Wizard of the Crow

By Ngugi wa Thiong'o

A landmark of postcolonial African literature, Wizard of the Crow is an ambitious, magisterial, comic novel from the acclaimed Kenyan novelist, playwright, poet, and critic.

Set in the fictional Free Republic of Aburiria, Wizard of the Crow dramatizes with corrosive humor and keenness of observation a battle for the souls of the Aburirian people, between a megalomaniac dictator and an unemployed young man who embraces the mantle of a magician. Fashioning the stories of the powerful and the ordinary into a dazzling mosaic, in this magnificent work of magical realism, Ngugi wa'Thiong'o—one of the most widely read African writers—reveals humanity in all its endlessly surprising complexity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 10, 2008
• ISBN: 9780307493316

Ngugi wa Thiong'o

One of the leading writers and scholars at work today, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was born in Limuru, Kenya, in 1938. He is the author of A Grain of Wheat; Weep Not, Child; and Petals of Blood, as well as Birth of a Dream Weaver and Wrestling with the Devil (The New Press). He has been nominated for, among other honors, the Man Booker International Prize and is currently Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine.

Reviews for Wizard of the Crow

[jonfaith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Watching ANC supporters vandalize a portrait of Jacob Zuma on the BBC this evening, there is something tragic about Wizard of the Crow: how can the novel be so historic and so prescient? Zuma's supporters may find my conclusion disrespectful.

[janepriceestrada · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved this novel. There is so much that it is hard for me to really get into a good review, but I’ll try to work through some thoughts. Set in a fictitious African country, the reader is presented with an outrageous (and recognizable) dictator, his cabinet members and various politicos, corrupt businessmen, and our protagonists, Kamiti, an accidental sorcerer, and Nyawira, a political revolutionary. The Ruler, for his birthday, plans to build a modern Tower of Babel, financed by the Global Bank, and a series of satirical events pile onto one another. It’s a very hard book to summarize. First, it is extremely long and dense. It delves into folklore, satire, allegory, fantasy, and comedy. Among the very sharp witted political observations, one explores the psyche and relationship of Kamiti and Nyawira, two delightfully independent people. (I find often when there is a romance in a novel, the main characters become semi-monolithic.) This was a delightful read – fast-paced, poignant, humorous, and hopeful. Highly recommend.

[jnwelch_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This sprawling satirical story is set in the fictitious African country Aburiria, which I understand resembles author [[Ngugi wa 'Thiong'o]]'s home country Kenya when it was under a dictatorship. The "Ruler" is an awful, totally self-centered man who is convinced the people love him even when they show how much he is detested. There are obvious similarities to self-obsessed dictators like Mobutu and Idi Amin. All his yes-men are busy trying to outmaneuver the others for his affection, and each secretly dreams of becoming the ruler himself. When the Ruler endorses an absurd project to build a tower to Heaven to show he's better than biblical predecessors, his sycophants can hardly contain themselves in their efforts to support it, and to secretly benefit from the inflow of money. Lengthy queues begin to form at appropriate government offices, filled with those planning to give a bribe in exchange for future rewards from the project. A huge funding loan is sought from a western bank, which then wants to scrutinize government operations.Aligned against the Ruler and his parasites is job-seeking Kamiti, who can physically smell corruption (which often torments him in this endlessly corrupt country), and lovely Nyawira, a rebel group's leader who smells like flowers to Kamiti. Kamiti has herbal healing skills, and through various humorous twists becomes recognized as the miracle-working "Wizard of the Crow", whose assistance is sought by sycophants and rebels alike. His clever, intuitive solutions, with the assistance of a mirror, to the problems brought to him, comprise many of the highlights of the book.The satirical dissection of post-colonial Africa is merciless. One sycophant, for example, is suffering so from "white-ache", the desire to be a British white man, that he can no longer say anything more than "If". His cure from the Wizard of the Crow may lie in finding out what it's like to be a member of a former power outstripped by history. Can Kamiti and Nyawira lead the rebels to toppling the absurd, corrupt regime of the Ruler, even while darting into the heart of it, and colliding with that regime in various dangerous roles? Can Kamiti turn his perceived wizarding skills to the rebellion's advantage? Can Kamiti and Nyawira find a sustainable life together in this crazy country?I've mentioned before that the book made me think of a diverse group of works - [Tom Jones], as a rambling adventure story without the bawdiness, [Catch-22] in its satire of war and government, [Dr. Strangelove] for the same. It apparently was first serialized, so it has that episodic story quality of various [Dickens] novels, too. The New York Times reviewer said "it recalls a long yarn told by firelight." It was written in a Kenyan language that derives from an oral tradition, and then translated by the author. This all makes for a different kind of read than I previously have encountered, one that made me laugh and cheer on the exploits of Kamiti and Nyawira. At the same time, the novel casts a fierce satirical eye on a horribly corrupt government. I understand that this despotic rule, while taken to absurd lengths, unfortunately has strong roots in reality

