For fans of A Long Walk to Remember (Nelson Mandela), Wrestling with the Devil is a prison memoir that is raw and real and exposes so much of what happened in Kenya. Highly recommend.

I loved this book and it's great to finally get to read what Ngugi went through while in prison. I enjoyed the book up until the middle where he launched into a history of white occupation of Kenya while comparing the situation to the political leaders of his time. I honestly struggled to get past that part of the book, and if it had not been included or been so long winded, this book would have gotten 5 stars from me.

Wrestling with the Devil is a prison memoir from the depths of Kenyatta's Kenya. Ngũgĩ is a passionate man whose memoir is an engaging mix of history, politics, the conditions of prison, and character studies. I enjoyed his take on settler culture more than I expected.

Ngugi wa Thiong'o left it all the table with regards to the impact of colonialism on his country and the deplorable behavior of the colonizers and how they influenced the "independent" government set in place after their "exit". This was far more than a prison memoir. This is a deeply personal and intimate look into how colonialism still affects the continent of Africa and how it affected him personally. I am so appreciative that this was re-released. If you need further clarification on why Africa is in the state it is in, read this book.

Perhaps what struck home for me was that, I'm a Kenyan and the history I know of my country is limited to heroic acts of victory and very little of what happened to those who dared speak against injustice then. Ngugi's recollections are filled with thoughts, memories and accounts of what he experienced behind bars for simply writing a play in his native tongue.
He is hailed as a Literary Icon all over the world yet he had to flee my country because he couldn't give up writing.
It saddens me. I grew up reading Ngugi's works and I'm amazed at his fascination and quick reference to the Old Testament in his works- and I came across the same here.
In this book he makes a reference to an incident in History that's not taught or shared in our education system about the Nandi leader, Koitalel Arap Samoei, he states "Pit innocence against brutality and innocence will lose," and in a way, for me, that summarizes his account of time spent in Kamiti.
I was quick to request to read this book off NetGalley because aside from his sharp writing, there's always a bit of history here and there that Ngugi's never afraid to share in his writing and that is powerful, especially to a Kenyan.

Let me preface this by saying I've never read any of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's novels; I saw this available on NetGalley and they provided me with a copy.

Ngũgĩ's strength and perseverance in this memoir is unparalleled. I never doubted his commitment to staying firm to his beliefs. It's tough to review this as a piece of literature; it's a very personal story, it's short, and I'm not quite sure it's even meant to embody his entire prison experience rather than his unparalleled focus on maintaining integrity throughout his imprisonment. It's very informative on the role of colonialism in modern-day Kenya, and Ngũgĩ is especially interested in its stranglehold on the norms that permeate Kenyan culture and governance. Informative, well-written, and - though I usually loathe the sentimentality of the word - inspiring.

I had only learned of Thiong'o's work through the book list 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. I haven't read any of his fiction works but I was curious about this memoir being released so many years after its initial publication. Apparently it was edited to focus on Kenyan political history as a whole and less on the day-to-day injustices in the prison. The book is not structured in any linear fashion, but jumps around in time from the author's arrest to colonial times to recent political history. His sharp criticism for the colonial people has an edge to it; he complains that they have no culture of their own, in addition to abusing the Kenyans brutally. His arrest is a terrifying thing: spirited away in the night in an unmarked car, and put in a prison without anyone knowing he is there.
I had not known anything about Kenyan history, and the story of Kenyatta is so frustrating and heartbreaking. He was an anti-colonial activist who was imprisoned for his political actions, then when he became the ruler of Kenya he was authoritarian and corrupt. He imprisoned Thiong'o for a play that addressed issues of class in society. The anti-oppression activist becomes the oppressor. Why? It's an issue that is topical these days with all of the "populists" gaining ground.
This book was a bit of a challenge to read because of how much it jumps around, but it is an important story that we should all hear. I look forward to reading Thiong'o's fiction.

My thanks to Netgalley and The New Press for sending me an e-galley free of charge. My opinions are my own.

Ngugi wa Tiong'o writes an engaging and focused look at Kenyan history and social state up to the 1960s and 70s when Kenyatta took power. Although he does speak about his experiences in prison, that is not the main focus of the book, which I think is actually a great choice here.

Wrestling with the Devil is such a necessary read. It’s in no shape or form an easy read though. You may actually want to put it down and forget about it, pretend you never picked it up. I admit that I wanted to a few times, mainly because I felt consumed by guilt. It’s not the first time that I feel guilty. I feel guilty a lot, guilty about a lot of things my ancestors have done to others, how as white colonial powers we created a world of hierarchy where we subjected others to discrimination, oppression, slavery, torture, famine, and often brutal death. It’s a necessary guilt, it teaches us to fight for change. While I was reading through Wrestling with the Devil one thought kept reoccurring in my mind... After WW2 the western world acted shocked about the absolute horrors of the Holocaust, never again we said, but at the same time we were just as brutal in the countries that we colonized! Even up until the 1960’s if not later. The hypocrisy of it all is lodged in my throat, it hasn’t gone unnoticed. (Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o actually does bring up the Hitler comparison about a quarter into his memoir, rightly so).

