I’ve just finished Abyssinian Chronicles. Which is a bit of a relief, because I found it quite hard work. The good stuff first: it’s a story that traces a couple of generations through the history of modern Uganda, with the arrival of Idi Amin and the collapse of his regime, the sequence of messy guerilla wars, the rise of AIDS and so on. The central character is initially brought up in a village before moving to Kampala, is from a Catholic background and is educated in a rather brutal seminary; his grandmother is a midwife; he ends up leaving Uganda to move to Holland. So there’s lots of good material. And lots of striking incidents and some strong (though not generally very likeable) characters.Despite which, after reading a hundred pages, I checked to see how long the book was and had a sinking feeling when I saw there were still 400 pages to go.The problem is the prose style. Quite apart from a tendency to cliché, it seems like Isegawa reacts to similes the way a small child reacts to candy. Everything is like something. These similes are sometimes quite good in themselves — he describes a priest at the seminary as having ‘an ego as large as a cirrhotic liver’ — but I found the overall effect distracting. And it’s part of a generally over-written, shouty kind of tone the book has which I just didn’t get on with; sometimes I’d get into it and be quite absorbed for twenty or thirty pages, and then some turn of phrase would snap me out of it again.I did wonder whether it was a problem with the translation; but as far as I can tell from the title page, the book was written in English. I guess English must be the author’s second language, which is pretty impressive, but doesn’t alter the fact that I didn’t enjoy his prose.Here’s an example of the kind of paragraph that would annoy me:It struck him like a bolt of lightning splitting a tree down middle: Nakibuka! Had the woman not done her best to interest him in her life? Didn’t he, in his heart of hearts, desire her? Had he ever forgotten her sunny disposition, her sense of humor, the confident way she luxuriated in her femininity? The shaky roots of traditional decorum halted him with the warning that it was improper to desire his wife’s relative, but the mushroom of his pent-up desire had found a weak spot in the layers of hypocritical decency and pushed into the turbulent air of truth, risk, personal satisfaction, revenge. His throttled desire and his curbed sex drive could find a second wind, a resurrection or even eternal life in the bosom of the woman who, with her touch, had accessed his past, saved it and redeemed his virility on his wedding night. Sweat cascaded down his back, his heart palpitated and fire built up in his loins.200 pages of this stuff would have been harmless enough, and I might have said that, despite a few flaws, it was still well worth reading; 500 pages was too much.But I stuck it out to the end. Partially from stubbornness but mainly because I bought Abyssinian Chronicles as my book from Uganda for the Read The World challenge.
I didn't anticipate I would take so long to read this book, but ultimately it did take me six months to get through it. It wasn't that the story wasn't fascinating - a saga of a family in Uganda - I believe it was the writing style. The writing could be too descriptive at some points and at others it felt there were too many sentences to describe one point that it became a little too much to bear. In any case, this was not a page-turner YET every time I would pick it up, I was curious about the story and would read several pages. Another generational saga that is narrated by the character Mugezi who comes from a hard-core Catholic family. At least his mother is. Padlock, the mother, as very religious she is, is also quite a horrible mother who mistrusts Mugezi and treats him horribly. Mugezi's father, Serenity, is not so conservative, and in fact starts an affair with Padlock's aunt from the day of their marriage. The book follows both families, before Mugezi's parents gets married and throughout different political periods in Uganda, including Idi Amin's dictatorship and Obote's government. One of the most memorable sections for me was Mugezi's time in seminary school, as his father wanted him to study to be a priest. This section showcased natural leadership and savvy in Mugezi that I don't see again in the rest of the story. Ultimately Mugezi goes to Holland, and settles his life there, leaving his whole history behind in Uganda.There were many stories within this one story, and if the writing style was more polished, it might have brought together in one beautiful flow. Maybe, a better editor next time?
Do You like book Abyssinian Chronicles (2001)?
This was billed as the Great Ugandan Novel and reviewers kept comparing Isegawa to Rushdie and Marquez. Not so, my friends. There are enough technical issues with the writing that it took me fifty pages in to really figure out who was who, and another hundred to give a shit at all. I mean, it may still be the Great Ugandan Novel - and it certainly shares the national family epic genre with Rushdie and Marquez - but so far it's more of a mildly scatological Bildungsroman. Still interesting - but not what I had hoped for at all. Bit of a slog, frankly.
—nicebutnubbly
*** and 1/2 is my actual rating. This is a generational story about a Catholic Ugandan family. Mugezi takes us through his childhood being raised by a cruel religious fanatic mother, his days in seminary where abuse of power persisted, life during the Amin torturous regime, guerilla warfare and Aids, all taking away people precious to him. I found turning to a map of Uganda while reading gave me a sense of place (smart phone worked great!)Recognizing that the author, Moses Isegawa, is writing in his second language makes the reader appreciate all the rather humorous similes rather than judge them negatively. I did have difficulty returning to the storyline. I guess it was the knowledge that more pain and loss was yet to come. I learned much history and turned the last page being grateful for where I live and how I have been able to live!
—Rita
Een mooi verhaal. De schrijver weet een beeld te schetsen van een land waar ik eigenlijk niets van af weet. Wat ik goed vind is dat de schrijver van vertelperspectief wisselt. Het verhaal wordt verteld door Moegezi (ik-vorm). Maar Isegawa weet op een handige manier ook de rest van de familie het woord te geven (personale vertelperspectief). Zo krijg je als lezer een goed beeld van het leven in Oeganda. Maar er zijn meer goede punten aan te wijzen: hoe een familie min of meer uiteenvalt door oorlog en ziekte, de continue strijd om te overleven en een bestaan op te bouwen. Corruptie viert hoogtij. In de laatste hoofdstukken beschrijft Isegawa de Bijlmermeer: drugs, criminaliteit en illegaliteit.Het boek stemt mij tot nadenken. Prachtig.
—Natalie
