A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiongo: Book Cover

    A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiongo, Ngugi W. Thiong'o, Chinua Achebe (Editor), Adewale Maja-Pearce (Editor)

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    Textbook (Paperback - Revised Edition)

    • 224pp

    Textbook Information

    • ISBN-13: 9780435909871
    • Edition Description: Revised Edition
    • Edition Number: 1
    • Pub. Date: January 1994
    • Publisher: Heinemann

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    Product Details

    • Pub. Date: January 1994
    • Publisher: Heinemann
    • Format: Textbook Paperback, 224pp

    Synopsis

    In this ambitious and densely worked novel, we begin to see early signs of Ngugi's increasing bitterness about the ways in which the politicians are the true benefactors of the rewards of independence.

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    Biography

    Ngugi is world famous for his novels from Weep Not, Child to Matigari and the impact of his plays, especially in Gikuyu, which led to his detention in Kenya. He is now Professor of Comparative Literature and Performance Studies in New York University. This book reflects many of the concerns found in Decolonising the Mind and Moving the Centre .

    Customer Reviews

    A Grain of Wheatby Anonymous

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    March 04, 2006: Centered on the pre-Independence Kenyan struggle between the Mau Mau liberation fighters and the British colonial government, A GRAIN OF WHEAT gives a portrayal of the struggle that few writers have ever depicted. One gets a good picture of the Mau Mau fighters, the attitude of the Colonialists, their the detention camps, the nature of the war, the bloody encounters, the ruthlessness of some of the soldiers of Colonial army and the direction to independence for the African continent. Betrayal, hopes and dreams, horrors and loss are all parts of the story.

    A Grain of Wheatby Anonymous

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    December 13, 2005: As an American, I was first introduced to this segment of history by Achebe's Things Fall Apart, which was so profound that I sat in stunned silence for the duration of the flight I was on when I read it. Ngugi continues that tradition, showing the deep rifts caused in native society by the presence of white Europeans. It also adds something else, though, and this addition is what, in my mind, makes this novel so much more than just a commentary on colonization. It adds, in the main character, a question of when a revolution represents the people, and when it represents only a few. The book rightly criticizes European influences, but it also points out something more universal: revolutions can alienate revolutionaries from people just as much as oppressors from oppressed. This is a profound novel on many levels and everyone should read it.


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