[janemarieprice · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved this novel. There is so much that it is hard for me to really get into a good review, but I’ll try to work through some thoughts. Set in a fictitious African country, the reader is presented with an outrageous (and recognizable) dictator, his cabinet members and various politicos, corrupt businessmen, and our protagonists, Kamiti, an accidental sorcerer, and Nyawira, a political revolutionary. The Ruler, for his birthday, plans to build a modern Tower of Babel, financed by the Global Bank, and a series of satirical events pile onto one another. It’s a very hard book to summarize. First, it is extremely long and dense. It delves into folklore, satire, allegory, fantasy, and comedy. Among the very sharp witted political observations, one explores the psyche and relationship of Kamiti and Nyawira, two delightfully independent people. (I find often when there is a romance in a novel, the main characters become semi-monolithic.) This was a delightful read – fast-paced, poignant, humorous, and hopeful. Highly recommend.

[the_awesome_opossum · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Wizard of the Crow begins with two queues. One forms in front of the office of a newly-appointed government official, made up of people looking for their own slice of governmental authority. The other line – which, as time goes on, attracts much of this first group – is for a counter-cultural and anti-institutional authority. The Wizard of the Crow comes to be known as a healer and prophet, even more powerful than the government officials in what he is able to make people do. Which, of course, is unacceptable. So the ruler of Aburiria decrees a warrant for the arrest of the Wizard and the havoc he has caused among the lower classes.If he knew who the Wizard actually was, though, the idea of a threat would be either laughable or even more alarming than he thinks. Nyawira and Kamiti are two struggling young people, with wits but not means to access the country’s vicious economic power struggles. So their disdain for the power-hungry officials ends up being more powerful in its own right, as they sow the seeds of self-doubt and insecurity among the high and mighty. Nyawira’s and Kamiti’s awareness that they have little to lose, relative to these authority figures, paradoxically empowers them.When one official visits the Wizard, he compliments Kamiti: “When I heard of the Wizard of the Crow, I thought of an old man, of seventy years or more, supporting himself with a walking stick. And now, behold! A young man in a designer suit. A modern sorcerer, eh? Or is it postmodern?”“Postcolonial,” the Wizard of the Crow added.And so it is. The Wizard’s rebellion against the ruler and government, out of touch with their people, is postcolonial in the empowerment and autonomy it allows for the people rather than the institution. The Wizard of the Crow does not just speak to the colonial experience of many African nations; it speaks to the experience of every oppressed group which finds and raises an alternative voice, subversively either matching or mocking the tone of those in power.

[beeslesr · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

‘Wizard of the Crow’ is a satire written with a fictitious African State dictatorship in mind which turns out to be based on Kenya of the early 1980’s. When I imagine this story I find I am visualizing theater, the dialogue plays all the facets of character relationships both political and social, personal and private, the scenes are usually discrete and the action moves back and forth in ‘acts’ from scene to scene. The plot unfolds, turns, twists, and develops often surprisingly and unpredictably but it never struck me as contrived. I wanted to continue with this story all the way through, and at 750 odd pages I did think this novel might be work but time flowed by effortlessly.

[shawnd_72 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the blurbs on the book called it an 'allegory', but the book is really a mix of political satire, a postmodern love story, and a wonderful folk story that could have gone for another 800 pages. I hesitate based on my lack of experience to say it but I think this could be one of the top five novels in English to come out of Africa, and perhaps the best outside of South Africa. The hero and the heroine are touching, believable, inspiring, and surrounded by a supporting cast with characters funny and forthright, brutal and greedy, unapologetic and infantile, wondering and wandering. An erstwhile narrator is an ex-cop who tells parts of the story in bars in almost in a 1001 Nights setting where every climax finds him telling the audience he can't continue because his throat is dry and he can't continue...unless somewhere were to buy him a drink. Aside from one or two cringe-worthy sentences, the story is so well written it's velvety and the story itself is so wonderful and seemingly obvious one wonders how no one has written it before. You won't be disappointed if you're not coming in with expectations and a little willingness for fun.

