The Book of Secrets : A Novel

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Summary: That multicultural Africa you never hear off
Review: A beautiful novel about how all the events in this planet are connected whether you are aware of it or not. The characters are forced by the circumstances that surround them to be involved in situations which in principle do not concern them (A lot of Indians or Massais could not care less if the Germans defeated the British in World War I or viceversa but they have to fight in a conflict without a clue of the reasons behind it). But for the main characters of the novel, such unseen force is the same one that will lead them to explore aspects of their life which they did not even know that existed. The perfect example is how Pipa found his wife and the subsequent birth of a son who will follow its roots eventhough he is not aware of them.

Our existence is fun, tragic, confusing, arbitrary, ambiguous, etc. and for the same token many aspects of this novel follow the same pattern. The most important ones are the many unfinished events, which by the simple force of inertia find an opportunity that will make sense at least for someone, later on.

The author seems to remind us that life will always surprise us. It is simply to ample for anyone to imagine all the possible outcomes.

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Summary: Against the current...
Review: I read this after having lived in East Africa for a few years. It remains one of my all time favourites. Do yourself a favour and read it.

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Summary: Boring. Discuss.
Review: In M. G. Vassanji's The Book Of Secrets one would expect to find a world of intrigue and mystery. One would expect to be as caught up with this story as a wife reading love letters to her husband that she didn't write. Nothing that compelling here. The title, it seems, is just a marketing ploy.
It's true, a reader could find plenty to talk about in this award-winning book. It has many themes that are worthy of conversation. Discuss amongst yourselves: In searching for the truth behind human motivations, it is likely only more questions will be found. Or, Human drama is more intrapersonal in peaceful times and interpersonal in times of world conflict. Or, Despite a setting unfamiliar to most Canadians, this novel could just as easily be set in Canada's history. But reading group fodder aside, this book is still boring.
It is simply hard to care about who the father of Miriamu's child is. Was it Pipa? Was it Alfred Corbin? Was it her step-father? Who cares? While this might seem callous, Vassanji does not make you feel enough concern for these characters to garner much interest. As the novel begins, it appears to revolve mostly around a British colonialist named Alfred Corbin. A little too quickly the focus switches to Pipa, an Indian immigrant. And near the end the focus is on Pius Fernandes, a local teacher who was researching the lives of the aforementioned characters. The only one of these characters developed sufficiently is Pipa. A reader can readily see what drives him and it is easy to feel concern and compassion for this man. However, Corbin was dropped like the proverbial hot potato just as a reader would start to find him compelling. Pius, is explored a little more in depth than Corbin but not adequately to suggest any plausible reason why he is obsessed with the mysteries of the past.
All in all, this book was a let down from the onset. Given the title The Book of Secrets one expects to be engaged more than this, but without sufficient character development the plot falls flat.

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful book!!
Review: It is not only my facination with Africa that made this book special. Vassanji really makes his characters come out of the book, inprints them in your head so they become so real you end up imagining they are your own personal friends. Haven't read a book I enjoyed so much in a long long time. when it came to an end, I wanted more. I really recomend this book to everyone, whatever their reading interest may be. This book will not dissapoint them.

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Summary: The Other Side of Africa
Review: The author managed to write a novel that reads like a diary, a fascinating history oh Kenya and Tanzania from 1912 until 1988. He starts with Alfred Corbin who represents the British empire as ADC in a tiny Kenian town near the border to Tanganyika. The town had been founded by immigrants from India, who had come to East Africa in the second half of the 19th century. They became traders and, over the generations, some of them prospered. They lived through two world wars, married within their community, lived within their faith - and did not mix with the indigenous population. When independence came in the 1960s, they were destroyed by the new native powers.

Thus the author gives us the history of the Indian settlements, practically from their beginning to their aslmost destruction. His main characters shift from Corbin, to the Indian shopkeeper Pipa and his family, to the expatriate Englishman Gregory, destroyed by the new nation. There is hardly a mention of the native Africans.

Vassanji gives us a fascinating history of the people that Kenya, to this day, neglects and despises. I am very glad that this book was written to resurrect the Indian immigrant, whose trading really built these nations commercially.

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Summary: ?It is a magic bottle, this book, full of captured spirits"
Review: The narrator of this fascinating novel, Pius Fernandes, uses this description to refer to an old diary, which he has received from one of his former students, a shopkeeper in Dar es Salaam. It is, however, an equally apt description of the novel itself. The "captured spirits," in both cases, represent several generations of Indian expatriate merchants living in the shadows of Mt. Kilimanjaro, straddling the border of Kenya and Tanzania. As Pius Fernandes investigates mysterious events only partially explained by the British Assistant District Commissioner, Alfred Corbin, in his 1913 diary, the reader is treated to a century of East African history, from the days of British and German colonial rule in Kenya and Tanzania, respectively, through its World War II battles, its independence movements, and up to the present. Since the narrator and all the main characters from three generations are either Indian or British, and not African, the reader gains a unique perspective on the unfolding events in these African countries.

The author's ambitious scope and broad perspective, his overlapping characters from several generations, the thread of mystery which connects the 1913 diary with characters well into the present, and his seductive story-telling, all contribute to an exciting narrative which will actively involve even the most jaded reader. The insights we gain into the character of the narrator and one or two other main characters engage the heart, making the conclusion understandable, if not, satisfying. Offering a unique point of view, this is a story which enlightens while it entertains.

Rating:
Summary: ¿It is a magic bottle, this book, full of captured spirits"
Review: The narrator of this fascinating novel, Pius Fernandes, uses this description to refer to an old diary, which he has received from one of his former students, a shopkeeper in Dar es Salaam. It is, however, an equally apt description of the novel itself. The "captured spirits," in both cases, represent several generations of Indian expatriate merchants living in the shadows of Mt. Kilimanjaro, straddling the border of Kenya and Tanzania. As Pius Fernandes investigates mysterious events only partially explained by the British Assistant District Commissioner, Alfred Corbin, in his 1913 diary, the reader is treated to a century of East African history, from the days of British and German colonial rule in Kenya and Tanzania, respectively, through its World War II battles, its independence movements, and up to the present. Since the narrator and all the main characters from three generations are either Indian or British, and not African, the reader gains a unique perspective on the unfolding events in these African countries.

The author's ambitious scope and broad perspective, his overlapping characters from several generations, the thread of mystery which connects the 1913 diary with characters well into the present, and his seductive story-telling, all contribute to an exciting narrative which will actively involve even the most jaded reader. The insights we gain into the character of the narrator and one or two other main characters engage the heart, making the conclusion understandable, if not, satisfying. Offering a unique point of view, this is a story which enlightens while it entertains.