Speak Swahili, Dammit ! [Paperback]

Its been really a daunting task for me to review this book. I mean how do you review a perfect book? The best I can say to anyone is READ IT!

Anyways, I tried to express how I feel and how I believe others should as well...... Enjoy!

Speak Swahili Dammit (SSD) is an exhilarating book. A marvel. A story worth retelling.

It is a true description of life in the bushes of Tanganyika in the 1950's.

Jimu, the author and main character himself, is an articulate story teller who tells the story as it is. This is confirmed as Jimu goes on openly and vividly describing his recollections without hiding or altering events which many would have found too shameful to associate themselves with, like catching fart!

The poor spelling of Swahili words which the author spells as they are pronounced, is a telling fact that he did not know how to read or write in Swahili, yet the rich vocabulary of Swahili words, idioms, insults and jokes confirm that Jimu is a true mSwahili who belongs to the watu.

You will want to read it quietly alone as it is with novel reading, but you will soon be itching to share the fun with someone else.

The book has a rich account of some of the world's most historical moments and events such as the world war II, Tanzania's independence day, the times of colonialism and more.

Its is guaranteed to drive you through a rollacoster of emotions as the author takes you through the good times and the most horrifying experiences of life. Moving you from anger to fear, panic to laughter, then back again to panic, then laughter, suddenly you realize your eyes are wetting with tears, and on emotions keep changing randomly to the last paragraph.

It's a childishly hilarious tale at times, yet a very serious and sad one at other. Its a thriller, a drama, a love soapy, a comedy, an adventure, all in one.

Its the only novel where I have not only read a story but became a part of it. I became Lutoli, then Umali, then Mlozi, Dieti, then Iwe, then Marais, Matwiga, Roper, Kalebu, and then Steveni.... as I observe this small white black man in great amazement!

This is the first novel ever to read and wish for the end never to come.
The more I read I wanted more, the fewer the pages on the right-hand-side became the more I wished they would miraculously become.

Since I'm told everything has to have its shortfalls, the shortfall of the SSD, if I'm to forge it, is that it makes you want to meet Gretchen, the beauty Jimu fell in love with, while knowing its practically impossible. Otherwise, you will fail to find anything to fault the SSD from the cover to the time when Jimu returns home - in the bushes of Tanganyika at the Republic of Kichoncho!

A must read for everyone!

Speak Swahili, Dammit !
This is a must read book. A story that will appeal to young and old a like,and of different cultures. One that you keep wanting to turn the pages of, but yet not wanting it to end.
It is set in Tanganika in the 1950's(what becomes Tansania) in a place called Geita a gold mining community. It is the story of a little white boy Jim (Jimu), growing up with the warmth and love of his family. When tragedy strikes his world falls apart, his father dies leaving a very young angry hurt little boy, who tries to "shoot God" for taking his father away. Yes a book that will make you laugh and cry, a true roller coaster of emotions are experienced, as the writer magically puts his pen to paper.
The story follows Jimu with his friends, which will make you laugh at their adventures. In this harsh land which he clearly loves, and is in his sole.
This is a mans world, but one where his Mother scratches out a living for her young children. Watching her son run wild with local children, and learning Swahili, as his first language. Her heart wrenching decicion to sent him far away to boarding school in Arush , where he has some dreadful experience alone and far away.
The author describes the era well, and what was happening in East Africa and the World at the time,1950's and 60's.
What wonderfull colourful characters are brought to life. Characters who have lasting effects on this young lad. A story of the wildness of Africa,with her wonderful people. The danger of Africa's wild beasts some deadly, which he, Jimu encounters. Its a story of friendships,tragedy, again as he looses his best friend,and a love story, a young boys first love. His dices with death from illnesses from this harsh place. A book that takes you into the reality of life, and the attempted taming of a free spirited young boy.
I truly enjoyed this book.Living in Cornwall I enjoyed the Cornish link. As the saying goes "where there is a hole in the ground there is a Cornishman".
I believe that the Author should try and make this into a fim. What a refreshingly different story, one from the heart obviously.

I grew up in Kenya, and am an avid reader, particularly of books based in East Africa. So, when a friend and former schoolmate in Kenya emailed me about a fantastic book he had just read called "Speak Swahili, Dammit!", my interest was imediately aroused, not only by the title itself, but because it was about a small white boy living in Geita, a goldmine deep in the Tanganyikan bush, who was known as Jimu by the watu, the same name I had as a young boy!
Jimu's first and closest friend in Geita was Lutoli, a Sukuma boy, who became his "brother". The narrative is about a young boy growing up wild, with few white friends, and having much closer kinship with black totos. Swahili was his first language, and he delighted saying rude things to "snobby" European ladies at the mine club. They were unable to understand his abuse, and foolishly praised him for his language skills. This engendered much hilarity among the watu! Jimu and his friends delighted in ambushing and stoning the poor machula, whose unenviable job it was to empty latrines, and carry stinking buckets of faeces on a yoke, only to risk the contents being splilled when a Jimu-trap was sprung! There are fascinating episodes of strange and sometimes terrifying encounters with wild animals, eccentric muzungus, and a crazy mchawi or witchdoctor. Jimu's strange world suddenly encounters the brutal reality of muzungu(white-man)discipline and (predictable) revolt when he arrives at boarding school in Arusha. Plans to escape are many and various, and attempts occur.
There were an oddball cast of colonial characters at Lone Cone Club, the only "watering hole" in Geita, where inebriation typically coloured the words and actions of nearly everyone. Small children creeping up behind important characters, like the mine-manager, optimistically holding open paper bags in order to trap their farts, added more than colour to some club occasions. There are many hilarious and side-splitting events.
There is another, more serious, side to this book, both poignant and very sad. Jimu lost his father to malaria when he was only five, and this affected his entire life and outlook from then on. The honest and open way this is described is deeply touching.
To anyone who would like to understand just how close it is possible for a relationship of affection and deep understanding to occur between African tribesmen, and a small white boy detached from "European civilization", as well as with wild animals in a rugged, remote place deep in the bush, this book is a must!