Dreams in a Time of War
A Childhood Memoir
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Narrated by:
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Hakeem Kae-Kazim
About this listen
Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)
Of Kenya's largest ethnic group, the Kikuyu, Ngugi wa Thiongo was born in 1938 in the backlands of his country (Kiambu district) to a father whose four wives bore him two dozen or so children. Ngugi was the fifth child of the third wife. His father was a peasant farmer forced to become a squatter after the British Imperial Act of 1915. Before going off to school, he had what was then considered a bizarre and inexplicable thirst for learning. He spent his early years, as World War II affected the lives of Africans under British colonialism in surprising and unexpected ways, living in a family compound, very much the apple of his mother's eye. In Dreams in a Time of War he richly evokes a bygone era, capturing with a novelist's eye the landscape, the people (his grandparents, parents and siblings) and their culture, the social and political vicissitudes of life under colonialism and war, and the troubled relationship between non-Christians and Christians. Too, he deftly etches how the native, anti-colonial insurgency, the Mau Mau rebellion (1952-1963) - which failed militarily but may have hastened Kenyan independence - informed not only his but the lives of those closest to him. His mother would be tortured, a stepbrother killed.
Dreams in a Time of War abounds with at once delicate and powerful subtleties and complexities that are movingly told.
©2010 NgUgi wa Thiong'o (P)2012 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Pearl Buck in China
- Journey to The Good Earth
- By: Hilary Spurling
- Narrated by: Hilary Spurling
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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The author of the much honored two-volume biography of Henri Matisse unearths the life and work of the Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winner Pearl Buck, whose novels in the 1930's and 40's were the first written for a Western audience to describe ordinary life in the still secret China of the late 19th and early 20th century.
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Very good
- By M. Brandman on 06-15-10
By: Hilary Spurling
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Dreams from My Father
- A Story of Race and Inheritance
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a Black African father and a White American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a Black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father - a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man - has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey - first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family.
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Powerful
- By Gene R. on 10-26-21
By: Barack Obama
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Kaffir Boy
- The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa
- By: Mark Mathabane
- Narrated by: Mark Mathabane
- Length: 18 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Mark Mathabane was weaned on devastating poverty and schooled in the cruel streets of South Africa’s most desperate ghetto, where bloody gang wars and midnight police raids were his rites of passage. Like every other child born in the hopelessness of apartheid, he learned to measure his life in days, not years. Yet Mark Mathabane, armed only with the courage of his family and a hard-won education, raised himself up from the squalor and humiliation to win a scholarship to an American university.
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Tragic yet we'll written
- By ARM on 10-07-16
By: Mark Mathabane
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I Am a Bacha Posh
- My Life as a Woman Living as a Man in Afghanistan
- By: Ukmina Manoori, Stephanie Lebrun, Peter E. Chianchiano - translator
- Narrated by: Ariana Delawari
- Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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"You will be a son, my daughter." With these stunning words Ukmina learned that she was to spend her childhood as a boy. In Afghanistan there is a widespread practice of girls dressing as boys to play the role of a son. These children are called bacha posh: literally "girls dressed as boys." This practice offers families the freedom to allow their child to shop and work - and in some cases, it saves them from the disgrace of not having a male heir. But in adolescence, religion restores the natural law.
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Good story, awful pronunciation
- By Anonymous User on 04-19-21
By: Ukmina Manoori, and others
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Infidel
- By: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Narrated by: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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This New York Times best-seller is the astonishing life story of award-winning humanitarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali. A deeply respected advocate for free speech and women's rights, Hirsi Ali also lives under armed protection because of her outspoken criticism of the Islamic faith in which she was raised.
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Tough, Candid Assessment
- By Paul Mullen on 02-18-08
By: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
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Nothing to Envy
- Ordinary Lives in North Korea
- By: Barbara Demick
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years - a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung and the unchallenged rise to power of his son, Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Taking us into a landscape never before seen, Demick brings to life what it means to be an average Korean citizen, living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today.
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The man who wants to be GOD
- By Gohar on 05-08-10
By: Barbara Demick
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Unbowed
- A Memoir
- By: Wangari Maathai
- Narrated by: Chinasa Ogbuagu
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, Wangari Maathai has been fighting for environmental responsibility and democracy in her native Kenya for over 35 years. Unbowed recounts the incredible journey that culminated in her appointment to Parliament in 2002. Despite repeated jailings, beatings, and other obstacles along the way, Maathai created the Green Belt Movement and never relented in her goal to bring democracy to Kenya.
