The Kintu Saga

Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi reminded me of García Marquez’s novel One Hundred Years of Solitude but without the magical realism. Kintu is a multi-generational retelling through fiction of the growth and modernization of the area of Africa which we now call Uganda. Makumbi is an excellent new author and is herself Ugandan.

David L. Ulin, the Los Angeles Times Book Critic, published a short eulogy for Gabriel García Márquez, but, as my original training as a New Critic had me believe unconditionally, the works have a life of their own, independent from the author or the country or the history. Ulin, unlike many other commentaries I have read since the death of García, seems to recognize this and focuses on the books written by Gabriel García Márquez.