A review by mickstrauther
Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Hmmm there’s a lot I could say about this book, but I could start by saying that if you’re into family sagas, I would recommend this for sure. Makumbi tackles the tangled web of family trauma and national trauma in a way that has you invested in each individual character, despite their sections being relatively brief. While I wish their connecting stories could have been stronger (i.e. seeing them interact throughout the book, not just at the end, perhaps having their lives collide and affect one another?) I appreciate the conversations each section is engaging with. It’s just that without a stronger and more consistent reaction between characters, I found myself losing the details of each person’s individual story as the novel continued 

On a line level, I enjoy Makumbi’s writing style. She is thoughtful  and also funny at times, yet honest, and her language is accessible yet conceptually challenging at the same time. 

And thematically, again, Makumbi’s overall discussion of trauma and the notion of family “curses” is an interesting one. I do think I will have to think harder on what statement she is making about the connection between these two. Im not Sure I fully understand how the curse’s inception with Kintu thematically ties to the rest of the character’s lives. In other words, the other characters’ traumas are often linked to colonialism, periods of civil war, and a familial neglect that seems to mirror the country’s neglect for itself. Is the insinuation here that Kintu

accidentally killing his son can also be a mirror to the start of a colonial downfall? That killing his own child and not admitting to it is a metaphor for how Uganda may have been complicit in its own colonial downfall, and the lack of ownership of that fact has cursed it? Yikes, not to imply that Uganda is in fact cursed, or that it was “complicit” in a colonialism completely of European fault. 

Rather, to what extent do modern Africans ignore the horrors of colonialism and avoid grappling with the effects that carry into the present day? Like faisi and kanani who are devotedly Christian but do not catch the irony of their religion….