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Amazing story of this woman, but missing something
- By Peter on 06-29-11
By: Wangari Maathai
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Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden
- Two Sisters Separated by China’s Civil War
- By: Zhuqing Li
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Scions of a once-great southern Chinese family that produced the tutor of the last emperor, Jun and Hong were each other’s best friends until, in their twenties, they were separated at the end of the Chinese Civil War. One became a model Communist, the other a model capitalist. On Taiwan, Jun married a Nationalist general, established a trading company, and emigrated to the United States. On the Communist mainland, Hong built her medical career under a cloud of suspicion about her family and survived two waves of “re-education” before she was acclaimed for her achievements.
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Wonderful Story of a Family’s Survival Through Political Change…
- By Marie G. on 04-12-23
By: Zhuqing Li
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Bad Indians
- A Tribal Memoir
- By: Deborah A. Miranda
- Narrated by: Deborah Miranda
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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This beautiful and devastating book - part tribal history, part lyric and intimate memoir - should be required for anyone seeking to learn about California Indian history, past and present. Deborah A. Miranda tells stories of her Ohlone Costanoan Esselen family as well as the experience of California Indians as a whole through oral histories, newspaper clippings, anthropological recordings, personal reflections, and poems. The result is a work of literary art that is wise, angry, and playful all at once, a compilation that will break your heart and teach you to see the world anew.
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Bad recording
- By Aspyn Maes on 09-18-21
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Under Red Skies
- Three Generations of Life, Loss, and Hope in China
- By: Karoline Kan
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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A deeply personal and shocking look at how China is coming to terms with its conflicted past as it emerges into a modern, cutting-edge superpower.
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An intimate view of real life in China
- By Lonnie G. Hardy, Jr. on 08-15-19
By: Karoline Kan
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In Order to Live
- A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom
- By: Yeonmi Park
- Narrated by: Eji Kim
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In In Order to Live, Yeonmi Park shines a light not just into the darkest corners of life in North Korea, describing the deprivation and deception she endured and which millions of North Korean people continue to endure to this day, but also onto her own most painful and difficult memories. She tells with bravery and dignity for the first time the story of how she and her mother were betrayed and sold into sexual slavery in China and forced to suffer terrible psychological and physical hardship before they finally made their way to Seoul, South Korea - and to freedom.
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Wow. What a story!
- By Jfm on 02-01-16
By: Yeonmi Park
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Mussolini's Daughter
- The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe
- By: Caroline Moorehead
- Narrated by: Kathleen Gati
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Edda Mussolini was the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s oldest and favorite child. At 19, she was married to Count Galleazzo Ciano, Il Duce’s Minister for Foreign Affairs during the 1930s, the most turbulent decade in Italy’s fascist history. In the years preceding World War II, Edda ruled over Italy’s aristocratic families and the cultured and middle classes while selling Fascism on the international stage. How a young woman wielded such control is the heart of Moorehead’s fascinating history.
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Mind Blowing
- By Greg on 01-27-23
What listeners say about Dreams in a Time of War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- jer
- 05-29-12
Beautiful and informative book/narration
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in history and foreign cultures. It is very approachable and goes out of it's wait to explain social customs and historical background in an approachable way. I got this because I'm visiting Kenya but really anyone would probably enjoy it.
What other book might you compare Dreams in a Time of War to and why?
The Covenant by Michener satisfies the same urge for a historical drama about African history, though it's about South Africa, covers a much wider timespan (from ancient times to modern) and was written by a non-African. This book is much more local and personal, but still manages to cover the main social and political events in Kenya's history through the eyes of the young boy.
What does Hakeem Kae-Kazim bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Well first he just plain sounds African at least to my stereotype-susceptible ears, which gives a great feel to the book. Pronunciation of hard words like names and places is also very well handled considering how non-english a lot of the text in the book is. This is an emotional audio book that at least to me feels in touch with the storytelling/oral-history nature of the Kenyan society that Ngogi describes.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I laughed but didn't cry. Many tragic things happen but it's not really a tear jerker. It is very inspiring though.
Any additional comments?
Thanks Audible! I was afraid I wouldn't have time to get through a Kenya book before my trip. Once I started this one though I could barely stop.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 04-17-20
Excellent reading of a master’s work
Ngugi Wa Thiong’o is a master storyteller with a one-in-a-million gift. Hakeem Akae-Kazim is a talented reader and his reading brings this story to life, definitely doing it justice. This is a powerful story that is very relevant and important for today’s world to hear.
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- Afro History fan
- 05-23-20
The Master of Storytelling
Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s story telling mastery is unparalleled. What a beautiful story and I enjoyed learning about his childhood and also about pre independent Kenya. Went to school in Limuru so his account of the town were illuminating...
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- Mar Chen
- 10-27-19
Well Executed
Awesomely written memoir. I felt I was living vicariously through the story teller.. I will continue to seek out at read more books by this Author.
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- Håkon Astrup
- 01-27-21
Why is a nigerian reading a kenyan book??
