The River Between

What a hard book to review. Almost fable-like, it describes a black savior trying to protect his people from the invading white people. It’s beautiful in its telling. Conversely, it praises female circumcision as an important rite signifying the tribe’s independence from the “evil” Christians. At once I want to love and hate this book. It was written by a Kenyan man in the early 1960s before circumcision was decried for its brutality. But the author was considered a “progressive.” Ha! I think he portrayed the gross outcome of the practice in the story but I can’t get past this statement supporting its continuation: “Circumcision of women was not important as a physical operation. It was what it did inside a person. It show more could not be stopped overnight. Patience and, above all, education, were needed.” I still give the book a pick; it’s an authentic viewpoint told well even if I find parts of it despicable. show less

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s *The River Between* is a poignant novel that explores the cultural and ideological divide within a Gikuyu community in colonial Kenya. The story follows Waiyaki, a young leader who believes that education can bridge the gap between tradition and the influence of British colonialism. However, as tensions rise between those who embrace change and those who fiercely defend tribal customs, Waiyaki finds himself caught in an impossible struggle. The novel vividly portrays the conflict between Christianity and indigenous beliefs, as well as the impact of colonial rule on African identity and unity.

Through poetic prose and rich symbolism, Ngũgĩ captures the beauty of the Gikuyu landscape while illustrating the show more painful consequences of division. *The River Between* is more than just a historical narrative; it is a deeply philosophical exploration of leadership, sacrifice, and the cost of progress. With its timeless themes of resistance and reconciliation, the novel remains an essential read for understanding Kenya’s colonial history and the broader struggles of post-colonial Africa. show less

This is the story of a valley in Kenya, the ridge of Kameno on one side and the Makuyu ridge on the other. On Kamenu lived the members of Gikuyu who believed strongly in traditional practices; on Makuyu lived the members who had converted to Christianity and embraced the ways of the white settlers. And these two viewpoints were coming into increasing conflict.

Between the ridges lay the river Honia, the source of life. More figuratively, between the ridges was the young man Waiyaki, raised traditionally but educated in white schools, charismatic and a natural leader among his people, and a man who believes that only in unity can their society survive and retain its own identity in the colonial world.

I found this a story of overwhelming show more sadness for, as seems to happen so often, Waiyaki finds that there are no neutrals, that "anyone not my friend is my enemy." The forces of envy, jealousy and corruption on one side, the forces of religious bigotry on the other, all conspire to leave him no place where he can place his feet.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this story was the moderate position Thiong'o took toward this tension in his country. I think it must be hard not to take a side—are the problems of tribal society the fault of white incursion? Or, are they the result a mindset that rejects education and growth in favor of rigid adherence to tradition? Yet, he chooses neither, having Waiyaki voice concerns about both.

On one hand, the early events of the story lead Waiyaki and the reader to question traditional practices such as female circumcision: a young girl whom we are encouraged to like dies as a result of infection. Yet, Thiong'o stops short of using common, harsher epithets such as female genital mutilation, and Waiyaki ends up neither asserting its necessity to a traditional society nor condemning it.

Similarly, white influence is viewed with moderation. The patriarchal attitude of the European invaders is seen as damaging: "If the white man's religion made you abandon a custom and then did not give you something of equal value, you became lost. An attempt at resolution of the conflict would only kill you..." Yet, the benefits of education and science are written clearly through the story.

In fact, as Waiyaki makes his own way alone through his divided community, he recognizes that rejection of all change would lead to cultural death, yet that change cannot be forced or hurried, that "Patience and, above all, education, were needed."

Highly recommended. show less

Well, this is a book that took me right out of my comfort zone... I like to think that I am respectful of other cultures, but not when they conflict with my own deeply held liberal-democratic values about human rights.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is an author often suggested as a potential winner of the Nobel Prize, and this book, The River Between is listed in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.

