Rebeka
Njau

Commentary and First Impressions of Reading of The Sacred Seed · Wangũi wa Goro · November 2002

I really enjoyed reading this book which can be hailed as a bold work of art. It has been handled with extreme sensitivity, deep conviction and confidence over both form and content. The text powerfully explores the importance of spirituality, culture and art in rebuilding society and individuals in a society ravaged by corruption and immorality from the highest levels of governance to its very core. It also demonstrates their significance in transforming the individual and society and in fostering understanding, ethical values and social cohesion through education.

The juxtaposition of a wide range of narrative strategies and motifs such as song, flashback, and story-within-a-story through the linear narrative are powerful indeed and pay tribute to the main quality of the text, which is the execution of orature — both the oral and written mediums.

These are used to great effect and brought into relief by the sensual vitality of the writing: its visuality, aurality and its physicality through texture, conveyed through brush strokes, the moulding of clay, and other visual effects such as the gourd. The interplay of light, dark, sound, silence and colour is phenomenal, balancing emotional and psychological elements — fear, anxiety, uncertainty, anger, tranquillity, excitement, hope and anticipation — with sublime finesse that makes the text something of a Grecian urn.

The main contribution of the text is the seriousness with which the author has tackled the subject of the African woman's real and potential place in society without pandering to isms — a perspective often skimmed over too briefly, superficially or tokenistically by many writers. It brings into focus the significant theme of the triumph of good over evil in a society crying out for change. The protagonist Tesa's rape and subsequent quest for cleansing and renewal are explored in both their 'real' and metaphorical significance.

The craftsmanship displayed in the development of form and content is complemented by a deliberate, organic methodology in the development of characters, narrative, crisis and suspense — reflecting the extent to which Gikuyu oral narrative strategy at its best can be drawn upon in the development of the written form.

The artistry is held together by carefully regulated tempo and pace. Cinematographic devices — the zoom-in-zoom-out effect, panning shots, close-ups and panoramic views — are executed with breathtaking professionalism. All characters are well developed, with the human dilemmas around them richly explored. One of the strengths of the text is its attention to detail, offering sufficiently detailed glimpses of even lesser characters such as the vicar, Ellen, Muturi, Selina, Chinusi and Maiko, as well as objects like the gourd and the sculptures.

These details are complemented by another key strength of the book — the non-obtrusive, deliberately understated tone from which its significant themes are projected, achieved through the successful use of a third-person narrator and a fluid narrative strategy.

The use of the third person also allows the author flexibility in creating suspense in a tale pregnant with multiple possibilities — questions about Mumbi's disappearances, Ellen's fate, and the nature of Tesa and Muturi's relationship are left intriguingly unresolved. The reviewer notes this ambiguity is itself a strength of the text, while expressing a personal wish that the relationship between the two had been allowed to flourish more fully — reflecting on how rarely African women's sensuality is celebrated from their own perspective in fiction.

The reviewer also offers a light reservation about the text's framing of modernity versus tradition and rural versus urban life, while acknowledging the rationale behind it as the characters — and the society around them — search for a new and meaningful way of relating to themselves.