The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji: book review

The In-Betweeen World of Vikram Lall (2005) is set primarily in Kenya and Canada.

Kenyan-born Vikram Lall is the son of Indian grocers and the grandchildren of Indian railway workers living in Kenya. At eight years of age in the 1950s, Vikram and his sister Deepa meet Njoroge – a Kenyan, and English children Bill and Annie. It is the time before independence from British colonial rule, during the rise of Mau Mau violence.

Vikram had no heroes. His childhood friends had heroes. Njoroge’s hero was Jomo-Moses – Jomo Kenyatta – an anti-colonial activist (who became Kenya’s first president from 1964-1978): ‘He was alive! He was in prison. And he had powers.’

Vikram, the narrator, says he is neither British, nor a real Kenyan – he is living in an in-between world. Writing his memoir at the age of 50, from his exiled home in Canada, Vikram ponders what happened to Annie. For 40 years he had been haunted by an image of her.

Vikram tells of growing up, his marriage, the changes in his three childhood friends, the love of Kenya, Kenya’s tragic past, his tragic past, his rise as ‘one of Africa’s most corrupt men, a cheat of monstrous and reptilian cunning’ (on the List of Shame), and his exile in Canada. He always has a longing to return to his childhood home in Kenya, to return to his father, but the return would cost him dearly.

With a blend of real and fictional characters, this is an epic tale, dense and historic, political and poignant, about deep friendships and loyalty, but also about secrets, lies, and betrayal. It is about the personalities that emerge in lawless times, when people think they will be unaccountable for their actions. The underlying question is whether a person can erase the past, heal from past tragedies, and make good the bad. Exceptionally well written, and intellectually told, this is a book of value and worth.

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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