January 2009 Book Selection

The River and the Source by Margaret A. Ogola

A lot of literature coming out of Kenya is in the Kikuyu voice so it was refreshingly different to read the writings of a Luo woman. This book was our bookclub selection for January 2009. Here is what I thought of it. I think it was unfair that I could not help compare this book to Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe) and The River Between (Ngugi wa Thiongo) -- they are all tales of generational changes due to the arrival of the Western Culture in Africa. The writer takes us on a journey through three generations of women. The first person we meet is the Great grand mother, the beautiful daughter of a chief, who married into another chief's family. The courtship, bride-price negotiations and finally taking of the bride process are amazing. Its full of prode and rich in tradition. Then we meet grandma who does not fair well in marriage and fortune so that once she gets a chance to convert, she willingly does so, in the process bringing her mother, daughter and nephew along. The daughter grows up to be educated in the European school system becomes a teacher, marries an educated man --- they raise a large Catholic family. The nephew (who by the way is in line to be the next chief) grows up to join the priesthood, is elevated to Bishop without looking back. The story ends with modern day urban Kenya following the VERY WESTERNIZED lifestyles of the fourth generation. The transformation is clear in the names --- we start the book with native names but after being i converterd into Catholicism we have names like Elizabeth, Veronica and it goes downhill from there onwards. By the time the book ends we have Becky and all these American sitcom names, it just leaves me shaking my head in amazement --- what happened here for a people just to abandon it all like that. What I found disturbing is the lack of critical political analysis of the choices that were being made by the characters in the book. The writer made it look like the Luo characters in these books were more than ready to embrace the Western culture although it was demoting their societal stature. How can one give up his royal thrown to be at the bottom of the new social order. Secondly, the book is written through the second world war and it shows how willing people were to fight for the colonial powers without really questioning what they were doing. The writer also takes us through the Mau-Mau freedom movement and has her characters taking an overly assimilated role without having anything stirred in them to join the liberation. If one did not have any prior information regarding the Kenyan liberation movement, you would be left to think that it was just a Kikuyu battle. It was a refreshing read in the sense that you somehow have a glimpse into the how some individuals were really drawn to the Western culture, the impact of those choices onto the generations to come... because it is clear that assimilation gave you access to education which created a place for you in the leadership class of post-colonialism Kenya. The speed at which this assimilation happened is disturbingly fast. Its is strangely true as this story reflects the reality of many African families I know. For that it is real and in that regard the writer presented a reality which made the book worth the read. Personally, the fact that this book was written by an African Woman makes it worth the read.

Our book selection for March 2009 is Unbowed - Memoir by Wangari Maathai. Everything The River and The Source lacks you can find it in Wangari's book. Saying all that to say that i personally find the River and the Source disturbingly shallow.