Kintu

This is a brilliant book, authentically African but far more accessible than, for example, a Nollywood movie (even with sub titles).But after every UK house refused to publish, Transit Books of Oakland, CA - San Franciso’s black, poor shadow, where the American born, radicalized hero/villain of the “Black Panther” lived - bought and published on first reading.A London edition followed, but the Brits are pretending they are not shame-faced, following a braver US house.Found myself using Amazon “search” to see what other marvels were discovered in the Oakland ghetto, but found a major, even “mammoth” as the software just prompted, hole the properly vaunted Amazon search.There seems no way to search for a publisher, not a title.As this house just beat London on their home turf, and humbled New York, Amazon might consider helping readers and distinctively voiced publishers, by fixing the glitch.Speaking of bad software, trying to tell Amazon about this problem tricked me - I was asked to start a chat by typing into a field, which I did at some length, whereupon my typing was erased and I was forced to start over if I wanted to “chat” perhaps with a bot.As the roots in American reality of a comic book movies are.iterally blocks from a publisher beating the world to highlight brilliant African writing for Africans, I wanted to suggest Amazon invite this author to the US, as it seems Transit Books is too poor but honest for a tour, let alone promotion.As the Financial Times of London undt Frankfurt reviewed the belated London edition, the “ha ha, Oakland beat London and NY to give us Kampala” angle is almost too good to be true.And even if Amazon programmers are too stupid to simplify publisher search - and reduce the company’s monopolization litigation risk - I will look for more Oakland gems.

I have found this to be a tale of brotherhood and blood relations (it takes a village!), and the strength of beliefs and convictions through the ages. The importance of roots and a sense of belonging.Technically, the novel does not dwell on descriptives nor does it lose the reader in the narrative. Rather to the point; yet, not lacking on visuals, side stories, and reference points.I appreciate that it lets the reader figure out foreign terminology and use our own creativity and imagination, through the evolution of the storyline.Very vivid, though not prescriptive, depicting of personality traits and surroundings allows the reader to easily visualize every single element: characters, villages, food, landscape, etc.After merely 20 pages, you have already developed feelings for the characters. You can feel their plight and understand their (re)actions.Short chapters and quick pace.Cons: you can't wait until the unraveling. Drags it out a bit longer than needed.So many characters with so many different names makes you lose track of whose who in book six, and even throughout.Nevertheless, this is going into my top 10 of "modern" literary musts.

What a sprawling work of fiction laced with history! My favorite thing about this story is honestly the history. It's a bit more mythical than I'd expected, but I am fascinated anew by heritage. Kintu left me wishing I could trace my own lineage and return to the places my ancestors began in the 1700's.When Kintu accidentally kills his adopted son, a curse is unleashed on his entire lineage. The curse manifests mostly as mental illnesses. This is concerning to me because obviously this is part of the reason why a large part of the African population thinks mental illness is anything other than illness. The whole curse layer of the story did not sit right with me because everyone now knows mental illnesses are genetic, "curse" or not.However the author weaves a compelling tale of family and the importance of staying together even when families scatter across the globe. I thoroughly enjoyed learning so much about Uganda. I liked the use of indigenous language, even though it's a bit disconcerting at first to keep reading words you don't understand here and there. You get used to it.The Kintu family tree is massive and it can be hard to keep track of family members but I just focused on remembering those whose stories mattered. At the end, there's a good tying together of the entire tale. Solid work here. Cannot wait to read more African literature that is full of history.

Good read. Definitely will read more of her books. I love the defiance of representing her own country in literature.

I couldn’t put this big-ole-book down.📘🤓 The level of research presented in this beautiful prose was amazing. After reading _A Girl Is A Body of Water_, I dived right into this one. If you’re looking for a well-crafted exploration of religion, spirituality, colonialism, and independence through one family line (1750s ~2000s) Makumbi has bars for days.

Five stars because the story of Kintu and his descendants is the story of us all. From the 1700s they the 21st century this family has to reconcile two competing cultures - Western and African. Those that try to shun one or the other pay the price. The struggle between tradition and modern is an age old tale.The writing is crisp and engaging. I wish the author had included a family tree for reference.You will not be disappointed.

I'm traveling to Uganda and wanted to know something about the people before arriving. This novel, in English, is written for Ugandans: uses family names, local name-places not found on maps, refers to ethnic history known by Ugandans. Nevertheless it is well written and certainly gives one a sense of who lives in Uganda. Helpful to have read a 'history' of Uganda before starting Kintu.

I loved the intertwined narratives all based on the myth of Kintu within Ganda culture. It is an easy but long read and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in reading contemporary African literature.

A great novel with so many insights and teachings into Bugandan culture.It would be great to have more books like this and I hope @ Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi writes more.

I love my brush - it’s beautiful to look at as well as brushes my hair beautifully. Its definitely the best paddle brush I’ve ever owned!

Wonderful extremely readable book