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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Quick, easy read,
By GooPonch "gooponch" (So Cal, USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Weep Not, Child (African Writers) (Paperback)
This was a quick read portraying the struggles of a young boy coming of age in Kenya with the onset of the Mau Mau uprising and the opression that led to it. The novel's simplicity may make it seem like an elementary book, but this is what makes it genuine and a good beginning for anyone who is just starting to learn about the atrocities that happened throughout white man's rule of Africa and what is still going on today. It's not hard to see why Ngugi was so wrongfully punished for his bringing these events to the forefront as he definitely was making some point-blank political statements (and very brave).
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not his best work,
By
This review is from: Weep Not, Child (African Writers) (Paperback)
Njoroge is a Gikuyu boy who is enters into a western school. He feels that education is the only path for him to help his family, his village and his country. Yet, his dreams get destroyed. The Mau Mau uprising sends his proletariat brothers into the forest killing settlers and trying to get England to leave Kenya.
Ngugi's characterization of the uprising and the people involved is quite interesting. Some characters are connected with the Mau Mau not because of high-minded ideals but because of personal grievances with others. The white characters are considered outsiders by the Gikuyu but consider themselves Africans. Njoroge becomes the synthesis character. Through his education he connects with the colonizers; he has a romantic connection with the collaborating chief's daughter; and, at home he is connected to Gikuyu past. He predicts that "tomorrow" there will be a new Kenya and he and the chief's daughter will be the foundation of it. Weep Not, Child is Ngugi's first novel and it reads like one. His next novel "The River Between," with a similar message, is a far better work. I would not make this a "must read."
22 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Plight of the African people,
By A Customer
This review is from: Weep Not, Child (African Writers) (Paperback)
"Weep Not, Child" chronicles a young boy, Njoroge, as he grows up admist the Mau Mau war and the conflict between the African natives and the British colonial rulers. The book is in essence about the hopes and dreams of a young boy coming being affected by the outside world and how the outside world changes a person.The novel also addresses the political conflict that was occurring in Kenya in the 1950's. The author incorporates a description of the power of the white rulers, the bitterness of the Africans at being enslaved on their own land and their attempt to rise up against the tyranny, and finally deals with the poor relations between the blacks and Indian merchants, who are looked down upon by the black community. I read this novel as a part of my IB English class. We read this book in combination with "1984" (Orwell). It was a very powerful story when it dealt with Njoroge's life, his thoughts and his feelings but due to the length of the novel (136 pages) one only gets a fairly superficial explanation of the historical and cultural context of the book. Also, this novel is a book in translation, so some of the sentence and grammatical structure can be a bit tricky at times. All in all, a very good book.
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