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A review by jnikolova
Minutes of Glory: And Other Stories by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
4.0
Also available on the WondrousBooks blog.
This is one of those books that make me happy I decided to embark on my literary world trip. Minutes of Glory might not be a happy book, but it's one that speaks volumes for the country it tells the reader about, Kenya.
Since I was a child, Kenya has been one of the countries that I've most often heard about when it comes to Africa. But aside from some pictures from safaris and a faraway view of the Kilimanjaro, as well as the general knowledge that I possessed about the sub-Saharan countries, what did actually know about the Kenyan people and their struggles? Or their history? Their cities, aside from Nairobi? Not that much.
Minutes of Glory is a great collection of short stories, where I'm not even a big fan of short stories, which gives us the tales of the modern Kenyan people. The book covers many topics, among which traditional beliefs vs the new, modern world; poverty and lack of education; the struggles of women; religion, etc.
The author's writing style is simple, yet captivating. He manages to describe the hardships, as well as the joys of people, in vivid detail in the matter of a few pages, and manages to draw the reader in and make them feel engaged with the characters' journeys. While, for example, I've never been a part of a society torn between staying with its old traditions and moving forward with the developing world, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o made me sit down and think about how hard and confusing that might be. While I've always had the possibility to get a good education, to learn, to read, to travel, this book showed me how devastating the lack of those possibilities is to a man's soul.
I found this book by pure chance, on NetGalley, close to its publishing date. I can only be grateful for that.
This is one of those books that make me happy I decided to embark on my literary world trip. Minutes of Glory might not be a happy book, but it's one that speaks volumes for the country it tells the reader about, Kenya.
Since I was a child, Kenya has been one of the countries that I've most often heard about when it comes to Africa. But aside from some pictures from safaris and a faraway view of the Kilimanjaro, as well as the general knowledge that I possessed about the sub-Saharan countries, what did actually know about the Kenyan people and their struggles? Or their history? Their cities, aside from Nairobi? Not that much.
Minutes of Glory is a great collection of short stories, where I'm not even a big fan of short stories, which gives us the tales of the modern Kenyan people. The book covers many topics, among which traditional beliefs vs the new, modern world; poverty and lack of education; the struggles of women; religion, etc.
The author's writing style is simple, yet captivating. He manages to describe the hardships, as well as the joys of people, in vivid detail in the matter of a few pages, and manages to draw the reader in and make them feel engaged with the characters' journeys. While, for example, I've never been a part of a society torn between staying with its old traditions and moving forward with the developing world, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o made me sit down and think about how hard and confusing that might be. While I've always had the possibility to get a good education, to learn, to read, to travel, this book showed me how devastating the lack of those possibilities is to a man's soul.
I found this book by pure chance, on NetGalley, close to its publishing date. I can only be grateful for that.