margaret aduto reviewed on 11 Dec 2019

Our Ridges, Our Narratives

Reading The Ridges across River Kaiti has been the most pleasant things I have experienced. Kawive writes so intimately, so deeply. The story of Mbui is like a story you know, a story you can see in your minds eye: the lonely childhood, the swirl of village narratives, the ridges talking to each other, an aspiration for education, a young love, the struggle and search for a job...and then the tragedy that befalls the people he loves. And he is the one to take the message, his journey is the journey of life, and something more: kawive convenes the world to the roadside, to watch, to recount history, to flow with the thoughts of Mbui. A genius of a writer, Dostoyevsky would still be arguing with him about the imagery and the polyphonic narrative structure.