Sarah Dunant - Sacred Hearts

This is a story about Character. Strength of Character to challenge the status quo as pitted against strength of character to accept the status quo. It is sobering that whatever side of the divide one finds oneself, one needs the strength of character to survive.

The book is set in the late 1500's  in St Catherine's convent in Ferrara, Italy when, it is said, one in eight women ended up in a convent for a variety of reasons but more for lack of dowry. (My first digression is to explain that in my culture, it is the man who must have enough cows for the dowry, ikhwe or lobola.)  Oftentimes, as unwilling brides, in protection of the family name, these unmarried girls, from elite homes, were incarcerated in convents to be married to Christ.  Reading the book, I was stunned about how so little I knew about the life of nuns despite spending eight budding years under the tutelage of nuns in convent schools - first, with the Loreto sisters and subsequently, with the Carmelite sisters - albeit at a different time, place and dispensation. From the recesses of my mind, I conjured up my headmistress, Sister Virginia and wondered whether she had joined the Carmelite order of her own volition or whether, like some of the Benedictine sisters in the novel, she too had simply resigned herself to a fate that she could do nothing about. I was not raised catholic, but the life of St Catherine's reminded me of the school, the constant prayers, the masses, the discipline, the refectory (we called it factory!), the confession, the exotic names of my school mates - Sebenzia, Perpetua, Inviolata... I recalled the prayer to the Virgin, seared into my mind, in both English and Luhya and which I faithfully recited neither understanding the language nor appreciating its meaning, but in which I often found solace.

M'rembe Maria, Witsule Ineema

Nyasaye ali n'nawe

Waebwa Tsimbabasi M'bakhasi

Na Yesu Omwana inda, waebwa Tsimbabasi

Maria Omutakatifu, okhusabir'efwe aboononi

Bulaano n'de inyanga yokhufwa, Amina

The book, about so solemn a subject, is intriguing in its style and prose..and even humorous and full of witticisms. It is a book devoid of male characters and principally tells the tales of the strong women who live, organise and manage the affairs of St Catherine's convent with the inherent politics that would exist in any society of people...even a godly one.  The nuns, conversas and novices exhibited the usual competition, jealousies and envy that exists in any human relationships. The novel reminds us that basically, we are human - hence flawed - and it is that humanity that creates in us, the need for a power greater than ourselves to whom we can reach out for penance, forgiveness and perhaps strive for perfection & redemption. Yet in between all this frailty, there is in the convent life, lots of love, beauty, determination, devotion and communion. The setting is mostly in one place - the convent and yet, despite the sameness of convent life, it does not bore because of the richness portrayed in its characters.

My best character is the Madonna Chiara. I admired her strength of character as Abbess. Her duty was to ensure that St Catherine's survived the upheavals and turmoils that buffeted both within and without the convent walls.  Her methods were not always conventional - but the end justified the means - for the good of the convent. We can learn a lot about leadership by carefully studying her closely. The central character however, is Serafina ex Isabetta who shook the very foundations upon which convent life was presumed. (I digress again to muse about the church's penchant for re baptising people. I do recall many a countryman seeing it fit - later in life - to drop some of their given names and have often wondered which of their names are written in the book of life.) So I was exceedingly amused when Isabetta pouts and says 'my name is not Serafina'. Serafina never took easily to her incarceration and demonstrated this by all means possible - rebellion, false piety, deceit, fasting, starvation, drama, threats, disorder, and whatever weapons she had in her armoury.  In the end, with the help of the Abbess - by unconventional means- she succeeded in finding her freedom and I do hope in so doing she found happiness...Perhaps another book on her life out of the convent may have helped shed light on whether the freedom was worth the struggle.

At the risk of judging the church, we must remember that for many young girls, this incarceration was a better fate or perhaps even the only fate...For example when Faustina's father died, with no family to protect her, the only chance open to her was St Catherine's convent as Suora Zuana.

Reading the book, I drew many parallels with the life as we live it today...including but not limited to the fact that many a time, to survive or even flourish & thrive, we resign ourselves to the cards that fate deals us.  There is much wisdom in Kenny Rodger's famous song, "that the secret to surviving is  knowing when to hold on and knowing when to throw in".  Or for those more spiritually inclined, we need to echo Reinhold Neibuhr, the American Theologian, by asking to be granted the grace to accept with serenity the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can change and wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

Aminatta Forna - The Devil that Danced on the Water

This is a daughter's memoir to her father, Mohamed Sorie Forna.  As I read the book, I pondered what I would rant about given its depth and feared that I would not do the memoir justice in a single rant. I couldn't help noticing many parallels with the life we live in, not only politically but also at a micro level in our organisations. This book about Sierra Leone from the Aminatta's perspective is a book about interrupted childhood bliss, about siblings and kinship, about unfulfilled dreams, misplaced hopes, broken families and failed promises.  It is a book about betrayal,  about international and local politics. Most of all it is a book about Africa..Oh beautiful Africa. 

