This is a book by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, a famous Kenyan author.

The book is a short fable about why human beings began to walk on 2 feet. It is either poorly done allegory or thinly veiled moralizing. It is a short book that can be read in about 10 minutes. I really did not like it. It is supposedly the most translated African piece of fiction and I wonder why. It is not well written in any way. The one I bought was lavishly and poorly illustrated. Given that the writer is some sort of African cultural supremacist, it is rather surprising that the book contained illustrations from all cultures, even those that had no contact with precolonial Africa. I suppose this is part of the current diversity movement which has black people being cast as characters in medieval/fantasy Nordic settings and stuff like that. Sometimes, I think commentators are dishonest, saying safe things, copying each other and having the same opinions. Thus, accolades for some works - using words like brave, or beautiful or poignant - remind me of mainstream media's reactions when somebody comes out as gay, or transgender or some other obvious stunt for publicity. And so, this book is probably praised because nobody wants to be seen as dissing a celebrated minority writer even when he produces crap.

This book is not recommended.

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