A review by cassiope_fastigiata
Petals of Blood by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

4.0

This book was on my shelf for a long time, one of those 'should reads' that I wasn't very inspired to pick up. Finally, I had nothing else at home to read, and I picked it up. It still felt like a 'should read' in the beginning, and I found the novel slow going, only reading a few pages a night. I couldn't relate to the characters, who seemed to just be wandering around in the story which didn't seem to be going anywhere. Then, at the very end of part one, when the community of Ilmorog decides to journey to the city to seek help for their suffering due to the drought, I was suddenly pulled into the story. As it became for me less the story of individual characters and more the story of the village/town, with the characters becoming different elements of the town, of so many small towns in so many countries, I adapted to the rhythm and begin really enjoying the read. I've never been to Kenya, but I imagined as I read so many other small towns I have been to, and thought of all the unknown and often tragic stories that must be behind each shabby concrete building or shack, the faces of the fruit sellers, the merchants, and the fat, sleek business folk, the shocks and transitions of 'development.' I still prefer by far the funnier 'Wizard of the Crow', but this is a touching book.