“I like your voice,” she said.

Odidi smiled.

She reached for his shoulders and measured them with her hands. “Strong. Are you rich?” she asked.

“No.”

“Can you make money?”

“Yes.”

“Come dance with me.”

They had danced together until the pain of his illusions of Kenya numbed, and when the music ended, at dawn, Justina knew she would never leave Odidi behind.

I was almost defeated by this book, which would have been a real shame since it is such a magnific book. The problem is, it is hard. And when I say hard I mean probably one of the most difficult books I’ve read. But don’t get discouraged, at the same time, it’s one of the most magical and beautiful books that’s crossed my path.
With Dust, Owuor transports us to a Kenya that almost feels like it’s taken out from a magic realism novel. But at the same time, it feels so real – as the story happens during the 2007-2008 political and economic crisis, a particularly difficult moment in the country’s recent history -. The book starts with the murder of Odidi Oganda, the eldest son of a family from the Kenyan drylands. This death brings back long-lost family members and it unveils a series of stories and well-forgotten memories of the war and the colony. These memories intertwine the Oganda’s family story with that of Kenya, a country of contradictions but filled with life and beauty.
The difficulty of Dust comes from complexity. The writing style is mostly small fragments that connect to build beautiful passages. It is filled with words and expressions in Swahili -that she translates right away. I loved the rhythm, which she aligns with the pace of the story. And with each character, all of them so complex and rich, Owuor shows us a different face of Kenya -the modern, the traditional, the one that’s ever changed by the war, the colonial-. But what I liked the most is how delicately she builds the story of Kenya and that I truly felt like I could grasp the country, its people and its traditions. Such a complex country would not be worthy of simple book.

About Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor

Yvonne was born in Nairobi in 1968. She studied English, TV/Video development and philosophy. She won the 2003 Caine Prize for African Writing for her story “Weight of Whispers”. Dust won the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Folio Prize.

Other books written by KenYAN women we recommend:

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Kenyan initiatives and Projects that support and empower girls and women

Nyanza Initiative for Girls Education and Empowerment (NIGEE)

The Nyanza Initiative for Girls Education and Empowerment (NIGEE) was conceived as a one-stop intervention to address issues that affect girls and young women in Kenya (HIV, teen pregnancy and subsequent school dropout, gender-based violence, FGM). The guiding vision of NIGEE is to localize resource mobilization. They believe Kenyans should address most of the problems facing fellow Kenyans. They have several great projects funded through local efforts, among which are re-enrolling girls back to school, learning centers to deliver vocational training skills and mentoring programs.