Dr. Ndirangu Githaiga‘s book, “The People of Ostrich Mountain”, blew me away. If I could have given it more stars I would have. I eagerly anticipated reading every carefully chosen word and every page of this fantastic book. Everything about the book is wonderful: its beautiful, vivid, poetic language, the many characters’s interweaving, loving, or at least complicated, relationships, the back and forth between several continents and countries. The book is filled with so much love, compassion, and empathy that despite some difficult experiences, it’s an extremely heartwarming story. I can see myself easily rereading it, which is extremely rare. There have been only two or three books that I ever have wanted to read more than once.

Maybe because my son is finishing medical school shortly and is waiting for his residency match to come in a few weeks I was able to relate fully to and empathize with the medical aspects of the book. Prior to my son’s medical school training, much of the technical, medical jargon would most likely have been lost on me; I would have been bored and skipped over much of it. I didn’t realize until I finished the book that it was written by a physician, which helps explain the author’s intimate knowledge of and ability to evoke medical students’s experiences, feelings and emotions.

Further, I only last year went on several safaris in South Africa, so I connected closely with the African experiences described; and though frequent use of foreign languages within stories tends to slow me down and annoy me, in this book it enhanced my reading pleasure and added to, not subtracted from, my overall positive feelings. If I had a hard copy of this book, it would sit upon my shelf forever, along with favorites such as “Cutting for Stone” and “The God of Small Things.”

I am most grateful to NetGalley, Dr. Githaiga, and Bon Esprit for giving me an advanced, reader’s copy of “The People of Ostrich Mountain” for free. I have reviewed this book VOLUNTARILY.

This book is set in the 1950’s during the Mau Mau war in Kenya, where a 14 year old girl called Wambũi has to leave her village and join a prestigious boarding school. It follows her journey and how a teacher recognises her mathematical ability and tries to make this shine especially when obstacles arise.

To start with I was really interested in this story but midway through, I found it a bit boring which made it hard to finish the book. I still carried on because I wanted to give the author a chance but I still found it uninspiring.

I have to be blunt because I really, REALLY want to be nice instead. The start of The People of Ostrich Mountain had me anticipating an historical family saga the likes of Amitav Gosh’s The Crystal Palace. (I know that comparison is dangerous, but there is something about a well-executed family saga that has always attracted me, and Gosh has written one of the finest I’ve read.) Ultimately, this novel lacked the finesse to unite the milieu with its characters, and the characters with one another. Too much which could have been expanded on, wasn’t - like Wambui’s mathematical proclivity, the real costs of growing up during the time of the Mau Mau revolution, and how much of a personal sacrifice foregoing an academic future was for her. Similarly, much was overly expanded upon, like Ray’s medical school journey - I hadn’t anticipated reading a medical fiction novel, and it, too, seemed disjointed from the rest.

The author’s true talent is shown in their paragraphs about Kenya and the natural world: having visited and climbed the mountain myself, the imagery vividly transported me there.

I picked this book because I thought it portrayed part of the story of Kenia. And it did, but it also did so much more. The author explored mainly the life of Wambui, a little girl who was the daughter of an intuitive farmer that loved his goats. Since she was naturally gifted in math, she got a scholarship to study at a prestigious boarding school for girls. And then, as Wambui's life continued, the book also showed the point of view of her teacher Eileen and her son Ray. In that way, the author managed to create a story similar to a tree, as there was a main trunk and several stories that grew from it.

What I liked: The vivid descriptions and the character's development were outstanding. I really enjoyed this book and loved Wambui. The book was well-written and never boring. I especially liked the small portions of the story dedicated to giving a breve background of secondary characters, because it is rare seeing secondary characters so well defined; such as Wambui's father, or the man who sold sandwiches in Chicago.

What I did not like: I would have wanted a little more context information, as it could be confusing for someone who does not know anything about the history of Kenia. Also, I would have loved to read about Wambui's brother who joined the Mau Mau.


(I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC, which I received in exchange for an honest review.)

Rich in historical detail and very atmospheric. I always enjoy learning from historical fiction and i did learn a lot about the Kenyan culture.
Many thanks to Bon Esprit Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Set during the time of the Mau Mau uprising in 1950s Kenya, The People of Ostrich Mountain follows mathematics prodigy Wambui from her childhood through the decades, eventually switching to the lives of her son and former teacher as they grapple with economic and political challenges, prejudice, culture and religion.