At one level, this is a simple love story set in the mid-colonial period, an African Romeo and Juliet in which two young people from opposing Gikuyu villages fall in love and attempt to transcend the ancient rift between their communities, with tragic results. On a more complex level, the novel engages with Kenya's precolonial and colonial

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history. It depicts the slow but steady infiltration by the British; the alienation of local people from their land; the negative effects of Christian mission on local power structures, rituals and relationships; and the deep disunity between different African factions that preceded the anticolonial struggle of the 1950s. (1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, Ed. Perter Boxall, ABC Books, 2006 Edition, p.574)

Well, yes, it does all that in just 152 pages, and it does so in deceptively simple language and an ordinary chronological structure. But what made me read it with a sense of seething rage was the way circumcision, and female circumcision in particular, is used to symbolise the purity of the tribe and is therefore a ritual worth protecting against change.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/03/26/the-river-between-by-ngugi-wa-thiongo-bookre...
Joshua is a Christianised firebrand preacher who has decreed that his daughters will not be circumcised because it is a pagan ritual. Muthoni, the elder of the two, decides that she wants to be a real woman, knowing all the ways of the hills and ridges, so she defies her father and takes part in the annual initiation ceremonies. So does Waiyaki, a young man who tentatively believes his father's prophecy that he will be a leader of his people. Thiong'o describes at length the agony of the male circumcision, without a word about the agony of the female experience, nor the denial of her sexuality, nor the risks associated with not only the lack of basic surgical hygiene but also the risk of death or permanent disabling injury in childbirth. Opposition to circumcision is parcelled up with all the other wrongs that the Christianising colonising interlopers bring with them: dispossession, racism, taxes and political interference, as if the missionaries could even have known about female circumcision if not for witnessing its terrible consequences in their hospitals. Thiong'o addresses the male expectation that their wives be circumcised only obliquely, by depicting his villagers' assertion that no man would want to trade his cows for an uncircumcised wife, and he makes Muthoni complicit in her own mutilation by investing the procedure with secret female knowledge while never mentioning that female circumcision is merely a brutal technique for ensuring fidelity because intercourse is consequently so painful. Muthoni dies, and the villagers ascribe her death to the malevolent influence of the new religion. There is no mention of the infection which is obvious to any contemporary reader, only its symptoms. To read the rest of my review please visit show less

The writing’s incredibly concentrated and the more you look at it the more meanings you can find. His style is very much ‘tell, not show’. Normally that annoys me, but here it’s elevated to an art. It’s more like having someone tell you a story directly than reading a novel, but then every once in a while he surprises you with something beautifully poetic that brings things into focus. Superb ending as well, or lack of one, as you already know exactly what's going to happen.

The River Between by Ngugi wa Thiong’o is about the Gikuyu people of Kenya who lived in a remote area of ridges and valleys. The time is during the early days of white settlement, some of the people were lured by the new religion and “magical” customs and so they followed Joshua, a Gikuyu convert who preached Christianity. Others wanted to keep to the tribal customs and old ways. Battle lines over female circumcision have been drawn as the Christians try to outlaw the pagan practice while the traditionalists feel it is an important part of their culture.

Firmly in the middle stands Waiyaki a young man who has been educated by the missionaries but belongs to a family of visionaries who foresaw the coming of the white man and the show more turmoil, changes and confusion that would arise with their arrival. To make matters more complicated he falls in love with Nyambura, the Christian daughter of the fiery pastor, Joshua. Waiyaki believes that education is the answer but he also wants to honour his father’s wishes without really understanding what his father was trying to say.

[The River Between] stands as a social critique as there is, of course, no answer to the problems that the Gikuyu were facing. The two factions were both doomed as once colonialism and Christianity get a firm hold and white settlers arrive in their numbers, the rift will continue to grow and tribal independence along with their customs and culture will disappear. show less

A moving and insightful account of the adaptation of individuals and whole communities in colonial Kenya to the imposed culture of the occupiers. A wonderful book with a potent conclusion.