A review by black_girl_reading
Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor

4.0

This book, about the death of a beloved son and brother, amidst the backdrop of the 2008 Kenyan election violence, but also the horrors of trying to decolonize a country that should have never been colonized in the first place, explores tribalism, the way that violence engulfs everyday people, the heartbreak of a beloved country at war with itself, dreams delayed, family ties, love, lust, silence as a language, and the vast indifference of the universe in human suffering. This book was written about the time before the grief. Kenya felt like a country waiting to cry for it’s dead, but not yet having the languages to do it. Whew. If that sounds like a lot, it’s because it was. This book. It was one I really had to concentrate on. Parts of the story were improbable, but it served the narrative. More and more things came to the surface and so much clearly remained below. This is an excellent read if you’re down for an epic journey into places that a nation is just reckoning with.