Rating: 
Summary: Great read!
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. It gives a great perspective on the migration of Sikh settlers to East Africa during the early 1900's and also a flavor of what Kenya is like today. If you are of a Northern Indian background, this is a must read and if you are not, you will still enjoy the story and writing.
Rating:
Summary: A great African experience
Review: I enjoyed your book immensely. I especially liked that your grandfather kept Journals. How else could we learn about our ancestors. We are so closely together as a people when we can pass on our experiences and knowledge to others. I liked Akash's letters as he wrote them. How wonderful his eloquence to Anar. Political unrest has been with us as long as I can remember. Do you think, as your grandfather did, that we will still see peace in our lifetime ? It is hard to comprehend the struggle for land between nations. I think your grandfather knew all things are gods. I too love people and I hope my prayers for a united world will surface before my demise. Thanks you again for your book. It was very hard to put down when I had to. I hope there is another book in you and that it will continue to enlighten us to your Africa, India or England as you know it and live it. Betty Boyce-Anderson, Laramie, Wyoming
Rating:
Summary: Great Reading !
Review: I finished your book tonight, It was great reading! I literally could not put it down in the final chapters. Again, thanks for sharing it with me, Landon Kite.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing Kenyan adventure
Review: I just finished reading your book KIJABE, and wanted to applaud you for your honest and intriguing novel on the history of your family in Africa. I really liked how you juxtaposed the court story, your romance, the journals of your grandfather, and the local histories. I am an avid reader (and actually picked up your book from the Westlake Library) and I am always curious for unique books that give new perspectives to life and peoples relationships. I think Kijabe was just that. I know it was your first attempt at writing, and I hope you continue to grace the paper with your pen, as I think your style will continue to improve through the years. Katie Conlon ps. I would love to hear more about your story if you wouldn't mind sharing what parts were true, and where things stand now.
I'm fascinated by that kind of stuff. I'm actually a student and I study international relations ( I was in Switzerland for school last year) so real life antidotes are always helpful. thanks.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing Kenyan adventure
Review: I just finished reading your book KIJABE, and wanted to applaud you for your honest and intriguing novel on the history of your family in Africa. I really liked how you juxtaposed the court story, your romance, the journals of your grandfather, and the local histories. I am an avid reader (and actually picked up your book from the Westlake Library) and I am always curious for unique books that give new perspectives to life and peoples relationships. I think Kijabe was just that. I know it was your first attempt at writing, and I hope you continue to grace the paper with your pen, as I think your style will continue to improve through the years. Katie Conlon ps. I would love to hear more about your story if you wouldn't mind sharing what parts were true, and where things stand now.
I'm fascinated by that kind of stuff. I'm actually a student and I study international relations ( I was in Switzerland for school last year) so real life antidotes are always helpful. thanks.
Rating:
Summary: A Dutch reader's perspective on Kijabe
Review: I read Kijabe and by this email I wanted to tell you what I thought of it... I liked the book very much! I did not know anything about history of Indians in Kenya, so I learnt a lot from it. It was very interesting to read how a certain group can come to a country so far away, settle down and build up a whole community. Amazing how someone can start as a railway-worker and finally have his own flourishing trading-business! Rob told me that that part of the book had really happened in the past, but not the political part of your grandfather's life, although it is imagineable (I think?) that it could have happened that way. Interesting as well to read about the relationship between the Indians and the Maasai. Although I don't know a lot about it, somehow I have always been intrigued by the Maasai-people, who are very beautiful I think. The book made me only more curious (I would really like to go there sometime) and it was encouraging to hear about the peaceful way many Indians and Maasai could live together.
Besides the historical part of the book, there were other things which I liked about it. The story about the trial was exciting, not knowing what had happened until the end of the book. I do not often read detectives or 'trial'-books, so I can not compare it with anything, but it was nice to read. I felt like keeping on reading to find out what was going on. The love story of Akash and Anar was beautiful. I really liked it (possibly influenced by me being a girl....). And I don't want to be too sentimental, but the love letters were wonderful!