[bobnolin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very long book (850pgs), but it kept my interest, though it’s quite unlike anything I’ve read before. It’s written as a folk tale more than as a novel. Reminds me a bit of A Hundred Years of Solitude, with a sense of humor. I’m glad I read it.

[beyond_the_pale · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

really struggled to finish this, despite high hopes.The wizard himself apart, the characters came across as one-dimensional and seemed in many cases to be present as mouthpieces or props to move the story along.There are some interesting passages but the central ideas are repeated ad nauseam, that satire is very heavy handed. I can only imagine it is allegorical, but some subtlety would not go amiss.an unrewarding read (for me).

[burdurhur · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was first introduced to Ngugi's novels in my African literature class when I was an undergrad. My mentor, Peter Nazareth, who also teaches an incredible course on Elvis Presley, went to college with Ngugi in Uganda and postgraduate school in Leeds, England. The only writer from Africa I'd read up until that course was Achebe, but there are so many truly amazing novels by Africans out there that most Americans simply don't know about--a whole literature that goes far beyond Things Fall Apart: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born by Armah, Maru by Bessie Head, A Season of Migration to the North by Salih, The Famished Road by Okri, The Palm-Wine Drunkard by Tutuola, The Book of Secrets by Vassanji, Nehanda by Vera, A Walk in the Night by La Guma, The General Is Up by my mentor Peter Nazareth, and on and on. The best storyteller among them all, however, I must say, in my own opinion, is Ngugi wa Thiong'o. From his first works on up, they've just been better and better. A Grain of Wheat was the first I read, all about England giving up colonial power over Kenya, the Mau Mau movement, and Gikuyu culture. Another of his novels I love and have read several times is Devil on the Cross. He was detained by the Kenyan government in the late seventies after his novel Petals of Blood sparked the popular imagination and made him a threat to the regime. While in detention, he wrote Devil on the Cross, I'm told partly on toilet paper as it was all there was to write upon. Soaring with magic realism, it gives a mythic, moral critique of the Kenya he was experiencing. It's one of the great books I've read. And until this summer, it was my favorite of his works. His latest book is Wizard of the Crow and I literally don't have the skills to convey how great it is. It's been awhile since he published a novel. His last novel before this was Matigari, which he wrote in 1983-84, first in Gikuyu and then translated it himself into English (as he'd done with Devil on the Cross). Over twenty years, then, since he finished his last novel. As it's published, it's 766 pages long, his longest work. And, I have to say, it is his best. It is the kind of story that cannot be written quickly, it's scope encompassing much more than most novels do. This was a book that demanded incubation. Wizard of the Crow isn't so much an African novel as it is a novel that explores Africa in a global context. It focuses on a fictitious country called Aburiria, which is controlled by a dictator called The Ruler. He's completely bonkers, and it isn't hard for me to see Idi Amin in this leader--the Ngatho - Acknowledgments at the end also point back to the Moi dictatorship of Kenya. But he, and his cabinet (with men who've undergone impossible plastic surgeries in Europe to have lightbulb-sized eyes and forearm-length ears--so as to be the eyes and ears of the country), aren't the only villains in this book. There's also the greedy businessmen and the Global Bank, who come to consider giving The Ruler money to build his very own tower of Babel so that he can speak to God every morning. On top of that, the country's money is cursed, giving off an overpowering stench to those people sensitive enough to such things as corruption, greed, and evil. There are good guys, too, though. Of course there are. Ngugi isn't one of those writers who turns his back on hope. Kamiti is a young man, educated postgrad in India, who has been homeless and unemployed for several years after graduating--no one in Aburiria will hire him. He falls into his role as the Wizard of the Crow after pulling a prank to get a cop off his tail. He doesn't believe the mumbo jumbo he speaks, but everyone around hears of his powers and believes he's a healer and incredible sorcerer. Nyawira is a young woman he meets and the two of them develop an intense bond. She's tough, secretly being one of the top members of an underground movement that is against The Ruler and his barbaric administration. She also, interestingly, comes to wear the mantle of the Wizard of the Crow. Ngugi's satirical edge is sharper than it's ever been, and he really cuts open the lies and shams of the world to get down to what's really moral and good in human beings. I can't recommend this novel enough. If you're already into novels by African writers, you'll love this and might be amazed, as I have been, at how he ties the African experience together within the bigger picture. And if you haven't read any novels by Africans before, well, this is the one to read. It's got it all.