689. Petals of Blood

Petals of Blood

Ngugi wa Thiong'o
1977
Around 435 pages

I like to think by the end of this List we will have spent time in every corner of the globe, even if we spend more time in some countries than others. 

The story follows four main characters: Munira, a teacher who is having trouble getting the community to trust him; Karega, a teaching assistant who becomes enamored with socialism; Wanja, the woman in the story who naturally has to be the victim of sexual violence; and Abdulla, a shopkeeper who lost his leg in the Mau rebellion. 

The author is heavy-handed in his politics, and I wish men would stop writing about women being raped. Of course, I don't like it when women do either, but it feels less gratuitous. It's a messy story, with flashbacks and an omniscient narrator that doesn't fully succeed at fleshing out any of his characters.

My List time in Africa is never very fun. It would be great to read a real celebration of the people there that isn't steeped in oppression and misery. I'm not sure if those stories even exist, or if Western culture just ignores them. Probably the latter.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

The title Petals of Blood is derived from a line of Derek Walcott's poem 'The Swamp."

John Updike suggested that Ngugi's desire to permeate the plot with political ideas detracts from his writing.

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