The Perfect Nine : The Epic of Gikuyu and Mumbi

by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

Rating: 3 (5 votes)

Tags: Male author

The Perfect Nine

Description:
Longlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize A dazzling, genre-defying novel in verse from the author Delia Owens says “tackles the absurdities, injustices, and corruption of a continent” Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's novels and memoirs have received glowing praise from the likes of President Barack Obama, the New Yorker, the New York Times Book Review, The Guardian, and NPR; he has been a finalist for the Man International Booker Prize and is annually tipped to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; and his books have sold tens of thousands of copies around the world. In his first attempt at the epic form, Ngũgĩ tells the story of the founding of the Gĩkũyũ people of Kenya, from a strongly feminist perspective. A verse narrative, blending folklore, mythology, adventure, and allegory, The Perfect Nine chronicles the efforts the Gĩkũyũ founders make to find partners for their ten beautiful daughters—called “The Perfect Nine” —and the challenges they set for the 99 suitors who seek their hands in marriage. The epic has all the elements of adventure, with suspense, danger, humor, and sacrifice. Ngũgĩ's epic is a quest for the beautiful as an ideal of living, as the motive force behind migrations of African peoples. He notes, “The epic came to me one night as a revelation of ideals of quest, courage, perseverance, unity, family; and the sense of the divine, in human struggles with nature and nurture.”

Reviews:

Read Around The World Challenge user profile avatar for Audrey
(1 year ago)
03 Dec, 2024
Read 11 Apr 21
Read Around The World Challenge user profile avatar for Maria
(2 years ago)
25 Mar, 2024
Read Around The World Challenge user profile avatar for Elisabeth
(1 year ago)
14 Nov, 2024
Read Around The World Challenge user profile avatar for Constanza
(1 year ago)
17 Mar, 2025
Read Around The World Challenge user profile avatar for Jackie
(5 months ago)
04 Jan, 2026

Add comment

Country: Kenya flag Kenya
Language: EN
Genre: Poetry

More books from Kenya

The River and the Source Barefoot Over the Serengeti Mwikali and the Forbidden Mask

More books from Read Around Africa Challenge

Chaos in Kinshasa Such a Beautiful Thing to Behold Nomenclatures of Invisibility


By using the links on this page, you help support our global reading community. As an Amazon Associate, we earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.