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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
challenging
reflective
tense
slow-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:
Complicated
Very similar is style to Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, The River Between tells an incredible story of tribal life after the advent of the white settler/invader among the ridges at the end of the world in Kenya. It is a story somehow reflecting all of the most complex questions human society can come up with while also dealing with simple characters with compelling motivations, like forbidden romance and the desire to honor your heritage while living your own life.
Since long before the white man came, the villages of Kameno and Makuyu that stand on two ridges over the Honia River have been at odds with one another. Now, the white man’s religion and the ensuing opposition to the tribe’s traditions of circumcision and puberty rituals, along with new government taxation, have developed the rift among the villagers to a breaking point. Waiyaki, the son of the spiritual and tribal leader Chege, is a young man who’s very presence commands authority, well educated in the white man’a schools. He believes that if he can bring education to the people without requiring outside leadership, he can unite his people and bring order and unite to the people. But the tribal Pastor Joshua and his traditionalist rival Kabonyi are dead set on pursuing a civil war among their people, with a righteous army of the Lord on one side and a tribal factor meaning to overthrow the white government on the other. Waiyaki wants to understand and bring harmony and education to all, but can his great influence over the elders and the people as “The Teacher” be leveraged to the advantage of unity?
Ngūgī wa Thiong’o does an incredible job of respecting and legitimizing all the concerns of the characters in this book. As things play out, there are very obviously heroes and villains, but these characters exemplify their character without being painted into any corners by the narrative. The outside civilizing forces, the new religion of Christianity, the government programs and taxation are all peripheral, distant activities rippling into Kameno and Makuya as a catalyst for local factionalism that had been ongoing. For generations, the people have had petty local squabbles. For generations, the people have reverenced and then ejected the heroes and prophets of their own making. Now, as the world becomes much, much larger than a few hilltop villages and a rival tribe or two, the questions they are facing become exponentially compounded in complexity. And there are no simple answers.
Waiyaki wants to honor his father. To honor the tribe’s traditions. To honor and care for all the people. But his solution, at sometimes so obvious and at others so tenuous, is simply to educate the people without changing the local culture and customs. Likewise, he sees value in the heart of the Christian religion, if it could be striped of the harsh cultural baggage that requires a total upheaval of all local perspective. Likewise, some of the Christian characters struggle to understand how Christ’s love translates into the violence aggression Joshua is always spouting off at his neighbors, cutting off his own children if they do anything he regards as traditional or disrespectful.
I would really hate to give away any major spoilers about this book. It is highly specific story that is deeply human and applicable across history, told from the little understood perspective of a people group who have a long tradition of their own that is slowly being swept away by the culture of an outside empire. Even so, the issue at hand is never one of governments or religions or armies destroying things. It is always a question of individual actions and the ways in which we choose to treat our neighbors, both in times of plenty and of crisis.
Extremely edifying reading.
Since long before the white man came, the villages of Kameno and Makuyu that stand on two ridges over the Honia River have been at odds with one another. Now, the white man’s religion and the ensuing opposition to the tribe’s traditions of circumcision and puberty rituals, along with new government taxation, have developed the rift among the villagers to a breaking point. Waiyaki, the son of the spiritual and tribal leader Chege, is a young man who’s very presence commands authority, well educated in the white man’a schools. He believes that if he can bring education to the people without requiring outside leadership, he can unite his people and bring order and unite to the people. But the tribal Pastor Joshua and his traditionalist rival Kabonyi are dead set on pursuing a civil war among their people, with a righteous army of the Lord on one side and a tribal factor meaning to overthrow the white government on the other. Waiyaki wants to understand and bring harmony and education to all, but can his great influence over the elders and the people as “The Teacher” be leveraged to the advantage of unity?
