Baking Cakes in Kigali

I was born in New York and shortly after my introduction into this world, my parents moved to Nigeria. I spent most of my formative years over there and moved to America a couple of years ago. Reading this book was like a return to my other home. From the mannerisms of the different characters, the regional use of elements of the English language, everything was a trip down memory lane right down to the brand of butter used(Blue band margarine!). I laughed out loud in recognition of many scenes and nodded in comprehension at certain scenes that probably hold more meaning for someone who knows Africa. It was amazing to me to see the similarities in African cultures though separated by plains, rivers and different colonial masters. This show more book was a delight and I am almost sad to have finished reading it.

Angel Tungaraza is a Tanzanian who now lives in Rwanda with her husband and grandchildren. Her business as a cake maker has earned her many friends and the confidences of many of her customers. Through her interactions with her customers and her neighbors, we gain insights into life in Rwanda post genocide. We see the orphans created by the war who live with the scars of what they witnessed, we learn about the domestic going ons in various homes and how important a male child remains in many cultures and we see the choices that some are forced to make in order to survive in a country that is recovering from ethnic purges. As Angel serves tea and cupcakes she comforts, shares similar stories and gently stirs her friends in the right direction. Through Angel, we also learn of the AIDS epidemic plaguing Africa but not just in that CNN news report sort of way but from the perspective of a mother who has lost a child to AIDS and now must mother her grandchildren when she should be contemplating retirement. But Angel and her husband,Pius, must take care of their grandchildren while fighting their own grief for their lost children. Both take it in stride and provide for the children the best they can under the circumstances. There are so many colorful, hilarious, emotionally and physically wounded characters. One of the most painful lessons that some of the characters learn is the harshness of survival. What does it do to you when the ones your love are killed by a ruthless genoicide? My first response would be acceptance at surviving and sadness over the lost of loved ones but a drive to go on. But for those who experienced it, it goes deeper than that. One of the characters summarizes this best " Let me tell you something about survival. People talk about survival as if its always a good thing; like it's some kind of a blessing. But ask around amongst survivors, and you'll find that many will admit that survival is not always the better choice. There are many of us who wish everyday that we had not survived. Do you think I feel blessed to live in this house with ghosts of everyone who was killed here? Do you think I feel blessed to go in and out through that gate where my husband and child were killed? ...Do you think that I feel blessed in any way at all? ...There are many who survived who would like to make the other choice now" (suicide).

But in the midst of the pain, there is reconciliation and hope. For these people the future is not certain and what it holds must be scary. But they have survived to see today and they will chose to make the best of the present. A very, well written book that at first seems to contain disparate stories but soon brings them together in a very satisfying way. show less

Baking Cakes in Kigali is a delightful debut novel set in contemporary post-genocide Rwanda. The author is a white Zambian who has lived in several African countries including Rwanda. The story revolves around Angel Tungaraz, a Tanzanian who has moved with her University professor husband, Pius, to Kigali in the year 2000 with her 5 orphaned grandchildren who she is raising. Angel is also the proud proprietor of a cake business and soon has many customers coming to her flat for a cup of sweet cardamom-flavoured tea while they order a cake and find Angel to be a kind and wise confidante. Although this story acknowledges many of the traumas and issues facing Rwandans including the horrors of their recent past, HIV-AIDS, FGM, poverty, and show more the ineptness and at times corruptness of foreign aid agencies, it does so with a light-hearted gentle tone. Angel’s beautiful, colourful cakes are baked for celebrations and seek to remind us that despite everything there is still hope, life, love and many reasons to laugh and celebrate. Angel is a wonderful, likeable main character, who becomes a mother figure to many, including struggling shopkeeper Leocande whose wedding she organises with aplomb. My only complaint was the dialogue was slightly stilted at times, in an attempt to use it as a vehicle to convey information to the readers about Rwanda. Otherwise both an enjoyable and entertaining read. show less

An absolutely charming book! Tanzanian Angel bakes beautiful unique amazing cakes in Kigali, Rwanda, there with her professor husband teaching in the university. Each customer has a story and Angel learns a lot and shares a lot, and solves a problem here and there. She learns how the neighborhood prostitute got that job 😢 and how the local ladies handle female mutilation. Angel solves marital woes and so much more. She reminds me of Mma Ramotswe from the No. 1 Detective Agency down in Botswana. If Angel were the main character in a series I’d read all her books. Finally, this is post-genocide, and it’s a reflection of how far the country has come for the peace to be secure for such a lovely novel to exist without reference to show more Hutus or Tutsis. A great read. Highly recommended. show less

Angel Tungaraza is the eminent baker in Kigali; if you want a good-looking cake, no one else will do. Whether it’s a birthday, anniversary or wedding Angel will decorate a cake to any theme. With a smile and sympathetic ear, she coaxes the life stories out of her clients with promises that she is a ‘professional somebody’ who will keep their words confidential. Always filled with good intentions, Angel becomes the figure around which her community revolves, acting as confidante, matchmaker and miracle worker as her cakes and sunny attitude work to heal a community torn to shreds by war and disease.

