BOOK REVIEW - THE HAVOC OF CHOICE

The Havoc of Choice by Wanjiru Koinange

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Bunk Books

Published: 2019

Genre: Literary/Historical Fiction

Setting: Kenya

Rating: 4 Stars

Source: Gifted by Publisher

Synopsis:

Long held captive by her father’s shadow of corruption, Kavata has spent her life suffocated by political machinations. When her husband decides to run in the next election, these shadows threaten to consume her home. Unable to bear this darkness, Kavata plots to escape. As her family falls apart, so too does her country. In the wake of Kenya‘s post-election turmoil, Kavata and her family must find their way back to each other across a landscape of nation-wide confusion, desperation, and heart-rending loss.

Koinange explores the long reach and effects of colonization and corruption within the context of a singular household and the disparate experiences of class and clan they encapsulate.

My Thoughts....

2007, Kenya was teetering on a delicate, precarious balance.

It was an election year, and as with every election year, the tension was palpable. But this felt different. There were open hostilities, overt threats about what would happen if the elections did not go one way or another, reckless political rhetoric, and a growing sense that something was coming. That things were not, in fact, business as usual.

Three days after the election, amid delays in announcing the results, questions about the electoral commission and widespread allegations of rigging, the country turned on itself.

And imploded.

What followed were weeks of political unrest and violence that left more than 1,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. Neighbours and friends from different ethnic communities turned against one another. The police turned on citizens. Families were torn apart. A country that had, for decades, prided itself on being relatively stable was suddenly confronting the terrifying fragility of that stability.

It is against this backdrop that Wanjiru Koinange sets The Havoc of Choice.

The story follows Ngugi and Kavata, who meet at university and quickly fall for each other. Ngugi is a passionate student leader; Kavata is fiercely independent, determined to step out from under the shadow of her corrupt father and build a life on her own terms.

But when Ngugi, under the influence and tutelage of his father-in-law, decides to run for political office, the fabric of their family begins to unravel.

And as the family comes apart, so does the country around them.

What I found particularly powerful about The Havoc of Choice is the way Koinange confronts one of the most painful periods in Kenya's recent history without softening its edges. She does not spare us the violence, the fear or the devastating consequences of political division. No one is untouched by it, regardless of which side of the political divide they occupy.

Some scenes are so vividly and harrowingly written that I found myself wanting to close my eyes and turn away from the page.

And then there is the heartbreak.

There are moments when the book hurts so deeply that it feels as though someone has reached into your chest, ripped out your heart and is casually playing with it.

One of the lines that stayed with me was:

"Such privilege was reserved for those who could afford the price tag that accompanied choice."

Because choice is really at the heart of this book.

Who gets to choose? Who can afford the consequences of their choices? And what happens when the choices we make are shaped by privilege, fear, poverty, loyalty, ambition or simply survival?

Koinange constantly challenges us to examine the assumptions through which we view our country and one another. She asks us to remove the blindfold, question our stereotypes and, perhaps most importantly, put on a different set of lenses.

There is a sobering moment when Ngugi is forced to walk home rather than take his usual route by car:

"As he walked home, he realised that while he'd used this route home countless times, he'd never been on foot."

For the first time, he notices the absence of pavements, the dangers pedestrians face and the things that had always been right in front of him but invisible from the comfort of his usual vantage point.

He needed a new lens through which to view his country.

That line felt like one of the central messages of the book for me.

Sometimes, we don't need a different country. We need a different way of seeing the one we already inhabit.

I also loved Koinange's use of Kenyanese.

We Kenyans are notorious code-switchers. English, Kiswahili, Sheng and our various mother tongues routinely find their way into the same conversation, sometimes within the same sentence. Koinange captures that beautifully.

There is plenty of Kiswahili woven into the dialogue, often without translation or explanation. And I loved that. There is an assumption that the reader will understand, or at least find their way through the language. It makes the book feel familiar and authentically Kenyan rather than like a story written for an outsider looking in.

Ultimately, The Havoc of Choice is a book about family, politics, privilege, identity, choice and the consequences of the stories we tell ourselves about one another.

But more than anything, it is a book about seeing.

Seeing our country differently. Seeing each other differently. And perhaps seeing ourselves a little more honestly.

I absolutely loved this book.

For a debut, Koinange has delivered something remarkably assured, deeply uncomfortable and profoundly moving. The Havoc of Choice is the kind of book that stays with you long after you have turned the final page.

Wanjiru Koinange is definitely an author to watch.

And I, for one, cannot wait to see what she writes next.