What do you think?
Rate this book
The Experience
From the back cover:
"This first novel by an international award winning writer from Uganda is described by the author as an expressionistic painting of East African society. The 'hero', Tom Miti, is plucked from a squalid village existence by fate in the form of Ian Turner, a teacher from Britain. Miti's new world revolves around cars, good food and nightclubs--the world of his village dreams come [sic] true. He is happy living with Ian Turner and the latter's English girlfriend, Sarah.
Then Miti undergoes 'the experience.' stripping Miti, Turner, Sarah and a swinging African beauty called Mary Katemba bare, the writer exposes an ailing society in which people pathetically grope to break away from their basic prejudices, in which Africans pursue Western values while still feeling the need for the traditional way of life, and where white 'liberals; are basically conservative."
"This first novel by an international award winning writer from Uganda is described by the author as an expressionistic painting of East African society. The 'hero', Tom Miti, is plucked from a squalid village existence by fate in the form of Ian Turner, a teacher from Britain. Miti's new world revolves around cars, good food and nightclubs--the world of his village dreams come [sic] true. He is happy living with Ian Turner and the latter's English girlfriend, Sarah.
Then Miti undergoes 'the experience.' stripping Miti, Turner, Sarah and a swinging African beauty called Mary Katemba bare, the writer exposes an ailing society in which people pathetically grope to break away from their basic prejudices, in which Africans pursue Western values while still feeling the need for the traditional way of life, and where white 'liberals; are basically conservative."
165 pages
First published January 1, 1970
7 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 27, 2021
Eneriko Seruma was clearly influenced by Faulkner and his stream-of-consciousness writing. While Faulkner prefaces his shifting memories with italics, Seruma prefaced his with ellipses. The novel depicts the life of an African, Tom Miti, who was sent to America for further education but suffered from racism greatly because he was sent to a racist state in New Hampshire. Although he was able to truly love a white woman, there was too much cultural pressure on them that the relationship was unable to succeed, and he was forced back to Uganda.
Despite it, he still suffered from the same superciliousness from the white people there. He calls such racism to be The Experience, which was what led him to want to be with a black woman untainted by colonialism. He rebuffs advances from Sarah, who was left in the lurch because Ian, Miti's friend, wished to be with a black lady named Mary instead of her. By the end of the novel, they suffer from a car crash in the middle of the jungle, left to face nature all by themselves. I have a difficult time empathizing with the characters, except Tom, whose sole vice was sensuality brought about by the culture he grew up in. For a Black immigrant, it is a challenge to be displaced in such a foreign and adverse country such as the United States in the 60s.
The book is all right, but it's too diffuse and unfocused compared to the other African authors I've read. Nevertheless, it's an amusing read that I've deferred for far too long: at least, Seruma took the risk that Faulkner did with respect to avant-garde literary techniques.
Despite it, he still suffered from the same superciliousness from the white people there. He calls such racism to be The Experience, which was what led him to want to be with a black woman untainted by colonialism. He rebuffs advances from Sarah, who was left in the lurch because Ian, Miti's friend, wished to be with a black lady named Mary instead of her. By the end of the novel, they suffer from a car crash in the middle of the jungle, left to face nature all by themselves. I have a difficult time empathizing with the characters, except Tom, whose sole vice was sensuality brought about by the culture he grew up in. For a Black immigrant, it is a challenge to be displaced in such a foreign and adverse country such as the United States in the 60s.
The book is all right, but it's too diffuse and unfocused compared to the other African authors I've read. Nevertheless, it's an amusing read that I've deferred for far too long: at least, Seruma took the risk that Faulkner did with respect to avant-garde literary techniques.
July 21, 2008
The author describes this book as "an expressionistic painting of confused contemporary Africa," which is inaccurate because this novel is neither expressionistic nor a painting. "The Experience" would have benefited tremendously from being expressionistic; it would have meant that the language was dynamic and unpredictable or at least rich and textured. But, Seruma is an unexceptional writer whose prose style does not demand or reward close scrutiny.
His story concerns Miti, a young Ugandan man given the opportunity to attend university in New Hampshire in the late 1960's. Scenes from this period of Miti's life are awkwardly scattered throughout the narrative, which otherwise features Miti's complete failure to fit into Ugandan society. Each of the book's episodes amounts to little more than a simple account of facts with an occasional declarative sentence about Miti feeling an emotion. There is nothing subtle about the delivery. I couldn't help feeling that Seruma was speaking as much of his readership as of Miti's white friends when he wrote, "They would not understand the racial tension that had broken him down and turned him into a pot-head, acid-head, speed-head lush. How could,i/> they understand?"
An author who feels that he has experienced something that nobody else can ever truly understand and something that he also blames on other people can become a bit tiring. I know that Seruma's novel has some implicit criticism of Miti's actions; but it is more full of sympathy for him as an alienated victim.
I have read a number of African novels that explore the violence to identity that can transpire when a poor African is thrust into the moneyed, leisure classes of the developed world. If you want a novel like that, read Dambudzo Marechera, who actually writes in an expressionistic fashion and leaves his readers with some work to do. Or read Amma Darko and discover a protagonist who can actually complain about being truly victimized.
All the same, I enjoyed reading a book set in Uganda and seeing how a Ugandan treats the prevailing stereotypes about different ethnic groups in the country. If you enjoy African stories, you don't need to avoid this; but don't come in search of literature.
His story concerns Miti, a young Ugandan man given the opportunity to attend university in New Hampshire in the late 1960's. Scenes from this period of Miti's life are awkwardly scattered throughout the narrative, which otherwise features Miti's complete failure to fit into Ugandan society. Each of the book's episodes amounts to little more than a simple account of facts with an occasional declarative sentence about Miti feeling an emotion. There is nothing subtle about the delivery. I couldn't help feeling that Seruma was speaking as much of his readership as of Miti's white friends when he wrote, "They would not understand the racial tension that had broken him down and turned him into a pot-head, acid-head, speed-head lush. How could,i/> they understand?"
An author who feels that he has experienced something that nobody else can ever truly understand and something that he also blames on other people can become a bit tiring. I know that Seruma's novel has some implicit criticism of Miti's actions; but it is more full of sympathy for him as an alienated victim.
I have read a number of African novels that explore the violence to identity that can transpire when a poor African is thrust into the moneyed, leisure classes of the developed world. If you want a novel like that, read Dambudzo Marechera, who actually writes in an expressionistic fashion and leaves his readers with some work to do. Or read Amma Darko and discover a protagonist who can actually complain about being truly victimized.
All the same, I enjoyed reading a book set in Uganda and seeing how a Ugandan treats the prevailing stereotypes about different ethnic groups in the country. If you enjoy African stories, you don't need to avoid this; but don't come in search of literature.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews