One day I will write about this place

Review by Eugene Kabisa

Binyavanga writes like the words fall on his laps from the sky. *One day I Will Write about this Place* starts off slow. The first few pages let you into a little life of a little family of playful kids and dutiful parents thriving in a post colonial Kenya. At the start, it's just another random family passing through the tunnel of changing times. But you fall in love with them with every page you flip.

And that's where you start to realize that you have been set up for an imminent ride of giggles, growth, transformations and massive heartbreaks of watching them grow old. That's when you realise that everything that happens to them happens to you. 

Binyavanga let's you in generously. He lays his childhood bare for you to see. He does an open heart surgery on his struggles and inadequacies and let's you in the operation room. He brings you to every place he has been and shows you even the darkest parts of a clouded adulthood.

He brings you to tears and cheers you up again. He let's you see his first times and the fear that runs through. He lends you his pair of eyes and allows you to see things like he does. It's through this that you see Kenya differently. You take a front seat in his life and watch him grow. With every page turned, the boy becomes a man. From a frolic of a teen experiencing high school for the first time to a man in his twenties ravaging the night life of Cape town. From a child watching Moi on Television to a doubtful young writer looking for his magic wand. And he brings his family along.

He talks about tragic things like they don't weigh so much. He writes about the end of good times and loss of childhood with a light heart and leaves all the greaving for you to do. He sits on the edge of a foggy hill and watches the good old days birth crazy times of bloodshed and bold tribalism. 

Binyavanga travels and keeps a seat for you. To South Africa where he shows you that he's human too. Struggling to finish school and falling under the grip of alcohol. To Kitui where he works for his father in a cotton project. To Nigeria where he gets stuck in the crazy Lagos traffic. To Togo where Lome is in a frenzy about world cup and Adebayor. To London where the small boy from Nakuru wins the prestigious Caine Prize. Everywhere he goes, he keeps a seat for you. 

And then he rewrites the history of Kenya in your face. He calls things what they are supposed to be called. If he is bored, he says it. And he picks the words from ordinary places. Binyavanga writes so that you don't have to visit the place to experience it. He takes you to Lamu and gives you a boat ride. He let's you lie with him in his messed up hostel room in South Africa. He let's you get the taste of the beer he drinks in Mlango Kubwa. His words are crayons and spray paint and your mind is a blank canvas. He takes you to Uganda and invites you to his big family reunion. 

*One Day I Will Write about this Place* is a book that leaves your heart empty, and full. Empty because of the things you give along the way. Full because of the wealth of exploration you get without leaving your couch. Binyavanga writes like he orders the words around. And he makes light some of the world's greatest losses and tragedies. Splendid!