Thiong’o, Ngugi Wa. A Grain of Wheat. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1968.
A Grain of Wheat takes place during Kenya’s struggle for independence from British rule in the 1950s. It centers around four central African characters and one British administrator. The central theme of the story is deceit both on a national and personal level. Two examples:
Ngugi’s main character is Mugo, a quiet Kenyan who is sent to the concentration camps. He is a complex, yet human character in that he is seen as a hero in the concentration camps but once released he sides with the British as a traitor. Another strong character of A Grain of Wheat is Gikonya, another detainee from the concentration camp who is released early only to find that his wife has been unfaithful and has a child with another man.
Favorite quote: “Gikonyo greedily sucked sour pleasure from this reflection on which he saw as a terrible revelation. To live and die alone was the ultimate truth” (p 117).
Author fact: Ngugi Wa Thiong’o was detained for one year in a Kenyan prison in 1979.
BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “African Literature in English” (p 16). Oddity: Pearl indexed the author as James Ngugi (baptism name) but in the text uses his formal African name.
~*LunaSea*~ 