Book Review: Kintu
- Amazing Grace L. Danso
- Jun 3
- 2 min read
Book Review: Kintu
Author: Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi 🇺🇬
Type of work (Genre): Novel
Number of pages: 410
Own or Borrowed: own, purchased years ago at a book fair
Overall Impressions: I feel so unworthy of reviewing such a masterpiece! This book was truly EVERYTHING to me as an African. I was blown away. There is so much depth to it that I feel I need years to fully articulate it all. It was so rich and made me proud of being African in spite of the main tumultuous things that happen in its pages. I had purchased it years ago but gave up on trying to read when the family tree at the beginning of the book thoroughly confused me. I knew then that this book would require careful reading and thinking so I couldn’t just pick it up randomly. I had to be intentional. My book club has chosen to read her second novel, The First Woman, this month. So it gave me the necessary push to finally read it and familiarize myself with her style. She’s truly remarkable and a one of one type of writer. It would be an insult to compare her to any other writer. She stands out distinctively. I don’t even know where to begin in peeling back the layers to this book. There is so much happening at once and rather than feel out of place and off balance, you get the sense that it will all come together in the end, which it does. I don’t think it will be hyperbole to say this book is and will be one of Uganda’s enduring legacies.
Something that stood out: the way the book is structured with 6 parts each comprising short chapters. The first five deal with a branch of the titular Kintu’s lineage. There is a lot of wisdom imparted through the tracing of the family’s outcomes following a very unfortunate event.
Overall Rating: 🖋🖋🖋🖋🖋 (out of 5 fountain pens).
Recommend or nah: absolutely without reservation! Follow my @agsbookadventures 🤓📚IG & Facebook accounts dedicated to books & reading☺️ Also find me on TikTok via the handle @agsbookadventures.
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