Product Description

After a terrible murder in the village of Ilmorog four suspects are placed in detention: Munira the headmaster; Abdullah the storekeeper; Karega the assistant teacher and 'barmaid' Wanja. The lives of these four characters are inextricably linked with the lives of the three murder victims, the fortunes of Ilmorog and with the fate of Kenya itself. Published to great controversy in 1977, PETALS OF BLOOD is as much a whodunnit as a political novel and satire. Ngugi unfolds a human landscape that is both beautiful and horrifying, as tribalism and village life are manipulated in the name of progress by the cynical bureaucrats who came to power as heroes of liberation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77917 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

About the Author
Kenyan novelist and playwright Ngugi wa Thiong'o is the author of THE RIVER BETWEEN, A GRAIN OF WHEAT and PETALS OF BLOOD all available as Modern Classics. Ngugi was chair of the Department of Literature at the University of Nairobi from 1972 to 1977. He left Kenya in 1982 and taught at various universities in the United States before he became professor of comparative literature and performance studies at New York University in 1992.

Customer Reviews

Not as good as Grain of Wheat
This offering by Ngugi is not as powerful as his earlier work "A Grain of Wheat" but nevertheless it is still a passable read. The book tells of the story of four people who arrive at a village for different reasons, their actions and decisions leave the village transformed. Munira, a teacher is the character that is given the most voice and he is he is also the one that is most real. Haunted by the fact he did little to gain Uhuru for his native land he now takes up teaching in the village of Ilmorog in a bid to do his part. We witness his struggle to start the school and most of his struggle to possess Wanja, one of the other four protagonists and the only notable female character in the book, though as if to make of for this lack of females Wanja's promiscuity is present with almost monotonous regularity. The story is about their struggle for justice, how they are exploited by the capitalists and how ultimately they get their revenge.

Here a very unsubtle political message is on display and Marxist tendencies constantly litter the text. So too worryingly is the nationalism that is very overt and almost lauded by Nugugi, at one point a half Indian half black man is writing a letter to his Indian father telling him to get out the country. Unfortunately the story sometimes gets lost in the politics he tries to put across, though for most part it is still an enjoyable read.

correction
I believe this book to be set in Kenya, rather than Nigeria as above stated, as Nugugi is an author of Kenyan descent.

Kenya not Nigeria
Yes this book is set in Kenya! It's a classic on many university reading lists when studying imperialism, as it is about Mau mau. But don't let that put you off... It's a damn good book...