Reviews

For any one expecting the battlefield action or military issues between Uganda's army and Tanzania army- liberators, this is not a book. But, for any one interested in understand what villages families went through after Uganda's war broke out this us the book to read. Set at Villages in Hoima district in 1979, It's packed with information much on deteriorated health services affected the rural dwellers, how the lost their properties like food and money from the looting by Amin's soldiers, sometimes they kill the villagers. It also subtly shows how Amin policies were ex how he favoured muslims over other people. After Amin chased the indians from Uganda, all the business were given to Muslim ugandas, who as it's shown in the book like Uncle Kembo, who was just a watchman in the mill, were given to run the business. As they were incompetent economy failed. The novella shows how local herbs plays a vital role in Uganda societies as well as poor beliefs. Generally its a good novel. There is a section of afterword by Margert Daymond, its very insightful as it has elaborated various issues which are interpretation of the novel with the regard to the ugandan society. Its a very easy read.

aegagrus's review

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4.25

Waiting is an appropriate title for this story, a novel about the uncertain and unfinished experiences of rural Ugandans, buffeted by political changes which are at once distant and immediate. This is a story of observation, expectation, and dread. Kyomuhendo's characters are far from passive, and do what they can to respond to their fraught circumstances. Ultimately, though, they are required to wait. Though Waiting's plot covers the ground that would be expected of a novel, this pervasive sense of hazy anticipation and dislocation makes it read more like a short story, or a vignette.

Waiting is a straightforwardly feminist book, highlighting the ways in which violence and displacement ripple outwards and place particular burdens on women. The resulting novel is very bodily, focusing on bodily experiences (ranging from daily functions to pregnancy, illness, and injury), and the ways in which women in particular are forced to live an embodied existence. Male characters often directly pass uncomfortable tasks along to the women. The novel, in turn, passes those experiences along to the reader, making it at times a quite uncomfortable read, but very intentionally so. Waiting also has interesting things to say about social loyalties, such as ethnicity, nationality, and language, and the ways in which war and conflict recast those identities and their relationships to each other.

The immediate and embodied way daily life is presented is one of Waiting's strengths, but also its most significant weakness. The characters make difficult choices, and respond to their context in nuanced and interesting ways. These decisions, though, are mostly presented in terms of sensation and action. Kyomuhendo lives by "show, don't tell", and the resulting narrative meaningfully conveys that merely existing from moment to moment is a challenge for her characters. Even under such strain, though, there is a depth and richness to mental life which does not always come across here. Although Waiting is in some sense structurally introspective, the immediacy and sensory nature of its narrative at times detracts from directly exploring that introspection, an absence for which the overall work suffers.

Nonetheless, Waiting is a well-crafted, singular, and affecting story -- if an uncomfortable one.

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