While I thought the themes of family and culture were especially strong, the story lacked cohesion and the later focus on Ray seems disjointed and out of place. While the reader is told Wambui is a math prodigy, I wish there had been more of how she interacted with the subject she held so dear. I did like how it tied into her challenges as a teacher, and then later how it helped her in business but I wish we got more actual math.

I thought Ray's section could have worked if it had been better integrated or if it had tied in his relationship with his family, but as it was it felt like a story within a story. There also wasn't much historical context for the Mau Mau rebellion, although I thought the focus on how it affected the communities was a wise choice.

Overall it was a pretty good read, although I don't think it quite lived up to its potential.

A book with an interesting premise, following a Kikuyu girl in colonial Kenya. While it is interesting, I thought the author could have done more work on setting and characterisation. As readers we didn't really get an understanding of how the Kikuyu population started to resist the British colonial power, we do get some snippets or suggestions but no definite information. I believe that this work on setting would have made the work stronger.

The flow of the book also needed more work, often the book disrupted the reader by a change in point of view (POV), and huge leaps in time. For instance, the reader gets used to Wambui and Eilleen’s point of view then all of a sudden the POV of Ray is introduced, Wambui’s child. I found the time transitions /leaps quite jarring and the book became challenging to complete towards the end.

I found that the characters also needed further development, as they stand they felt one dimensional. Perhaps a focus on two or three characters would have created more robust and indepth characters. My preference would be a focus on Wambui and perhaps Mzee Karanja for us to get a good grasp of colonialism. As a reader I was very invested in Wambui and when the focus went to other characters it felt like a let down.

A beautifully written Historical Fiction novel focusing on the life of fourteen year old Wanbūi in 1950s Kenya. Wambūi wins a scholarship to a missionary school where she proves to have a phenomenal mathematics ability. However, the Mau Mau war and her family's poverty prevent her from going to university. The novel follows Wambūi and her family as her daughter and son move to the United States and her dear friend, teacher Eileen Atwood, returns to the UK after living in Kenya for forty years.
Kenya is lovingly captured in wonderful descriptions. A real enjoy to read.
I will be exploring more of Githaiga's other works.
Thanks to the publishers, Bon Esprit Books, and NetGalley for access to the e-arc for this copy.

This was an absolutely amazing story. I loved the writing style and Adored Wambúi. I don’t really think that calling it a story that “spans generations” is a great way to describe it. This really is Wambúi’s story. She’s the only character that felt like we were in the moment with her. Others, especially Ray, felt more like someone catching me up on what he’s been up to, similar to a Christmas card/email. I really can’t take Eileen seriously. I think there should be room to talk on the nuances of how someone that was part of an overall bad system being the “good one” that made the lives of the people she worked with pleasant. But to compare her experience with those of POC living under white supremacy is dismissing her active participation in these white supremacist systems. In the book she literally says “Had they stood outside an Uchumi Supermarket, pointing at her and identifying her as a foreigner who was taking over their country?”. Like, ma’am, that’s exactly what you’re doing. You literally came in on the colonizing boat. I’d fully believe that the character herself doesn’t process the problems here, but the fact that the narrative doesn’t really address it gives me some pause. But in spite of those things, I really did love the story.

The People of Ostrich Mountain had me hooked from the beginning. I was excited to learn about the culture and history of the independence of Kenya. The main character of Wambũi was wonderfully developed as were the other two main threads we followed. The writing was great. At the same time, time jumped quickly with little transition as did the jump from character to character, which made it difficult to see the connection between the three stories. Perhaps if the story followed a daughter instead of the son and it transitioned better, I'd have enjoyed it more.

It is a well written novel, with punchy dialogue that rings true, and the descriptive writing brings the scenes to life.

A book that stands out from the crowd. The characters and the setting are written exceptionally well.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
The story mainly follows Wambũi, her family, and the people around her. The story begins in 1950s Kenya and follows the characters forward. There are many chapters from different points of view. The focus was on the everyday with mentions about the historic events that were happening around the characters.
While I thought the story was interesting, it sometimes became difficult to follow. Part of the reason was that there were so many people that had chapters from their view. This made it feel like there was no real focus to the book. I think the stories would have been better served as separate books or short stories that focused on the different characters.
A second issue I had was the narrator for the audiobook. His voice and reading style took away and distracted from the story, making it even more difficult to focus on what was happening.

