And Home Was Kariakoo: A Memoir of East Africa

(Paperback)

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Description

Part travelogue, part memoir, and part history-rarely-told, here is a powerful and timely portrait of a constantly evolving land. From a description of Zanzibar and its evolution to a visit to a slave-market town at Lake Tanganyika; from an encounter with a witchdoctor in an old coastal village to memories of his own childhood in the streets of Dar es Salaam and the suburbs of Nairobi, Vassanji combines brilliant prose, thoughtful and candid observation.

Reviews

"Compelling. . . . And Home Was Kariakoo offers an insider's experience of East Africa, empathetic and informed. . . . Vassanji contemplates in clean, unfussy prose. He probes connections between past and present--and isn't sentimental about either." Maclean's

"A memoir in the widest sense. There is no straightforward narrative or awakening; instead, the book is composed of memories and tied together with sharp historical perspective. How do the different parts of a person coalesce to create an identity What does 'home' mean and what are our responsibilities to it . . . Throughout And Home Was Kariakoo, Vassanji succeeds in understanding the tension of a bifurcated life and exposing the weight of belonging carried by immigrants like him. After six novels and a long, successful career, Vassanji's search from how he went to Nairobi to Toronto has come to a meaningful reckoning." The Globe and Mail

Author Bio

M.G. VASSANJI is the author of many novels, two collections of short stories, and three works of nonfiction. His first novel, The Gunny Sack, was winner of the Commonwealth Prize for Canada and the Caribbean. He has won the Giller Prize for both The Book of Secrets and The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, and the Governor General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction for A Place Within- Rediscovering India. His novel The Assassin's Song was shortlisted for both the Giller Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction. He was born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania, and attended university in the United States. He lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife and two sons.