The River Between

Rating:
Summary: A book that will live for ever!
Review: I re-read the river between for literature and I was just touched like I was at the very first time. The quality anthropology aspects that Mr wa Thiong'o builts in his books (like many other African writers too) makes the reader come into the setting and be part of it. The book managed to win my sympathy for the 'oppresed' Kikukyu and reminded me of the many evils done to the colonised people all over the world. Christianity seems not able to escape blame in the whole operation because of its readiness to inflict suffering to the people so that they could join the religion.
Today the book is still relevant, though the position of the whites has been taken by the ruling class and the rich.
The book is worth reading in any case.

Rating:
Summary: Not a convert to the white man
Review: The author is from Kenya. It is an insult to call someone's father a convert to the white man. The boys in the story, the characters, were cattle herders. Waiyaki went to Siriana to the mission. He was joined by Kamu and Kinuthia, fellow herdboys. They were destined to learn under the Reverend Livingstone. Nairobi was far. Siriana was the nearest missionary center.

Livingstone's main work was carried on by Joshua, Nyambura's father. He had been one of the first converted to the new faith. He feared the anger of his people. He became a preacher. He condemned the drinking and female circumcision. The conflict was that his daughter, Muthoni, wanted to undergo the traditional rite of passage ceremony.

Nyambura knew that her sister was missing and was waiting for her father to realize this state of affairs. She suggested timidly that Muthoni may have gone to their aunt. Nyambura told and then was beside herself in terror over Joshua's reaction. Nuambura went to the aunt and had to return with the news that Muthoni refused to return home.

Chege, Waiyake's father, did not like the new cult. He thought it divided people. His son was doing well at Siriana. He was now in the senior class of Siriana Secondary School and was able to meet boys from all over Kenya.

Waiyaki was surprised that Muthoni, Joshua's daughter, was present at the initiation ceremony also. The idea that she had actually run away shocked him. Waiyaki joined in and felt the mad intoxicating ecstasy and pleasure.

Muthoni told him she was a Christian but wanted to be initiated into the ways of the tribe. Waiyuki welcomed the opportunity to show courage. The pain was intense. It was held that Waiyaki and the other boys had been a credit to the hills.

Muthoni suffered. After a week she was still under care. Waiyaki told Nyambura about her condition. Muthoni died. She died just after Waiyaki and some of the other boys carried her to the mission hospital.

Livingstone knew of the mistakes of earlier missionaries. He did not want to cause tribal warfare. He had been in Siriana for 25 years. He reflected that he had not been very successful. Within a few weeks the name of Muthoni was a legend. Waiyaki did not go back to Siriana. His father was ill.

It was decided that children who maintained pagan customs could not remain in Siriana. Waiyaki wanted to concentrate on education. His school was called Marioshoni. He had been shocked by his father's death. He was the headmaster.

There was the Christian group led by Joshua and a breakaway group led by Kabonyi. Waiyake felt isolated. He ran into Nyambura. He attended a service led by Joshua. This was to cause him great difficulty. The jealousy of others caused him to be charged with violating the oath he took at the time of his initiation into the tribe. His love for Nyamburo was misunderstood.

The story is fierce and strong. The events recounted are believable and the lead characters are multi-dimensional.

Rating:
Summary: Not a convert to the white man
Review: The author is from Kenya. It is an insult to call someone's father a convert to the white man. The boys in the story, the characters, were cattle herders. Waiyaki went to Siriana to the mission. He was joined by Kamu and Kinuthia, fellow herdboys. They were destined to learn under the Reverend Livingstone. Nairobi was far. Siriana was the nearest missionary center.

Livingstone's main work was carried on by Joshua, Nyambura's father. He had been one of the first converted to the new faith. He feared the anger of his people. He became a preacher. He condemned the drinking and female circumcision. The conflict was that his daughter, Muthoni, wanted to undergo the traditional rite of pasage ceremony.

Nyambura knew that her sister was missing and was waiting for her father to realize this state of affairs. She suggested timidly that Muthoni may have gone to their aunt. Nyambura told and then was beside herself in terror over Joshua's reaction. Nuambura went to the aunt and had to return with the news that Muthoni refused to return home.

Chege, Waiyake's father, did not like the new cult. He thought it divided people. His son was doing well at Siriana. He was now in the senior class of Siriana Secondary School and was able to meet boys from all over Kenya.

Waiyaki was surprised that Muthoni, Joshua's daughter, was present at the initiation ceremony also. The idea that she had actually run away shocked him. Waiyaki joined in and felt the mad intoxicating ecstasy and pleasure.