Wrestling with the Devil was written in the early 80’s after Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was in prison for a year, for the “crime” of having written a political play. Detained without trial, kept apart from other political prisoners for certain amounts of time, and away from general population all through-out his incarceration, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o wrote his now acclaimed novel, Devil on a the Cross, on toilet paper in his cell. Wrestling with the Devil recounts his time in prison, how he wrote the book, and how he managed to keep his sanity intact and continue to resist oppression. It’s also a brilliant overview of the oppression endured by the Kenyans during the brutal British rule, and how this oppression led to another kind of oppression once independence was finally gained.

I also love how Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o describes the immense amount of art, culture, and resistance that was forged in the underground and right in front of the British oppressors - and I feel like I really haven’t done anywhere near enough work to learn more about Kenya, her history, and her culture. Something that I shall be rectifying this year!

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o weaves history, politics, social politics, and all kinds of personal anecdotes on life in general in Kenya into his narrative in Wrestling with the Devil, while providing a vivid image of life in prison as a political prisoner who has committed no other crime than that of helping to educate people. This book is an amazing insight into human resilience, how one is able to take a really bad situation (prison) and make it into a work of reflection (and art) in order to maintain ones sense of self, despite outside attempts to destroy ones essence and beliefs.

I’m now adding more of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s work to my must read list this year – his talent and brilliance have captured my heart and my mind.

Wrestling with the Devil will be published on March 6th through The New Press. This is the first time that Wrestling with the Devil is being published in the US. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy!

Ngugi wa Thiong'o not only describes his life in prison as a political prisoner detained without trial in Kenya during the regime of Kenyatta, but also mentions historical facts and persons mostly unknown outside Africa. Sometimes this makes it difficult to follow as he assumes these facts and names are known by his readers.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was a political prisoner in Kenya and this is his memoir about that dark time. It is also a history lesson about the people's struggle in Africa to rise above colonial and state oppression. It's an amazing work. I had no idea about Africa's history, but I feel like I learned something and am hungry for more.
What is troubling for me is that I see parallels in America's society and what was described in this memoir.. This is a very poignant read.

"Thought for despair? No! I am part of a living struggle. And without struggle, there is no movement, there is no life."

It's actually bizarre to even rate this, the memoir of a man who was once thrown into a maximum security prison after writing a play in an African language and staging it with local workers and peasants. Today, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is considered one of the main contestants for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and his writings on Kenyan culture and about the consequences of the British rule over his home country are invaluable for everyone trying to understand African history or colonialism in general.

This is the first time this memoir is published in English, in a re-edited version, although its original version in Gikuyu was already put out in 1982. Ngũgĩ wrote most of the text secretly on toilet paper in his prison cell in 1978, as a means of resistance, to uphold his own sanity and intergrity, and as a testimony to let others know about the faith of political prisoners under the authoritarian Kenyatta regime.

Jomo Kenyatta was the country's first black head of government and played a significant role in the transformation of Kenya from a colony into an independent republic. Born in 1891, he experienced the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial era - and this man's policies were just as contradictory as Kenya's history (see Ngũgĩ's highly interesting postscript). In his memoir, Ngũgĩ strongly criticizes the man who jailed him and many of his fellow intellectuals, describes the connection between colonial atrocities and the wrongdoings of the Kenyatta government, and elaborates on the power which the ideology of colonialism still holds over the Kenyan people, from poor peasants up to the head of state.

From his prison cell, Ngũgĩ fights the colonial "culture of silence and fear" and its "aesthetic of blind trust and obedience to foreign economic, political, and cultural occupation and encirclement" with many acts of resistance, his art being one of them. After dozens of years of being indoctrinated that they are worthless and that their actions are futile, Ngũgĩ sees Kenyan culture and creativity as the constructive force that will enable Kenyans to overcome the legacy of the "colonial Lazarus":

"It's the history of Kenyan resistance culture, a revolutionary culture of courage and heroism (...). It's a creative, fight-back culture unleashing tremendous energies among the Kenyan people."
"(...) even behind the barbed wire and stone walls of the colonial Jericho, they (the Kenyan people) went on composing new songs and singing out a collective defiance that finally brought those walls down."

In contrast, "(b)eyond drinking whiskey, drugging themselves into sexual fantasies, whoring each other's spouses, and gunning lions and natives for pleasure in this vast Happy Valley, the settlers produced little."

The text has a peculiar structure, containing foreshadowings and flashbacks, providing historical and political context, giving insights into the physical and psychological measures applied to subdue or even destroy prisoners, and letting the reader get really close to the author: The way Ngũgĩ talks about his feelings, his pain, but also his strength is powerful and highly impressive. The memoir is closely connected to his novel Devil on the Cross, which he also wrote in prison (but it is not necessary to know the novel to appreciate this book).

Full disclosure: I didn't know much about Kenya before reading this book, but now I want to learn much more about this country which is located around 10,000 km away from me - and I want to read more Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. This is a fascinating book, and it is almost impossible to put it down.