A collection of short stories by the Kenyan writer covering the period of British colonial rule and resistance in Kenya to the experience of independence and including two stories that have never before been published in the United States.
Seldom have the raw truths of Africa been exposed so vividly, yet humorously, as in this collection ... With tales that tease, then bite, [Thiong'o] tackles the absurdities, injustices and corruption of a continent and is never intimidated by the 'immensity of the darkness' of which he writes. Nor is he cynical or judgmental. Only someone born from this soil could have grown the stories in Minutes of Glory ... Despite such stark portraits, what shines through in Ngugi’s stirring pages is a hopeful message. Even after generations of foreign then domestic repression, spiritual confusion, drought and hunger, the resilient spirit — a gathering of real souls — lives on in Africa, no matter whose ghost or god is worshiped.
While few writers hold their fingers against the pulse of postcolonialism, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has charted its very heartbeat ... With Minutes of Glory and Other Stories, Ngũgĩ assembles the quintessential collection of short stories spanning the length of his literary career ... Though the collection’s third part also contain its eponymous story, the preceding movement, 'Fighters and Martyrs,' carries the most weight. Minutes of Glory’s final three pieces seem almost auxiliary, as if to only give one a better sense of Ngũgĩ’s musings in retrospect. This aside is not inappropriate but would have perhaps been better woven into the text’s earlier works. Structural weaknesses aside, Minutes of Glory is still a necessary staple of Kenyan literature. Ultimately, the text offers an insight deeper into Ngũgĩ himself than any other form of his prose possibly can.
