A Grain of Wheat

I loved this book. The story itself is compelling, detailing both African and European characters' perspectives on Kenyans' struggle for independence from Britain. Just for the story alone, the book is an intriguing page-turner that completely satisfies. But beyond that, it has a powerful and inspirational moral message that I have taken with me and hope never to forget. Each of the major characters commits an act of betrayal... Read Full Review

A Grain of Wheat is a remarkable book, which manages to intertwine personal tragedies and joys with national ideologies and events quite effortlessly. The novel is partly the story of a nation - of Kenya's (ultlimately successful) struggle to rid itself of British domination - but mainly the book deals with the toll that this long fight has taken on individuals; the impact, both for good and evil, that it has made on individual... Read Full Review

This is a tragic situation, where there can be no winners. It does not have heroes, heroes do not exist in tragedies- rather it has real people with real feelings, who due to the nature of the system, and their beliefs brought about by years of conditioning must come face to face with brutal realities. The book painfully traces the genesis of the conflict, and as demónstrated with Mugo, everybody is affected, you cannot... Read Full Review

Kenya fought the white man domination without unity because the white man's poison had divided the land, the brotherhood & loyalty to freedom. The Mau Mau fighters, the detention camps & the blood shed by the soldiers of Colonial Masters represent what the whole content was to undergo in years to come. The ultimate victory of the blackman, the rise of Jomo Kenyatta, his iron fist thereafter & the remote control influence... Read Full Review