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Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Malcolm, after a stifling childhood, arrives in Kenya overwhelmed by his upbringing but finds a world more concerned with issues bigger than his state of mind. The colourful mix of people he meets enrich his adult life and we learn of these interactions and the consequences that flow from them. When in later life he returns to Kenya he finds the lives of these people were more complicated than he had thought. In their various ways they have secrets which they can now share with him but which they do not share with each other.
This is the story of one man’s life of hope and despair, friendship and isolation, joy and sadness set against the exotic background of a newly independent African nation.
This is the story of one man’s life of hope and despair, friendship and isolation, joy and sadness set against the exotic background of a newly independent African nation.
368 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 1, 2021
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July 12, 2021
This is a remarkable book. One I found throughly engaging and erudite. It tells the story of Malcom, burdened by childhood family experiences beyond his control yet finding personal liberation in post colonial Kenya as an agricultural scientist. The author captures the sights, sounds, smells, dilemmas, pains and joys of a European living in Africa extremely well. For those Europeans with similar post colonial experiences, you will hear and feel echoes of your own life.
Malcolm, around whom the book is built, is not a vehicle for merely expressing European experiences of Africa. The central character is not quite whole, he carries with him childhood experiences that are not of his making, nor indeed anyone’s fault. He cannot digest these experiences sufficiently to enable him to become the more fully human he wants to be and be able to express, feel and be at ease with the world. Malcolm knows this but seems unable to discover a way through. Love eases his pain but he cannot quite rid himself of his doubt and his inward, self-protecting persona.
Recommended
Malcolm, around whom the book is built, is not a vehicle for merely expressing European experiences of Africa. The central character is not quite whole, he carries with him childhood experiences that are not of his making, nor indeed anyone’s fault. He cannot digest these experiences sufficiently to enable him to become the more fully human he wants to be and be able to express, feel and be at ease with the world. Malcolm knows this but seems unable to discover a way through. Love eases his pain but he cannot quite rid himself of his doubt and his inward, self-protecting persona.
Recommended
Displaying 1 of 1 review