Recently in African novels and stories Category

I am not a book critic, just an avid reader, and over the past several days I have been re-reading Chinua Achebe's A Man of the People . It's just fantastic, in the ambiguity of the theme.... is politics really character? The writing is sharp, wonderful turns of phrase here and there, and the characters are memorable and never overbearing. Chief Nanga... simply amazing. I was in western Sudan in a small village during the time that General Omar al-Bashir in Sudan was just consolidating his power, in 1989, after a coup d'etat. The local reaction to the coup and the new military rulers was so exactly like Odili's father... wise resignation.

Wow! "Pretty Boy" by force of circumstances leaves his parents when their shanty home is demolished, makes his way to Mombasa , the sex trade, and AIDS... and his mother dies too, from the shame. Brutally frank, nicely written. Want an insight into the real Africa? Pick up some Kimenye.

This is exactly the kind of book that a secondary school student in English-speaking Africa would love... a quick Jackie Collins-like tale of a village girl transformed, and her eventual downfall from HIV/AIDS. The book is remarkable for the absence of explicit moralizing... you could have imagined it quite differently. There are flashes of great writing and story-telling, which keep the more sophisticated reader interested. The ending is dramatically abrupt. She's wasted away, and dies. You knew that from the beginning, that she was not going to a pretty end.

The book is part of a series developed by East African Educational Publishers for secondary school pleasure reading. It is available through Michigan State University Press. Buy an copy, read it, and then send over to an African village library, why don't you?

A favorite author of mine (whose short stories are excellent for teaching about Africa) has just released a new book... can't wait to read it.

If you've ever wanted to gaze into what has happened to Somalia over the last 15 or so years since the disastrous invasion and withdrawal by American forces, try this 2004 novel. Although I found the prose somewhat stilted for my taste, the novel contains loads of powerful imagery and insights, and a pretty decent (though somewhat contrived) story that keeps you reading.

Turns out the readers of Amazon.com have many many lists of fine novels by African authors... here is a sampling
African novels list 1
African novels list 2
African novels list 3
African novels list 4
African novels list 5