Ngūgī wa Thiong’o does an incredible job of respecting and legitimizing all the concerns of the characters in this book. As things play out, there are very obviously heroes and villains, but these characters exemplify their character without being painted into any corners by the narrative. The outside civilizing forces, the new religion of Christianity, the government programs and taxation are all peripheral, distant activities rippling into Kameno and Makuya as a catalyst for local factionalism that had been ongoing. For generations, the people have had petty local squabbles. For generations, the people have reverenced and then ejected the heroes and prophets of their own making. Now, as the world becomes much, much larger than a few hilltop villages and a rival tribe or two, the questions they are facing become exponentially compounded in complexity. And there are no simple answers.
Waiyaki wants to honor his father. To honor the tribe’s traditions. To honor and care for all the people. But his solution, at sometimes so obvious and at others so tenuous, is simply to educate the people without changing the local culture and customs. Likewise, he sees value in the heart of the Christian religion, if it could be striped of the harsh cultural baggage that requires a total upheaval of all local perspective. Likewise, some of the Christian characters struggle to understand how Christ’s love translates into the violence aggression Joshua is always spouting off at his neighbors, cutting off his own children if they do anything he regards as traditional or disrespectful.
I would really hate to give away any major spoilers about this book. It is highly specific story that is deeply human and applicable across history, told from the little understood perspective of a people group who have a long tradition of their own that is slowly being swept away by the culture of an outside empire. Even so, the issue at hand is never one of governments or religions or armies destroying things. It is always a question of individual actions and the ways in which we choose to treat our neighbors, both in times of plenty and of crisis.
Extremely edifying reading.
Me ha gustado MUCHO. El conflicto, la forma en la que se desarrolla, la miseria y las motivaciones humanas, el amor, las creencias, la perspectiva de qué es el progreso... Uf.
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's short novel "The River Between" is a wonderful look at what happens when old and new traditions clash and divide a society.
Set in Kenya, it portray the Gikuyu and its leaders as they come of age in a time when missionaries were changing the landscape by converting portions the native population to Christianity. (It was great to read something that illustrated the reaction of native people to Livingstone.) Others fear tribal traditions are being lost and see the missionaries as an invasion upon their ways and beliefs. The story is told in such a balanced way that everyone who clings too tightly to one side or the other is in the wrong somehow.
I thought this was going to be a story about circumcision, based upon what I'd read about the book. While the circumcision ritual is central to the story, it is not really what the book is about.
I really enjoyed learning more about the Gikuyu and thought the overall premise that changing a tradition without giving people something equally as meaningful to them doesn't work. Really, a thought-provoking and interesting book.
Set in Kenya, it portray the Gikuyu and its leaders as they come of age in a time when missionaries were changing the landscape by converting portions the native population to Christianity. (It was great to read something that illustrated the reaction of native people to Livingstone.) Others fear tribal traditions are being lost and see the missionaries as an invasion upon their ways and beliefs. The story is told in such a balanced way that everyone who clings too tightly to one side or the other is in the wrong somehow.
I thought this was going to be a story about circumcision, based upon what I'd read about the book. While the circumcision ritual is central to the story, it is not really what the book is about.
I really enjoyed learning more about the Gikuyu and thought the overall premise that changing a tradition without giving people something equally as meaningful to them doesn't work. Really, a thought-provoking and interesting book.
Imperialism, tribal divisions, natural intervention, forbidden love and sacrifice. Those were the main elements that really made this novel stand out to me. I hadn't heard about this novel before spotting it in the library, but I'm really glad I gave it a chance. This is the second Ngugi wa Thiong'o text I've read (the first being "A Grain of Wheat"), and it did not disappoint. Much like "A Grain of Wheat", there was always a lot at stake, and the question of who should be trusted also became extremely significant.
This a good book as well. I remember I listened along to it while reading it on Speechify. It was required for class, but a lot of the topics are still with me. I would still give it 3/5 stars because I wouldn't read it again, but it was good. The familial concepts and cultural aspects were interesting.
challenging
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
informative
reflective
slow-paced