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beatricks's review
3.0
Probably a more relevant read if one is familiar with Ngugi's body of work and story; probably a richer read if one has read his childhood memoir (I had plenty of opportunity to read his other works in the six months since I began this book in March and then left it unfinished on a plane, but stubbornly chose to stick to this, which I picked up on a whim at the library). Still, with very little context, a smoothly told and thought-provoking presentation of colonial Kenya.
lieslindi's review
Excerpt:
[Someone reads] a passage from Pilgrim’s Progress in which Christian, while visiting the Interpreter’s house, is taken into a parlor full of dust. As the room is being swept, the flying dust almost chokes the onlookers. Then a woman sprinkles water on the floor and all is well:
Another excerpt, news to no one but worth repeating:
This tendency to make Europe the reference point for human experience was exacerbated by the content and approaches in other subjects as well. In geography, the European landscape, mountains, rivers, and industrial locations were the primary formations to which the African versions, secondary of course, could now be contrasted. (106)
[Someone reads] a passage from Pilgrim’s Progress in which Christian, while visiting the Interpreter’s house, is taken into a parlor full of dust. As the room is being swept, the flying dust almost chokes the onlookers. Then a woman sprinkles water on the floor and all is well:
Then said Christian: What means this? The Interpreter answered: This parlor is the heart of a man that was never sanctified by the sweet grace of the gospel. The dust is his original sin and inward corruptions that have defiled the man. He that began to sweep at first is the Law; but she that brought water and did sprinkle it is the gospel. (92)
Another excerpt, news to no one but worth repeating:
This tendency to make Europe the reference point for human experience was exacerbated by the content and approaches in other subjects as well. In geography, the European landscape, mountains, rivers, and industrial locations were the primary formations to which the African versions, secondary of course, could now be contrasted. (106)
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