Would it sound good if a person with a russian accent was reading a book about the italian mafia? No! So why let a brilliant nigerian actor and not Kikuyu a brilliant Kikuyu actor read a book from the Kikuyu community?? If you don't know the difference, it's probably not gonna bother you. But the actors thick southern nigerian accent is disturbing if you expect to hear a kenyan story. Enough for me to not listen to the second book in this series and go straight to the third, which is read by a kenyan, all be it a Luo. Otherwise it's an interesting memoir about important time in kenyan history.
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- Tango
- 06-17-12
An escape through education
Just coincidentally I heard this book immediately after listening to Angela's Ashes. I was really struck by the similarity between these two books set in very different worlds so I can't help but compare the two. And, maybe this type of review will be helpful to some since many people are familiar with Angela's Ashes but Dreams in a Time of War is not nearly as well known.
Both books are memoirs told of a turbulent time in the histories of countries (Ireland and Kenya) that were terribly traumatized by British rule and both are told from a child's point of view. Both books are also told first person by a child of an impoverished and ultimately broken family and both boy narrators end the memoir at the point of his escape from/triumph over poverty and politics. Although there is a huge dollop of tragedy in both narratives, there is not much focus given to the tragic in Dreams because you feel in the Kenyan author the ever present desire for knowledge, education, and learning that seems to keep this little boy from being trapped in the desperation that surrounds him. In addition, Ngugi wa'Thiong'o, unlike Frank McCourt, was blessed with a mother who does not give into or allow her children to give into the despair. Ngugi wa'Thiong'o's mother is as inspirational a character in this book as the author himself. Angela's Ashes made me cry and laugh but much of the book just left me feeling depressed and despising the ignorance of the world. Unlike Angela's Ashes, Dreams in a Time a War never made me cry and the humor is more wry than laugh out loud, but there is a strong sense of a child's ability to find joy and wonder in even a rough world that keeps this book uplifting throughout. This is an inspirational story told with a nice mix of Kenyan culture, politics, and history thrown in. The narrative is short, interesting and tells you just enough of that period of history to make you want to know a lot more.
The narration by Hakeem Kae-Kazim is quite good. He has a deep rich voice that is really pleasant to listen to with an African accent that sounds appropriate but was never difficult for my American ears to understand. His voice is so nice that I think it might be more fun to listen to this book than to read it with one small drawback. There are many minor characters in the book and the African names so sound similar to me that I had a little trouble trying to keep them straight since I was not seeing them in print.
I think most people would enjoy this memoir and if you liked Angela's Ashes, I am sure you would like Dreams in a Time War. I recommend it.
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- Wacha Ujuaji
- 06-12-20
Wrong Narrator
I cannot get past the butchering of those Kikuyu names. I really want to read this book. I might just have to find time to actually read the hard copy because this audible narrator has really messed it up for me. And what was that horrible accent? Goodness! We do not talk like that!!
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- MIRMD
- 02-06-18
I loved the story but the narration is lacking
Being a Kikuyu speaker the narrator’s pronunciation on the traditional words was a bit irritating.
Overall the narrators voice was quite lovely.
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- James G.
- 06-05-20
Unremarkable Narration
Great story by Ngugi wa Thiong'o but the narrator ruined it.
Butchered pronounciations galore! Underwhelming!
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- Chrissie
- 07-18-13
Growing up during the Mau Mau Rebellion
Enjoyable and informative, definitely worth reading if you are curious to know more about the Mau Mau Rebellion 1952-1960 which lead to Kenyan Independence from Britain in 1963. Laid before you are the author's childhood memories up to his acceptance and arrival at high school. He is today a famed, contemporary African writer. This book focuses upon his quest for education, something all too many of us take for granted. It is about native Kenyan life. He was born in 1938, the fifth child of his father's third wife. Twenty-four siblings, four mothers, what is it like to be one in a polygamous family? You learn about life as one of the Kikuyu ethnic group in colonial Africa. Their land was taken from them, not once, but four times. Their culture was denied. There is a lot of history here, and it is not always told linearly. Furthermore the names are difficult, more so if you are listening to it as an audiobook. The narration by Hakeem Kai-Kazim is at times difficult to follow, particularly when the trial of Jomo Kenyatta is related with an angry tone, in an effort to emphasize the injustice of the events. I had to look on Wiki (Mau Mau Upprising and Jomo Kenyatta) to fully understand the scattered events splayed before me. It helped to see the names, to tie up the different threads. The book gives more depth than just reading at Wiki. What was his life like? How was it to have one brother as a Mau Mau rebel and another supporting the colonials? And what is it like to fight for the right to an education, to achieve that when you have no food, no shoes, no books and sometimes no light at all to work by. He succeeded. He didn't just succeed, he succeeded magnificently. His mother always asked him, "Is that your best?"
The prime message of this book is clear. Look at the title. In times of "war", we must have dreams to survive.
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1 person found this helpful