Nifty Review

Title: Wizard of the Crow

Author: Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Published by: Harvill Secker

Publication year: 2006

Written in Kikuyu and translated into English by the author, Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong'o will not disappoint anyone familiar with the author's prolific body of work. This work of fiction sears with truth and lays bare the international foibles of postcolonial African politics. Pregnant with humour and irony, this allegory leaves nothing sacred as when one of the characters is cured of the disease of white-ache. It is a most human story examining both the character of leadership and the desires of the common citizen. Farcical characters become believable, while women, especially, are portrayed with complexity. The story challenges many stereotypes. For example, the main character, the Wizard of the Crow, is a witchdoctor or traditional healer or (~frochiatrist)(p. 622), and proves to be the voice of reason and sanity. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves storytelling or is interested in international relations and African culture and society.

The story tells of a megalomaniacal African ruler with a grandiose development scheme surrounded by conniving sycophants obsessed with greed who try to control the masses and outmanoeuvre each other. The trials of these politicos are interwoven with a love story involving the Wizard of the Crow and an underground activist posing as a secretary. The roles of thinly disguised entities such as the Global Bank also figure into this brazen expose of the (politics of poverty) (p. 87), while many other novel characters populate the landscape such as the (professors of parrotology) (p. 572).

Book title: The autobiography of Malcolm X
Author: Alex Haley and Malcolm X
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication year: 1964

I heard people speak of someone by the name Malcolm X. I’ve heard of someone who never schooled beyond the eighth grade but drilled on the street of Harlem and also of someone who attended the University of Charlestown Prison. I finally was privileged to meet him after several years of anticipation, yes on the pages of this good read.

On the account of this autobiographical narrative, Malcolm’s psychological approach to getting one's request granted in life is sped up through making some noise. I would open my mouth and let the whole world know about it... I learned early that crying out in protest could accomplish things [pg8]. And this he learnt during his childhood. This then affirms the African proverb which says, (paraphrased) what will become of a man can easily be identified during his formative years. The negroes in the early 50s have something in common. Most were poor, talented, maltreated, and hostile (even towards each other) and finds solace in religion. Even while Malcolm was been taken to live with the Gohannas, his weak mother still remembers to inform the state man that Malcolm shouldn't be fed with pig [pg19].

The analysis of any story with a strong theme of Afro-American activism and in this case, black Americans in a black populated city like Harlem wouldn't be complete without stating the poor mindset most black Americans had nurtured since time immemorial. You do odd jobs, get rich through tips, gamble and when you had your hit, you've got to buy your friends drinks and steaks, buy a Cadillac and in a brief squander those returns on gambling without any thought of investment. Most of the time it happens as a result of wanting to show off one's spending habit, in a quest to meet up with the status quo. Malcolm did well by tackling this demeaning mindset when he joined the Nation of Islam.

How ridiculous I was! Stupid enough to stand... (Pg 54)
Malcolm X is the man with a ‘glass’ heart. His version of the Negro suffering was told in this biographical account of his without 'padding' things up. Even when he seems to be betraying the race to which he belongs, he says it in clearer terms. While Reginald plots out Malcolm's path into becoming a Muslim, his presumptions about the white folks will just be unrealistic as anything. Speaking about the anti-white policy and loss of identity syndrome which works hand in hand with the white’s hatred for the negroes, one might have just thought that is his best move towards working out the conversion of his anti-Christian brother. Malcolm wouldn't listen to anyone order than Reginald, but even at that he wouldn’t swallow all he's saying hook line and sinker. He still remembers some good white buddies.

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The Autobiography of Malcolm X Book title: The autobiography of Malcolm X Author: Alex Haley and Malcolm X Published by: Ballantine Books Publication year: 1964 I heard people speak of someone by the name Malcolm X. I’v…