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Waiting
Waiting: A Novel of Uganda's Hidden War | Goretti Kyomuhendo
5 posts | 3 read | 2 to read
Set in the seventies during the last year of Ugandan dictator Idi Amins brutal, often surreal rule, Waiting evokes the fear and courage of a small close-knit society uncertain of what the edicts of a madman or the marauding of his disintegrating army will bring with each day. Safe for years in their remote country village far from Amin's political battlefield, teenager Alinda and her family experience terror firsthand when the troops of the self-proclaimed "Last King of Scotland" use the local highway to escape pursuing Ugandan and Tanzanian allied forces. With her pregnant mother on the verge of labor, her brother anxious to join the Liberators, and a house full of hungry siblings, neighbors, and displaced refugees, Alinda learns what it takes to survive, and eventually to plan for a new life.
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Dilara
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Waiting is set in Uganda during the 1979 civil war around the time of Idi Amin's ousting. The tension in the 1st half of the novella is hard to take. Amin's soldiers are retreating, killing and pillaging as they go. Villagers have to hide out in the bush. Still, the writing is surprisingly gentle and not too graphic, given its subject matter. We also get to learn a lot about women's daily life and chores.

#FoodandLit
@Catsandbooks @Texreader

Dilara picture of a Western Uganda village from Wikipedia

#Uganda
(edited) 2y
Catsandbooks Thanks for sharing! 🇺🇬 2y
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Dilara
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Have just started the tagged book and here's a terrible photo or the Ugandan rolex I made yesterday: a vegetable (onion, mostly) omelette rolled up with extra vegetables and coriander leaves, inside a Ugandan chapati (which looks exactly like a paratha to me). It's street food that's as good as the ingredients you put in.

#FoodandLit
@Catsandbooks @Texreader

Dilara And as I'm French, I can't not mention former president Sarkozy, who got a lot of flak (rightfully) for telling us that people who don't own a Rolex by age 50 are losers. Well, here's *my* Rolex, and I'm quite happy with it! 😎 2y
Bookwormjillk 🤣 I hope your Rolex was delicious 2y
Lunakay The better Rolex to enjoy, no doubt about that :D 2y
Dilara @Bookwormjillk @Lunakay It was cheap, filling and tasty 👍 2y
Catsandbooks Tasty!🇺🇬 2y
36 likes5 comments
review
Liz_M
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Pickpick

For Alinda's family, war is just a series of hardships visited upon them, from the killing of one family member to the amputation needed by a neighbor to the disappearance of some family members and the addition of others. While there seems to be a momentum in the events described, there is no meaning. It is a well-told story of an adolescence lived in anticipation of unpredictable, uncontrollable events and adjusting to circumstances as one can.

BarbaraBB It does sound good and I still need Uganda! 2y
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Twainy
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#BOTM … December choices …. waiting 🖤 hopefully this weekend 😁 books books books 🎉

Aims42 Yesssssssss 🙌🏻🥳🎉 3y
Twainy @Aims42 😁 3y
29 likes2 comments
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Simona
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Mehso-so

An interesting contrast between the brutality of the war that is happening there somewhere in the city, and the everyday life of a rural population trying to survive. Experiencing uncertainty and fear that is growing more and more while waiting for something to happen seems to me a great topic/idea, but I think that in this story, the author failed to capture this agony and the unpredictability of waiting. #ReadAroundTheWorld #Uganda