“To Suubi, life was daytime coming and going, night-time arriving and departing so that life carried her along.”

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 411

Published: 18th June 2014

Rate: 5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

Uganda’s history reimagined through the cursed bloodline of the Kintu clan in an award-winning debut.
In 1750, Kintu Kidda unleashes a curse that will plague his family for generations. In this ambitious tale of a clan and of a nation, Makumbi weaves together the stories of Kintu’s descendants as they seek to break from the burden of their shared past and reconcile the inheritance of tradition and the modern world that is their future.

My Take

There are certain books you read and you know that they will stick with you forever. Kintu is one of those books for me. I couldn’t put it down and when I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about when I will read it next.

Kintu is a well told story of this one clan that is believed to be cursed and how it affects Kintu and his bloodline thereafter. I love how Makumbi writes, scratch that, I am in love with her and her writing. How she manages to write such an intricate story through generations is still a wonder to me. There is a whole cast of characters in this book who I found distinct and easy to follow along.

The characters, both primary and secondary are highly developed even though some are not on the page for long. Shout out to the family tree at the start because it really helped with keeping tabs.

“Nature is as such: its cruelty to one creature is a windfall to another.”

Kintu is so rich in (Ugandan) history. Through the story telling I found myself learning bits and pieces of information that had me going down the rabbit hole of googling. It’s always an added treat when I get to know more on a subject that I wasn’t aware or knew little of.

The narration in Kintu is brilliant. From oral traditions to folklore tales we end up getting one compelling read. There are so many vivid scenes and descriptions that had me hooked to the book. All I wanted is to know what happens next.

Honestly, Kintu is one book I don’t know how to review, or talk about without spoiling. It’s one you need to read for yourself and experience the sheer brilliance that is Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi. It’s one of my best books ever, and I have read a lot, and I highly recommend.

Have you read Kintu? What did you think about it?