of fleeing in Dust, not all of which makes sense to me.
I suppose I have mixed feelings about Dust overall, but Owuor's vivid imagery is worth the effort of pushing through.
Lines I loved:
"Memories are solitary ghosts."
"... as long as there was enough to move the day, beyond a grumble, people didn't really care to know why their lives had become harder."
"To name something is to bring it to life."
"'Tribe Unknown' was a lucky thing to be."
"Tears are rain. They water soil. Restore life."
"A story repeated often enough became fact."
"... birds chirp, a raucous choir in need of a sane conductor."
mrmysteryfox's review against another edition
4.0
What Endures?
Vivid Kenyan landscapes. The terror and atrocities of the fight for independence. The power and impact of human relationships that shape lives.
The interwoven tale of a grieving family and its loss of a brother against the backdrop of the political instability of an independent Kenya.
A times I found this book tough to read with its Swahili mixed in throughout the text (often untranslated). The book paints a vivid picture of the landscapes of a water deprived Kenya, captures the feelings of individuals impacted by Kenyan independence and how these events shaped lives and relationships.
I’ve not read anything quite like this before!
Vivid Kenyan landscapes. The terror and atrocities of the fight for independence. The power and impact of human relationships that shape lives.
The interwoven tale of a grieving family and its loss of a brother against the backdrop of the political instability of an independent Kenya.
A times I found this book tough to read with its Swahili mixed in throughout the text (often untranslated). The book paints a vivid picture of the landscapes of a water deprived Kenya, captures the feelings of individuals impacted by Kenyan independence and how these events shaped lives and relationships.
I’ve not read anything quite like this before!
mtun's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
viccocha's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
catielokeeffe's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
3.75
Strong beginning, the middle was good, but I got lost, the last part of the book was strong
abarkmeier's review against another edition
3.0
Objectively masterful and beautiful writing with a thoughtful and complex plot. I just could not get into it, no matter how long I sat with the text.
bluestarfish's review against another edition
3.0
The first hundred pages had me longing for a nice, normal, sentence of a reasonable length and straightforward meaning. Then about 100 pages in the story took over and was interesting enough to finish the book, but I did wonder at first if I would make it. The prose is kaleidoscopic and fragmented, and it does reflect the character's fragmented existences...but I did long for that normal sentence in there. At least one every now and again.
The sins and silences of the fathers come to haunt the sons and daughters in Kenya as the history still echoes through to the modern age. And the glimpses in the beginning do add up to a story.
The sins and silences of the fathers come to haunt the sons and daughters in Kenya as the history still echoes through to the modern age. And the glimpses in the beginning do add up to a story.