The author of "The Book of Secrets," winner of the first Giller prize, brings readers a novel that is rich in detail and political insight. Neither colonists nor African, neither white nor black, an Indian brother and his sister growing up in 1950's Kenya find themselves somewhere in between in their band of playmates. These are the friendships that will haunt the rest of their lives. [Knopf]
Critic Reviews
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Outstanding
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Boston Globe Roberta Silman
A revelation. Brilliantly written and deeply felt, it is a resonant family novel that is also a brutally honest portrayal of the last half century of tumultuous Kenyan history.
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Outstanding
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Chicago Tribune Carey Harrison
As a double love story and as an account of the politics of liberation, Vassanji's memorable novel leaves the reader struck to the heart as much by the beauty of the natural world as the sheer destructiveness of our species. [10 Oct 2004]
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Outstanding
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Daily Telegraph Christopher Hope
It must be one of the most faithful accounts ever written about growing up through the cruel days of a guerrilla war in Africa.
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Outstanding
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Kirkus Reviews
A bleak but affecting portrait of loss by a master writer (Amerika, 2001, etc.) come fully into his own.
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Outstanding
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Publishers Weekly
[Vassanji writes] with a deftness and evenhandedness that distinguish him as a diligent student of political and historical complexities and a riveting storyteller.
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Outstanding
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The Guardian Sean O'Hagan
Vassanji employs an elegantly understated style to describe even the most horrific incidents, thus making them all the more chilling and grotesque...It is utterly compelling, and shot though with the intensity of lived experience.
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Favorable
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The Independent Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Vassanji tells the story straight; the language is deadpan, the sentences short. The language, you realise, is replicating the naive, simple-minded responses of African Asians to the vast and unforgiving forces that descended on petty-bourgeois lives. Medium and message are perfectly aligned.
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Favorable
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The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Janette Turner Hospital
It wrestles passionately and intelligently with big intractable questions. Belonging in a category with Tolstoy's "War and Peace," Vassanji's saga is sweeping in scope and covers the history of Kenya from the late 19th century through independence in 1963 to the corrupt and violent present.[18 October 2004, p.D3]
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Favorable
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The Guardian Helon Habila
The In-Between World is a good example of how the post-colonial novel should be written, dispassionately, avoiding the easy pitfalls of nostalgia and essentialism...This is the work of a writer at the top of his form.
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Favorable
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Booklist Gillian Engberg
A fascinating story of what it means to shift between countries, cultures, and versions of a life. [1 Sept 2004, p.66]
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Mixed
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The New Yorker
Vikram's chilly amorality pervades this tautly written novel somewhat to its detriment. Although the narrative builds to the thawing of Vikram's frozen conscience, his professions of remorse are pro forma, and his return to Kenya in search of redemption feels forced.
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Mixed
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Library Journal Marc Kloszewski
A slightly scattered story with a questionable hero but as illuminating as behind-the-scenes history, warts and all. [Aug 2004, p.71]
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