AUTHOR: Joshua Nyang’au Araka
REVIEWER: Prof. Elizabeth Bosire-Abenga
Peppered Path delivers an entertaining account and interesting reflection on life in Nyagenke village three to six decades ago.
While editing errors and linguistic absurdities appear to be part of the casual style, one is tempted to believe that most of these are intentionally made to portray the language use in Nyagenke.
Some of the direct translations still plague those whose first language is ‘Kinyagenke’ to date as seen in pg 27 line 15 (…stop asking answers).
The author could have had the intention of grounding the identity of Nyagenke. Readers that don’t relate with kinyagenke language may feel concerned about the apparent unconventional grammar and sentence construction.
However, on the brighter side, taken as an aspect of style, it serves well in portraying the mundane rural setting of the nineteen seventies and eighties when Nyagenkeans encountered English language and modernity.
Peppered Path is the debut novel of Joshua Nyang’au Araka, published alongside ‘The Idler is Back’ which I cannot wait to lay my hands on, and of course, read.
One has to wait for later editions as well as other novels from the author to conclude on matters of style or error. This matter is only a minor distraction to the stories being told.
The tone of the book reflects a learned appreciation of the experiences of an African rural people transitioning into the modern technological era.
It is a path that is spiced with humour, anxiety, ingenuousness, uncertainty and success. It is a story of Calvin, the protagonist painted as a young, ignorant and naïve Nyagenkean, finally becoming the learned technological expert.
The book describes the life experiences of Calvin as a young boy in Nyagenke Village through to adulthood in a city. The book portrays typical behaviors of an early teen boy who grows up to be an adult in the village and brings out currently rare experiences our millennial lads cannot fathom or envisage, a life that the current adults can only reminisce fondly.
The author uniquely takes the reader through the rich culture of the Gusii community (picked from the names and songs used) during early post-modern years through a clever interweaving of the cultural, economic, social, religious activities that formed the character of the Nyagenkeans.
Through Calvin’s path, one can get the cultural nuances that define the perspectives held various issues such as gender roles masculinity, femininity and childhood, Christianity then and now, schooling, farming, family life, ethics myths, traditions and much more.
Most other Kenyan or African communities may relate well to the setting and share the experiences described in the book. Therefore, Peppered Path readership has the potential of going continental.
The beauty about the book is the intensely descriptive language used that captivates the reader through irradiated and picturesque style, probably as portrayed by the cover illustration.
The author ensured that the reader interacts with the subjects through awakening of the senses. For instance, lovers of sour milk from the guard, skillfully prepared by a mother and has what my community calls ‘rikombi’- a thick lump, must salivate and feel what Calvin went through to steal the milk in chapter one.
The expression of fear of the father’s cane on page 30 ‘…Calvin’s heart beat like thunder, sending vibrations…a torrent of tears stood at the corners of his eyes, ready to pop out and wash his sweaty face…’, and Calvin’ s encounter with peppered soup, are as theatrically experienced by the reader as could be real, especially for those who have had such encounters.
The book is rich in literary style. A novel that incorporates dialogue, direct speech, song, sensory detail, figurative language, choice of words, personification, and use of local hue, to mention but a few. These work together to establish an entrancing mood and images of the text. Literary analysts and critiques have a buffet in this piece.
Each chapter focuses on a phase of Calvin’s life and cleverly brings out important lessons that the current society can learn and make the life easier.
In Chapter one, due diligence before disciplinary action is subtly encouraged, while in chapter two, ‘She Saw the Moon’ witfully brings out a glaring gap in preparation and education (formal or informal) on sexuality and related issues.
‘The Cross in the Village’ critiques the current day preachers who promise wealth, demand money, give orders to God and claim to make miracles and compares them to the preachers of old.
In the same chapter, the misconceptions that plagued the early years of the occurrence of HIV and AIDS may relate to several other conditions coming up now.
In ‘The Felon’, more myths about ailments and their weird remedies are brought out in a way that shows how they are propagated in a community and only serve to prolong suffering.
The punch line of ‘Peppered Path’ is in the last line that states ‘Apart from wishing him well, the commonest message to him was that he made sure he did not forget the journey of life he had travelled thus far.”
This makes the book a good read and an excellent resource for all; The students for its literary and stylistic richness, educators, those seeking a humorous entertaining read and anyone who has journeyed through some path of life to be successful.
A sucker for humour, I picked the book hoping to have a laugh and it didn’t disappoint. I can only advise readers who want to savour the intricate delicacies in the book, “the sweetness of groundnuts is felt when you eat one nut at a time”. Read each chapter on its own occasion.
Araka, where is “The Idler is Back”?
-Prof Bosire-Abenga is the Director, Pan-African University Institute of Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences (AU-PAUGHSS). She is an Educational Technologist and has background in English and Literature.
