Amazon.com Review
"This is the tale of Kwaku, who was reduced to a state of idiocy by intelligent men, but made a spontaneous recovery." So begins Roy Heath's Kwaku, or the Man Who Could Not Keep His Mouth Shut, a novel published in England in 1982 that appears for the first time in the United States this year. Kwaku Cholmondeley is the Guyanan version of Charles Dickens's Mr. Pickwick. Like Pickwick, Kwaku is an innocent of sorts, and like Pickwick, he falls in and out of adventures and meets all manner of odd and interesting characters. In Kwaku, Heath chronicles his title character's early life--a life that he'll continue to tell in the sequel The Ministry of Hope. As a child, Kwaku becomes convinced that "there was much protection in idiocy," and he wisely falls into the role of village idiot. Secretly, however, he nourishes dreams of greatness, and, once grown to manhood, he sets off in search of the perfect wife, the perfect job, and the perfect life. What follows is a perfectly hilarious account of one man's rise--and fall--all due to his inability to keep his tongue between his teeth.
From Library Journal
Guyana-born Heath has crafted a strong story with memorable characters. Set in Guyana, this sometimes comic, sometimes tragic novel follows the misadventures of Kwaku Cholmondeley as he comes of age and seeks to rise above the meager conditions of his poor, backwater village. He is magnificently unsuccessful in this regard, even though he does enjoy a brief period of affluence after moving to a large city and establishing himself as an herbalist "healer." Throughout, Kwaku struggles against his prodigious personal weaknesses; perhaps most significantly, he remains deeply conflicted about his feelings toward the two women in his life?his wife, the long-suffering Miss Gwendoline, with whom he has nine children, and his childhood friend, Blossom, whose company he continues to enjoy even after both he and Blossom are married to other people. An interesting and vividly offbeat novel. [This novel and its sequel, The Ministry of Hope, reviewed previously in LJ 11/15/96, will be released simultaneously.?Ed.]?Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Technical Coll., Ct.
-?Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Technical Coll., Ct.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-?Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Technical Coll., Ct.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
