The Perfect Nine
The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi
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The Perfect Nine
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Narrado por:
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Benjamin A. Onyango
Acerca de esta escucha
Longlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize
A dazzling, genre-defying novel in verse from the author Delia Owens says “tackles the absurdities, injustices, and corruption of a continent”.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's novels and memoirs have received glowing praise from the likes of President Barack Obama, the New Yorker, the New York Times Book Review, The Guardian, and NPR; he has been a finalist for the Man International Booker Prize and is annually tipped to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; and his books have sold tens of thousands of copies around the world.
In his first attempt at the epic form, Ngũgĩ tells the story of the founding of the Gĩkũyũ people of Kenya, from a strongly feminist perspective. A verse narrative, blending folklore, mythology, adventure, and allegory, The Perfect Nine chronicles the efforts the Gĩkũyũ founders make to find partners for their ten beautiful daughters - called “The Perfect Nine” - and the challenges they set for the 99 suitors who seek their hands in marriage. The epic has all the elements of adventure, with suspense, danger, humor, and sacrifice.
Ngũgĩ's epic is a quest for the beautiful as an ideal of living, as the motive force behind migrations of African peoples. He notes, “The epic came to me one night as a revelation of ideals of quest, courage, perseverance, unity, family; and the sense of the divine, in human struggles with nature and nurture.”
©2020, 2018 Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Los oyentes también disfrutaron...
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Reseñas de la Crítica
"Onyango uses his rich bass voice to lend a realistic atmosphere to this fantastical tale, which is both contemporary and ancient." --AudioFile magazine
“Essential reading and especially vital for our times.... Emphasizing fundamental cycles of birth, life, love, and death, this tale is centered on the Gĩkũyũ but connected to all of us and our humanity, a story to be told and retold, as it has been in various forms, for generations.” --Booklist (starred review)
“[The Perfect Nine] departs from the sprawl of his past novels into an engaging if slight lyrical epic. Combining Homeric verse with oral storytelling tropes - choruses, chants, songs - he retells the origin myth of the Gĩkũyũ, Kenya's largest tribe.... Thiong'o's fans will appreciate this.” --Publishers Weekly
Lo que los oyentes dicen sobre The Perfect Nine
Calificaciones medias de los clientesReseñas - Selecciona las pestañas a continuación para cambiar el origen de las reseñas.
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Total5 out of 5 stars
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Ejecución3 out of 5 stars
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Historia5 out of 5 stars
- Ifayemisi
- 04-30-23
Very Nice
A lot of life lessons in tales. This makes them more accessible and understandable to a broader cross-section of people. I would like to hear a differently abled person's take on the work. I like that she wasn't treated as a burden and her voice was respected and centred but that is from my able perspective.
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