I wondered what would tempt Aminatta to dig deep into the recesses of her memory to exorcise the ghosts that lay deep within. Wouldn't it have been easier to let sleeping dogs lie? I did not have much interest in Sierra Leone until I read the book, although my sister, working for an international NGO, was extremely vocal about blood diamonds, which it is said fuelled the eventual civil war in Sierra Leone.  The beauty of this book...is that most of it,  predates the blood diamonds saga but the problems are perhaps a precursor to the war that was to taint the face of Sierra Leone forever.  This is a book all Africans should read...not for its factual accuracy or otherwise...but for the present and the future.

I much prefer the exotic and romantic view of Africa. Of aunts by the thousands, galleries of uncles, of children, of traditions, of spirits that fly back to their ancestors when their owners die.  A poem that I read in my french class came to my mind quite unbidden...femme noire femme africaine, oh ma mere. That is the Africa that I longed for... Aminatta's book drew me because it is a book by an African...about Africa...in her context and perspective. 

My best character is Yabome Kanu Forna.  To me, she emerges as the silent heroine who is committed to children that are not her own in the best way that a woman can for children she has not carried in her womb - her husband's children - and builds an unbreakable bond with them that is to last decades even after his death by hanging. I am tickled that she is tough...orders the kids not to refer to her as 'Aunt' but 'mum'. I like Am and all her childhood shenanigans...After all she is writing the book very honestly from her perspective and would want us to understand her excesses, failures and strengths...what would her siblings say about those 10 years of their lives if they were to write it themselves?

Some people will find this book biased. Of course, it has to be biased. It is written through the eyes of a child as she witnessed her life evolving in the tumultuous years in Sierra Leone and seeking answers to questions by researching her past during her adulthood. Children often do not have answers to their experiences...they do not need to know...I am biased towards Mohamed Forna.  (I am sure my father would have loved the parallels and fallen in love with Mohamed Forna despite his human failings.) What is it about physicians that drives them to politics? What is it that beckons people, that they do not know when to stop even when heading to the abyss and carrying others with them?...What compels them to sacrifice their families for their own ambitions?  As I read the book, I wondered who were the wiser people...those who jumped ship for their families' sake, the turncoats who became informants, those who stayed in 'Salone', the ones who kept away, those who took sides, those who betrayed or those who turned a blind eye and refused to be tainted. Who are the people we should praise and emulate...the lone protesters like Amnesty International, those who played ball or the silent protesters who receded into their homes for the sake of their children and families?

It is said that the business of development intertwined with politics is indeed complex.  Although not the principal focus and somewhat mentioned in passing, the role of 'development' as promulgated by our global institutions of repute and foreign powers is interspersed in the book. (As I rant, one august institution was seeking a successor to lead it in the cause of alleviating the needs of poor countries).  I wonder how the candidates would answer to the suggestion that that the institutions did not stand out to be counted as Sierra Leone was going down the brink. I am all the more amazed that Aminatta, the last born child, would gather the courage, many years after the hanging of her father, to so boldly discuss what was perceived by many as a sham trial that led to his brutal death. I wonder what feeds the perception that Africa is ungovernable? As I read the book Mali and Guinea Bissau were embroiled in coups d'etats...oh Africa! Is it as Pa Roke mused, that before colonialism there was a system that 'worked' and this system had to be forcefully eradicated and replaced by an alien system that Africans just cannot adhere to?  Or is it, as oft quoted, that Africa's advancement is hampered because for many years people have made excuses about corruption or poor governance.  That  people have excused Africa's problems as the result of neo-colonialism or of the west being oppressive and self centered around its own interests. I shall not venture at this juncture to opine on this  difficult question as there are no easy answers...I can only wonder.

Reading the book...whatever religion we may believe in, I couldn't help imagining that humanity...not just Sierra Leoneans...have a lot to answer for, both in this life and in the life to come. 

However, when all is said and done...Africa is beautiful. This beauty is demonstrated by the bonds created through families and extended families, ties that bind us and cause us to look out for each other...the larger the better, carrying the family name into perpetuity despite the adversities.

