The book starts with a most horrific death (I can still picture poor Kamu’s exposed brains) and from there we are taken back to the origin of Kamu’s lineage – Kintu Kidda. She describes every scene intricately, injecting humour here and there (there’s an aunty you’ll meet in this book who puts all those bridal shower aunties to shame!) and knows how to put the fear of the ancestors in you, making you grateful you don’t have a generational curse following you throughout your life. Makumbi has a super imaginative yet realistic way of writing. It has an elaborate family tree a la homegoing (a super favourite book of mine) which introduces us to a plethora of characters, showing us how an African family spans decades and spreads far and wide yet maintaining its history and tradition almost seven generations down the tree. Kintu is an epic rollercoaster of a novel, set in 1750 and gradually takes us from pre-colonial to post-colonial to present-day Uganda.

Once I turned a few pages and was taken into Uganda (formerly the Buganda Kingdom) in the 1700s, I knew I was going to enjoy this read. When I first got this book I was very intimidated by its size alone, it may only be 420 pages but it looks like those African Bibles we were all forced to buy in High school but I digress…

Well while we wait for probably the worst year ever to end, (hello November!) let’s pass the time reading some really dope books like this one – Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi.

Kintu goodreads