‘The Havoc of Choice’ is an African novel written by Wanjiru Koinange, a writer, restorer of libraries and entrepreneur from Nairobi, Kenya.
“Choice,” a decision we make daily and most times not very conscious of the repercussions that follow. From the little things like ‘what to eat’ to ‘life changing decisions,’ at the end of the day it’s a choice made.
The book is set in Kenya during the 2006-2007 post-election violence, a time the nation of Kenya was bleeding. The novel resonates with Kenyans as it reminds them of the most historic election of the country.
It’s fiction based on facts. The process was filled with lots of trial and errors and years of rejection letters, though it did not deter her from publishing the book.
When you read the synopsis, you are immediately attracted to it and there’s a sense of familiarity. The book will take you back in time to a past that may or may not invoke feelings and memories that the reader chose to imbed deep in their memories and to some, a crucial missing event they heard had happened.
According to Wanjiru’s professor at the time, “It might be about 10 years before artists find the language and the head space to explain what truly happened in 2007.” The book having come out 13 years later gave her time to understand and address her biases, privileges and pain while also allowing her to be in a position where she can defend her book whenever in question.
We are constantly making choices from the time we are born and the choices we make at the top are influenced when we were growing up, which is essentially what the book is about, ‘how do you make your choices?’ Personally, Wanjiru doesn’t want to be involved in the process of publishing and production of her books because she finds the process to be painful.
The characters in her book are pieces of her and people she knows. She took 8 years to write different characters to bring out the balance in each of them. Wanjiru did not shy away from the physical description of her characters, “you need to see the beauty in every moment,” she says which helps her visualise her characters development.
When writing dark scenes, Wanjiru immerses and imagines herself as the characters completely to get a better feel of what their values and emotions are at the time and ‘imagines the worst of people,’ helps her write the painful and dark scenes. The perks with fiction are that you can go there. To relieve herself after writing such scenes, she takes two months off to shake off all the emotions she’s been through when writing.
The consequences of our actions and how far reaching they are, is the ultimate theme of the book, the constant choices we are always making.
Havoc of Choice will take you through a rollercoaster of emotions and will force you to confront what you are uncomfortable with but at the same time, it’ll make you question things you would not think of questioning otherwise. The book has no resolution, no closure, and no ending which readers may find it hard to come to terms with as they are used to happy endings.
It’s a book to read and re-read and share, because I can guarantee it’s not what you’ve read before.
The book can be purchased at Textbook Centre online or in-store countrywide and on Amazon – Kindle Edition. For buyers elsewhere, the book can be found at Bunk Books (Africa), Jacaranda Books (UK), and Champaca Books (India).
What’s on your 2022 read list?