Robert Harris - Imperium

Imperium, the Latin word for the power to command is a suitable title for this book. Reading it, I looked for clues on whether 'absolute power', as we understand it, corrupts.  Imperium is the fictional account of Cicero as told by his secretary and slave Tiro  and gives the reader an interesting view on the intrigues in the corridors of power in the great ancient Roman days. Although, being fictional, it has not subjected to the same rigour as would a true historical account and provides space for some sanitising on the life of Cicero. What is not debatable is that most of the characters in the book lived in those BC days and most of the events did take place. The book is an extremely easy read and I would advice it for any person who wants to dabble in politics or power of sorts.

As usual, I bought the book as I idled at Heathrow awaiting a flight and I was not disappointed.  It made me nostalgic of the good old days in my history class and I couldn't help but juxtapose the intrigues in the corridors of power in ancient Rome with power as it is practiced today. I noted many similarities both at organisational, country and world level which reminded me that human nature doesn't really change much even as civilisations come and go.  I recall a learning session, I once attended where we were so boldly  informed that the work place - even churches - of all shapes and sizes are power games and one must be politically savvy to survive. I wished I had lived in ancient Rome (as a RoMAN!) as life seemed quite exciting...If one was a man.  The feminists of this day and age may be enraged by the fact that women have been short changed in the book as the book is so devoid of women of any import...but I guess that was the order of the day.

I asked my two teenagers to read Imperium and they were both awed which surprised me, as we often do not meet eye to eye on what constitutes a good book. My saving grace was that my son loves History and my daughter wants to read Law. My daughter is in that idealistic stage that all youngsters go through where she swears that her wit would only be used to advance the cause of  the downtrodden. However, I cautioned her not to be too narrow minded and that, like Cicero, she may be called upon to prosecute the innocent, defend the guilty (after all the whole basis of law is that everyone must have a good defence) or even hold the power over the guilty. She may, in the course of her life, have to make deals with unsavoury people and take positions that may be against 'her own conscience' for the greater good.  Although my interest in law is peripheral - given my father's oft quoted saying that 'lawyers were thieves' - I, nonetheless, have strong views that one had better be a realist and an all rounded lawyer is one who is able to defend the indefensible, prosecute, sit in judgement and perhaps aid and abet as a juror.  Unfortunately, my daughter, like Lucius, presupposes that law, and the politics that goes with it, is a fight for justice whereas to the realist, like Cicero - it is simply a profession.

Mr Harris transports me, without much ado, to the years before Christ both in his expressions and in the history that he covers in the book in a manner that is not threatening. He leaves me with many a lesson in politics and in human & personal relationships. I found myself entranced and highlighting passages to quote on a rainy day when in need of something witty to say.  As I am neither a student of history nor politics, I did not concentrate on the factual accuracy of the book, although I couldn't resist researching on some of the events of the day. I am sure many a historian would call into question Harris' depiction of Cicero and the happenings of the time but I was more interested in the substance than the form.  As I read into the wee hours of the morning, I was quite enthralled by the apparent similarities with life as it is now and took a liking to all things Cicero.  I could not help musing what posterity will write about our day and age.  Will the "war against terror" be deemed an enhanced figment of a politician's imagination even as the pirates menace was assumed to be  a creation of Pompeii in his desire for purpose and sole command? As posterity ponders the plundering of resources and the scramble for Africa and other continents, will they opine that robbery and exploitation have always been the handmaids of civilisation and that nations did not acquire wealth without knowing how to drive a hard bargain?  When posterity analyses the Arab Spring or the Impact of the Cold War on resource rich nation states, will they conclude that, after all, domination at home was maintained or perpetuated by the proceeds of extortion abroad?

I learnt much from the wisdom  that so easily explained family and human relationships. The Cicero brothers, Pomponia & Quintus, Cicero & Terentia, Cicero & his slave Tiro, Caelius & his father and the myriad relationships that commingled with politics through out the book. Oh! How so similar to the relationships in our day and age. My best passage was 'that in a sphere of human activity in which friendships are transitory and alliances made to be broken, the knowledge that another man's name is forever linked to yours, however the fates may play, must be a powerful source of strength. The relationship between the Ciceros, like that of most brothers, I expect was a complicated mixture of fondness and resentment, jealousy and loyalty...'  This sole paragraph has helped me appreciate the relationships between my siblings & I.  I must confess that I couldn't resist quoting Tiro's explanation of Cicero & Terentia to a friend this very evening, that when two people have an argument, more often than not the argument is not about the subject matter they are quarrelling about but another subject matter all together.

My mother would love this book. I am tempted to buy her a copy for Christmas as I am certain Imperium will remind her of her hey days in the political circles of the Mumias constituency campaigns and the impact that politics had on herself, her family and her children. She may be surprised to learn that politics and the pursuit of elected office...no matter the time and place...has many constants.