Devil on the Cross

Thiong'o paints a dark, but hopeful picture of post-colonial Kenya. Here is a Kenya where westernized Kenyans profit off of the misery and desperation of their countrymen by emulating and subjugating themselves to western business. Thiong'o's handling of the subject matter is both incredibly personal and comicly satirized. In some ways his choices have a kinship with magical realism. There is a playfulness to his depiction of the the Devil's feast and the frenzied competition amongst the modern thieves and robbers to prove their skill in fleecing their countrymen for their own ends and those of their Western masters.

The book was a much needed counter balance after reading the painfully biased Dead Man Do Tell Tales. But even without my show more need to hear a native African voice this makes for a rousing and passionate read. It offers a revolutionary call not just against the destructive consequences of colonialism, but also an unfliching indictment of globalism and the promotion of profit over people.

Most tellingly one of Thiong'o hyperbolic schemes suggested by one of the theives and robbers is a real thing. They do sell dirt to people by the potful to people too poor to own any land of their own. An idea Thiong'o clearly thought as shameful and ludicrous as selling air. And yet... show less

By far the weakest Ngugi I've read. While it still has some of the same great characterisation and pissed-off political analysis as Petals Of Blood and Wizard Of The Crow, it far too often turns into something that reads more like a play than a novel, where characters representing various factions simply recite long monologues of Post-Colonial Marxism 101 at each other. The fact that he wrote it while imprisoned for political crimes (supposedly, the chapters are of varying length because he wrote it on whatever paper he managed to get a hold of - including toilet paper) probably explains that, the novel is more a call to action than a subtle allegory, but it doesn't necessarily make it a better book. The ending packs one hell of a show more punch, though. show less

Strong and memorable book on post-colonial Kenya, but with dimensions familiar across the modern world and particularly in the former Soviet republics. It is an account of how capitalist drive and individual greed drowned earlier cultural traditions and collective goals. The allegory is in-your-face and didactic, and the magical realism isn't a style that I would normally read, but Ngugi's novels are always powerful.

A book about the devil and his followers on Earth: the capitalists who oppress and exploit the workers.

"The Beautitudes of the rich and the imperialist go like this:
Blessed is he who bites and soothes, because he will never be found out.
Blessed is the man who burns down another man's house and in the morning joins him in grief, for he shall be called merciful.
Blessed is the man who robs another of five shillings and then gives him back half a shilling for salt, for he shall be called generous. As for the man who bites and doesn't know how to soothe,
And the one who steals from the masses and does not attempt to deceive them with honeyed words,
Woe unto him!
For should the masses ever awaken,
Such people will see through their arses, show more
And may even pass on their disease to us,
Who have been able to disguise our wicked deeds
With the religious robes of hypocrisy."
Page 238 show less

Ngũgĩ was imprisoned by the post-independence government of Kenya when he wrote this satirical and allegorical indictment of the rulers of that government and the business leaders in cahoots with them and US and European corporations. (He wrote it on the only medium available to him, toilet paper.) He also explores the exploitation of women by men. A young woman, Warĩĩnga, who had dreamed of a career as an engineer but has fallen on hard times, thanks to that exploitation, is preparing to journey to her family home when she receives a mysterious card from a mysterious man, advertising a Devil's Feast and competition to select the seven cleverest thieves and robbers -- and it will be held the next day in the very town she is headed show more for. Along the way she meets several other people, and the bulk of the novel concerns them and their interactions with the thieves and robbers, who turn out to be businessmen competing to steal the most from the people and enter the good graces of the foreign corporations. After a dramatic ending, we see Warĩĩnga creating a new life for herself.

This is an angry novel, illustrating the bitterness and frustration of the Kenyan people who saw their hopes of independence dashed as the new leaders of the country concentrated on getting rich and collaborating with foreign corporations to exploit the people. The story is mixed with African poetry and songs, and with a lot of Christian symbolism that I couldn't completely understand. In places, it is perhaps a little didactic, but overall it is impassioned, brave, and important. show less

Did it for Sixth Form, I believe.

Was a difficult book to read, because of the bloody, violent imagery to describe Western capitalism's impact on Africa. But the metaphors are accurate, a cautionary tale too many are ignoring.

Witty, sarcastic take on corruption, tyranny, and the aftermath of colonialism.