Muthoni told him she was a Christian but wanted to be initiated into the ways of the tribe. Waiyuki welcomed the opportunity to show courage. The pain was intense. It was held that Waiyaki and the other boys had been a credit to the hills.

Muthoni suffered. After a week she was still under care. Waiyaki told Nyambura about her condition. Muthoni died. She died just after Waiyaki and some of the other boys carried her to the mission hospital.

Livingstone knew of the mistakes of earlier missionaries. He did not want to cause tribal warfare. He had been in Siriana for 25 years. He reflected that he had not been very successful. Within a few weeks the name of Muthoni was a legend. Waiyaki did not go back to Siriana. His father was ill.

It was decided that children who maintained pagan customs could not remain in Siriana. Waiyaki wanted to concentrate on education. His school was called Marioshoni. He had been shocked by his father's death. He was the headmaster.

There was the Christian group led by Joshua and a breakaway group led by Kabonyi. Waiyake felt isolated. He ran into Nyambura. He attended a service led by Joshua. This was to cause him great difficulty. The jealousy of others caused him to be charged with violating the oath he took at the time of his initiation into the tribe. His love for Nyamburo was misunderstood.

The story is fierce and strong. The events recounted are believable and the lead characters are multi-dimensional.

Rating:
Summary: Christianity versus Tribes
Review: This book is an example of how a group of Christians always oppressed the non-Christian and cultural groups.

The tribe whose customs were often criticized and oppressed by a group of Christians based in the nearby ridge. A son of a prophet was believed to be the one like a messiah to save the tribal community from being suffered by the oppression of the Christians. However, the son was encountering an inherent and cultural conflict when he found a love in a non-tribal woman who was a daughter of a Christian leader.

This book does not simply tell you a story, but also teach you an important lesson about the oppression, respectability, conflicts, and the other things.

Rating:
Summary: Christianity versus Tribes
Review: This book is an example of how a group of Christians always oppressed the non-Christian and cultural groups.

The tribe whose customs were often criticized and oppressed by a group of Christians based in the nearby ridge. A son of a prophet was believed to be the one like a messiah to save the tribal community from being suffered by the oppression of the Christians. However, the son was encountering an inherent and cultural conflict when he found a love in a non-tribal woman who was a daughter of a Christian leader.

This book does not simply tell you a story, but also teach you an important lesson about the oppression, respectability, conflicts, and the other things.

Rating:
Summary: A well-named novel
Review: With every work of Ngugi's that I read, the more impressed I am. I first came across his "Petals of Blood" by chance in a used bookstore years ago, and ever since I've kept an eye open for other books of his. I admit that I've only read his novels, though; reading plays (as opposed to seeing them performed) for the most part doesn't move me nearly as much.

In "The River Between", Ngugi once again arrives at a viewpoint of tolerance while denouncing corruption in society; he manages to do so without demonizing the people on either side of any particular issue. He recognizes the strengths and weaknesses, the convictions and the doubts with which most human beings are imbued. He doesn't automatically blame all of his country's or his continent's problems on the "White Man", but rather he recognizes that the corruption and venality that continue to plague his society are things which are rooted in the universal human condition, not imports from Europe or the USA. He manages here to deal with a highly charged issue, as provocative and controversial now as it was at the time he wrote this book, namely "female circumcision" or "female genital mutilation", depending on your point of view. Almost uniquely, it seems, among Kenyan intellectuals he questions the absolute necessity of the practice to the maintenance of traditional social structure and values; but he does so while neither fervently condemning nor acclaiming it. As I've come to expect from Ngugi, he finds a road between extreme and fanatical stands - or a "river between", if you prefer; the protagonist attempts to make up his own mind rather than unquestioningly accepting received teaching about the absolute rightness or wrongness of either traditional practices or revolutionary knowledge. He recognizes that not all traditional practices are necessarily "better" or more "pure" than new ways of thinking, but that neither can they be eliminated by fiat without disastrous consequences for society, that education and time are necessary for peoples' thinking to evolve and for other values to be allowed to take the place of some of those that have been cherished since time immemorial. I confess that I was a little leery when I began reading this book; I feared that Ngugi would follow the line of so many other African writers in fervent support of female circumcision or FMG. That was the staunch rock of faith upon which I foundered when reading other books such as Jomo Kenyatta's "Facing Mount Kenya" and Camara Laye's "The African Child". I was suitably heartened to find that Ngugi once again finds his own mind, something I've come to see as the hallmark of his writing. But his protagonist doesn't arrive at the journey's destination by easy paths - I'm reminded of a line by the great singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez, that "la angustia es el precio de ser uno mismo" ("anguish is the price of being oneself").