MixedThe New York Times Book ReviewThis is an angry book, peppered with memories of slights, insults and arguments that may date back more than half a century but clearly have lost none of their bite ... There’s no denying the injustices perpetrated during British rule, but undigested fury does not always make for good reading. So keen is Ngugi on landing anti-imperial punches that at times his touch becomes leaden ... It will be interesting to see whether Ngugi’s next memoir will be set in postindependence Kenya and be equally feisty. While colonialism presents African writers with the softest of targets, criticizing still-living African politicians and modern-day regimes is fraught with risk. During the regime of former President Daniel arap Moi, Ngugi’s writing got him imprisoned and forced into exile; when he returned to Kenya in 2004 during the presidency of Mwai Kibaki, he was attacked by armed robbers and his wife raped. Plenty of material there for rage, I would think, and not much likelihood of distancing.
