A review by bookedupandbusy
Rinsing Mukami's Soul by Njambi McGrath

challenging emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

3.0

Mukami is a young scholarship student at a prestigious boarding school. She has a clear path ahead of her, but falls pregnant. Facing disappointment from her family, this charged novel asks us to question why girls and women are often left to fight for justice from lonely places in societies that prefer them silenced.

The author did an amazing job of displaying the lack of knowledge some Kenyan girls have when it comes to contraceptive methods and pregnancy. However the focus of the story is mainly on the lack of education and support available to women seeking terminations.

The writing is quite lyrical, but it’s not heavy. It’s quite an easy and straight forward read. 

Unfortunately, I felt the richness of Kenyan culture and traditions was not strong throughout the story. I didn’t feel transported to Eastern Africa and this was quite disappointing. There was some talk of home life, spiritual beliefs and superstitions but I wanted more, I wanted to learn something. 

I don’t feel the protagonist was strong enough, Mukami lacked personality. There was so much potential in her character and I felt the author should have illustrated her growth through her challenges but this was absent.

Even though the story didn’t entirely resonate with me, please give it a read as there is so much potential in the story.