Angel’s well-named, since she acts as the guardian angel of her entire community. When she suspects unhappiness in the wife of a CIA show more agent, she suggests the woman start teaching her illiterate neighbors to read and write to fill up her days. When a prostitute living in Angel’s complex is cheated of her rightful wages, Angel tricks the man into giving her the money so that she can pass it on to the one who earned it. She is always dispensing advice in a grandmotherly way. But Angel has her own problems, too. Both of her children are dead – her son carried off by AIDS and her daughter’s death under mysterious circumstances – so she must raise her grandchildren. The relationship with her husband is strained by the grief they feel at the loss of their children. Although Angel has the wisdom to help everyone else, she is unable to sort out her own life’s dark secrets.

Most of the people in her book are immigrants. She lives amongst CIA agents, UN officials, university professors and refugees from other nations. Everyone’s a little bit broken, like the country itself, but they embrace life and share their mixed cultures with each other.

The book did get off to a bit of a slow start. I remember thinking as I read the first chapter, “Yikes. This is going to be a looooooong book.” Luckily, the story picks up the pace after a few chapters¸ and from there it was a smooth journey through the warren-like rooms of Angel’s apartment complex. In fact, towards the end of the book things got a downright hectic as the many characters began to converge and their separate narratives began to intermingle. It even got confusing as so many individuals had been introduced that I had trouble remembering who was who.

I don’t know much about the modern states of Africa. Heck, I don’t know that much about historic Africa. But what little I have read always seems tragic and horrible, like Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. It was really refreshing to see a novel that, while acknowledging the tragedy and horror of Rwanda’s past also showed that people are strong, and their passion for life undiminished in spite of many hardships. show less

Respected as a skilled baker in her new Rwandan community, Angel Tungaraza also acts as a voice of reason and likes to solve her customer's problems whether they ask for her help or not (think of a bartender or hair dresser; someone who can listen to one's woes and offer advice for the sheer sake of chitchat). Drawing from her life in Tanzania, she manages to help her friends and neighbors in unique ways. Angel isn't without her faults, though. She protects her reputation fiercely and can come across as snobbish when she doesn't approve of the cake someone else has baked or designed. If the customer chooses colors and styles that are "boring" in Angel's opinion she secretly scoffs at them. She also carries a secret shame; one that she show more cannot even admit to herself.
Throughout Baking Cakes in Kigali I was comparing Angela to Angela Lansbury in "Murder, She Wrote." Only instead of murders, Angel Tungaraza muddles her way through issues such as adultery, ritual cutting, equal rights for women, and racial prejudices; tackling the aftershocks of societal catastrophes such as AIDS and the Rwandan genocide. show less

”Rwanda has suffered a terrible thing. Terrible, … bad, bad, bad. Many of the hearts here are filled with pain. Many of the eyes here have seen terrible things. Terrible! But many of those same hearts are now brave enough to hope, and many of those same eyes have begun to look towards the future instead of the past. Life is going on, every day. And for us the pluses of coming here are many more than the minuses.”

Tanzanian Angel Tangaraza is in Rwanda with her husband, Pius, a Special Consultant at the university. Both of the Tangarazas' children have died and they are raising their five grandchildren. To bring in some extra money, Angel has a cake business. A special occasion wouldn't be complete without one of Angel's cakes, and show more people of all backgrounds and walks of life come to her to order cakes – from diplomats to prostitutes. As they fill in their Cake Order Forms over a cup of tea, they unburden themselves to Angel. She takes an active interest in her clients' lives and she keeps her eyes open for opportunities to make them better.

The author captures Rwanda's capital as its residents begin to heal from the horrors of the 1994 genocide. Angel's position as an outsider who knows the pain of loss has the effect of inspiring confidences. Angel and her cakes become the glue that unites the international residents of her compound and its neighborhood. Angel is a lot like Alexander McCall Smith's Precious Ramotswe, and I think fans of the No. 1 Detective Agency novels will want to meet Angel, too. show less

Baking Cakes in Kigali is a sweet “slice of life” book about Angel Tungaraza, a professional baker of cakes who is raising her 5 grandchildren in Rwanda. Angel‘s cakes are the talk of the town, and her kind manner encourages those who come for cake to open up about their lives. Angel bakes cakes for her whole compound and gently meddles in the lives of her customers and friends. While this book doesn‘t shy away from darker topics including Rwanda‘s genocide and HIV‘s impact on Africa, telling it from Angel‘s open-hearted perspective makes it a gentle read that puts those things in the context of a loving community that is being renewed day by day.