Dust

Dust is the debut novel by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor. Owuor was born and raised in Kenya, where this novel is set. It begins with the death of Moses Odidi Oganda, gunned down by police in the streets of Nairobi. His father brings his body home and his sister Ajany  returns home from Brazil after many years away. His mother, full of grief and anger, disappears.

This is the story of a troubled family and their troubled country. Owuor's writing creates an almost trancleike state where we are taken back and forth through time trying to uncover the mysteries of Odidi's death as well as understand the corruption that has been the cause of so many years of civil war in Kenya. At times I found it hard to follow, but it came together by the end.

Owuor writes that the primary three languages in Kenya are Kiswahili, English and Silence. Everyone is afraid to even speak the names of all those who have disappeared, it is like they never existed. This book is Owuors sorrowful love song to her country. A beautiful lament.