Type: fiction
Status: liked
Author: Masha Hamilton
Tags: books libraries gender_roles america africa kenya camels librarians female_circumcision
Description: A librarian from NYC decides to go to Kenya to help run a camel bookmobile. Told from variousA librarian from NYC decides to go to Kenya to help run a camel bookmobile. Told from various perspectives -- Fiona the American, Kanika a young Kenyan girl, Neema her grandmother, Matani the village schoolteacher, etc. Women's role in society (including reference to the issue of female circumcision) as well as the influence of the outside world -- represented by books -- is it good or bad for these nomadic people? Opens with a horrific scene of a 3-year-old mauled by a hyena. Scar Boy grows up to be shunned, but when the library arrives he sees illustrations that inspire him. He secretly rips out pages from library books in order to practice his previously unknown talent for drawing. But the missing books spark a crisis in the village -- one of honor. Over everything is the threat of drought. Is it caused by the people's behavior? There is a subplot of romance -- as Matani's wife thinks she loves the drum maker more than the modern schoolmaster -- while Matani and Fiona spend a night "drinking honeyed rain" (i.e., exploring each other other). Yet these all come to nothing. The nomads move on -- and it is Fiona's time to return to her own people. (A six month experiment?) Hard to judge how accurate the portrayals of the Kenyans are. Very much Western woman comes to change and is changed as well. Yet each retreat to their own in the end. Based on a real Kenyan initiative... ...
2007-12-27