The language of the book was not too difficult, which made it enjoyable and relaxing to read. I don't know if that was on purpose, but to me, as a non-english girl, it was another positive thing. I understand that your father had started to write the book, which he has not been able to finish unfortunately. How did that exactly work, did you just go on where he had stopped? And was that very difficult? I was wondering as well what in the book were facts and what was fiction. I assume that the part of the settlement in Kenya was real (the diaries as well?), and that the story of the trial was fiction and there was some mystery about your grandfather's death) just as the things about Akash and Anar, is that right? And have you written anything else, or are you planning to write more? Anyway, I hope that it is alright that I told you my opinion about your book. Hopefully you will understand that it is very positive! I am glad that I could read it. Annelot Schoffelen
Nijmegen, the Netherlands
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating insight to the development of Kenya
Review: I recently spent a year traveling in Africa, and found this book an absorbing picture of the courageous beginnings of what I saw there. It's a wonderful story of the building of Kenya in the late 19th and first half of the 20th century, seen through the eyes of Indian immigrants. The author's grandfather immigrated from India with a dream to build a life in this new land. The book sees Africa with the eyes of the new immigrant, and includes colorful excerpts from the grandfather's diary. It tells vibrant stories of his work laying the rail for the British railroad across Kenya, where the men were often killed by marauding lions, of driving wagons to trade with the remote and sometimes dangerous Masai tribe, and building a successful merchant business. His grandfather's foray into Kenyan politics paints an insightful picture of politics in much of Africa. It tells of life among the Indian immigrants who operated as a hard-working, proud, educated minority in Kenya and Tanzania and helped develop those countries. Americans should read this to get a clearer picture of the Africa they are so quick to criticize and sanction.
Rating:
Summary: Historically fascinating
Review: I would like to congratulate you to your extremely well written, historically fascinating and highly suspensful book Kijabe. One of the outstanding attributes of this book is the variety of genres it comprises. The historic part of Kijabe introduced me to a country's history which so often becomes overlooked by western societies. Reading your book brought a mostly unknown part of the world to my attention, historically, politically and spiritually. Kijabe is doing an exceptional job of stirring the reader's interest in a foreign country and the people who built it up. Kijabe - above all - is also a story about love. There is the deep and true love between Akash and Anar that helps the couple overcome the violence, lies and intrigues that the family has to suffer from. It is the strong bond between these two that help them solve the case so that justice can be done. Kijabe also proves that hard work will pay off and good will prevail, without making the mistake of portraying the hollywood cliché of good versus evil. The book ends by raising a fundamental question of human nature. Can we forgive each other for our mistakes and wrong doings? Although there is no apparent answer to this question I think that the inherent answer is yes. The dominating theme of Kijabe is love. Isn't forgiveness part of love? Being an immigrant myself makes me relate to your book even more so. I am extremely grateful to you for sharing your book with me!
Rating:
Summary: A remarkable story
Review: Kijabe is a remarkable story of the three faces of East Africa - Black, Brown, White. The people from different backgrounds got together for a common aim; the development of the dark continent. The love story is unique in itself, involving people from differing religious and cultural beliefs. The religious verses, the stanzas from poets and sayings of politicians are a wonderful opening at the start of each chapter. I was absorbed in thought by reading the beginning of each chapter. Kijabe is a wonderful book carefully written by Pally Dhillon. It will bring joy for generations to come.
Rating:
Summary: Very Readable
Review: KIJABE is a tribute of a progeny for his forefathers "whose tall black boots ended just above his knees." Once you open the book you are in a fascinating world of East Africa, sun and sand, flora and fauna, tribes and their interaction with Sikhs, births and deaths, successes and failures, nothing is left untouched. It is history. Climax is the fate of all outsiders including Sikhs. They gave their lives to the country they lived in, loyally served it, severed all connections back home; language, customs, appearances. And, if ever they dare to be near the seat of power they are finished. "I was only trying to protect Kenyans. I did not want an Asian leading our country. This had to be done. I did order the killing", says one of the top educated ministers. The style and structure is charming. You read the book to the finish.
| 