This was a really beautiful and poignant read. It accomplishes a somewhat difficult task of deeply writing about one generation and then rolling into the next. I didn’t find the transitions very smooth but it was still well done. It is like a river with tributaries looping out from the source and then coming back again. I also loved the point of view, written about a black woman who is brilliant and of tribal origins. We get to see and feel what that world is like and follow her through each struggle as well as each triumph and heartache. And we get to experience the difference one compassionate woman can make for her entire village and beyond. I did wish for some more details for the other characters as well as maybe a little bit more development of Wambuis potential. All in all an interesting read

Very interesting book that spans generations and countries. The book starts in the 1950s, during the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya, where Wambui, in a village near Mt.Kenya ( the mountain that gives the country its name), and her family are trying to live through a time of great upheaval and increased colonial repression. This section was compelling reading, as I haven't read anything set in this period before, and I'm definitely going to read more that explores the conflict and Kenyan independence. The story follows her life through school and marriage, and then goes on to her son's life as he moves to the USA to pursue medicine. It's very relatable because the circumstances in India are quite similar to Kenya, and some things are very well described-crowding around a notice board to see your results in exams, bureaucracy that's whimsical and so on. A third strand of the story, and the least interesting, in my opinion, follows the story of one of Wambui's white ENglish teachers at school. THis didn't add to the book at all, and I would have preferred more time spent on Kenya's Independence conflict and the transition, or even on how Wambui navigated a deeply patriarchal society to be a successful entrepreneur-that's given barely any pages and would have made for a far more interesting story. I also didn't really like some of the didacticism later on in the story, about the supposed cruelty of assisted living places for seniors in developed countries as opposed to the supposedly more caring societies of countries like Kenya-there's more than enough statistical evidence to show that developed countries are far ahead when it comes to comparatively better care for elders. Developing countries have a terrible track record when it comes to elder care, and I don't know why the writer, who lives in the US, would devote so many pages to something that's patently untrue and a very harmful cliche, because it allows governments to ignore elder care as a problem under the pretense that the "family unit"would take care of them ( which is basically code for the women of the hoursehold would handle it).
THis is a very interesting book, though, and sent me down a rabbithole of looking for more nonfiction on colonial repression in Kenya. Definitely read this compelling book!

What an important book. If you haven't read this yet, I would definitely recommend picking it up. The People of Ostrich Mountain has a wonderful sense of place, rich and diverse characters, and a plot you won't want to miss.

I found the writing very good, and learned a lot about Kenya's history in Great Britian's colonial times and after Kenyas freedom. I did find the transitions in time and locations somewhat jarring, but as I continued reading the were very understandable . I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good story, especially one about Kenya and immigration issues

This is a beautifully written family saga. It starts in Kenya, but the family then moves across the world. I find that books about countries written by someone who was born there are grew up there are far more realistic and enlightening than books written by someone who has just visited a country, which is what so many of books are these days. The Author studied to be a doctor in the US and so those parts of the story are beautifully described, and the problems faced so real. A lovely book I would recommend.

I really like books about history and foreign countries. This family saga is very interesting and I liked the characters a lot. It is fun to follow their development and their life in different countries and situations. I was quite surprised that the character of the English teacher played such a big role and was shown as a part of the country.
I recommend this book highly!

The language is beautiful, and especially the description of Kenya, its people, and its culture is well done. The author highlights gender disparity, colonization, the ugly and beautiful side of the missionaries, racism, and the struggles of an immigrant in America. Familial ties, friendship, loyalties, and cultural aspects are woven beautifully into the narration.

Unfortunately, despite the beautiful and varied themes, this novel did not work quite well for me. It is unnecessarily lengthy and marred by abrupt transitions. The jump in timelines is huge and disjointed.
Though there are various subplots and backstories of many minor characters, they seem like just fillers and are not engaging enough. Till about 40% of the book, the story revolves around Wambũi, her village, atrocities of the police, the Mau Mau rebellion, etc. And suddenly, the story moves in a different direction and she is missing for a long time.

The story drags initially and suddenly picks up the pace when the focus shifts from Wambũi to Ray. But a large part of his life is not shared and we are unaware of the years between his early years and medical school.

The blurb is kind of misleading. It doesn’t give much detail about the British-Kenyan conflict or the Mau Mau rebellion.

Rating 2.4/5

This is a highly recommended, beautifully written story about a family trying to survive in Kenya.
The story takes off from the beginning and pulls you in. You become emotionally involved with the characters This historical fiction book about Kenya is educational as well as entertaining. Living in Kenya in the 1950's is difficult no matter which side you are on. The characters in the book are well developed and they have to overcome issues that are at times enormous. Some of the characters you come to know beat the odds and some do not.
The only down side to the book was there are things in the story that are important when they start but the completion is not always included in the story. I would still like to know what the outcome was to the family.