“My name is Vikram Lall. I have the distinction of having been numbered one of Africa’s most corrupt men, a cheat of monstrous and reptilian cunning.”

This fascinating story, which unfolds over almost five decades and spans two continents, is structured around Vikram Lall’s ‘confession’ as he reflects over his life in the ‘in-between’ world of Kenya before, during and after independence. Safely ensconced in the Canadian wilds, where he lies in hiding from the Kenyan government, Vikram goes over the story of his life, from his humble beginnings as the son of Indian shopkeepers in Nakuru to his glitzy post-independence role as a money launderer in Nairobi for the government of Jomo Kenyatta.

The Kenya that Vassanji writes about changes as the story progresses. In the early years, when Vikram is growing up in Nakuru, the land is still a British protectorate. The people live in constant fear of the Mau Mau, whose brutal attacks on white settlers and gruesome oath-taking rituals become the stuff of Vikram’s nightmares. With consummate skill, and a great deal of sensitivity, Vassanji explores the subtle distinctions that exist between different racial, ethnic and tribal groups during that period of rapid change. The whole spectrum is represented in one way or another, from the old-fashioned allegiance of Vikram’s father to Queen and country to the nationalistic fervour of ‘Africanization.’ Vikram, who is not ‘white enough’ to be British, like his friends Annie and Bill, or quite ‘black enough’ to be like his African friend Njoroge, realizes early on that he and his sister Deepa inhabit a murky middle ground which makes them suspect to both the white and black communities. In Vikram’s own words, “We lived in a compartmentalized society; every evening from the melting pot of city life each person went his long way home to his family, his church, his folk.”

In such a radically divided society, interracial love is not only frowned upon, it can have explosive and far-reaching consequences. Vikram’s sister, Deepa, learns this the hard way when she re-establishes contact with her childhood sweetheart, Njoroge. Vikram’s friendship with a Muslim girl in Dar es Salaam is threatened by racially-inspired attacks from her people. It seems as if the only alternative is to settle for a traditional Indian marriage or, as Vikram ironically puts it, “Rice and daal and chappati forever.” Though examples of successful interracial relationships exist – Juma and Sakina Molabux, Janice and Mungai – they seem the exception rather than the rule. In post-independence Kenya change is in the air, but it seems that old prejudices persist – or have been replaced by new ones.

Vassanji brilliantly captures an entire era in the history of Kenyan politics. Njoroge, who as a child was the grandson of the Lalls’ gardener, returns university-educated and at par with his former employers. On the road to a brilliant political career, Njoroge distances himself from Jomo Kenyatta and his increasingly corrupt regime, turning instead to the communist sympathizer, Kariuki. Through his characters, Vassanji captures the corruption and moral ambiguity of Third World politics; Vikram Lall introduces us to a dark underworld of furtive dealings, bribery and extortion, and political murder.

However, self-avowed ‘monster’ Vikram has his redeeming traits. Vassanji ensures that our sympathy remains with the hero by giving him the predominant voice in the novel. Furthermore, to parallel the reader’s gradual acceptance of Vikram as something other than a monster, Vassanji introduces the character of Seema Chatterjee, a librarian who works in the small Canadian town where Vikram is hiding out and in whom Vikram begins to confide. There are times when his famously cold and calculating nature gives way to human feeling, and his little acts of generosity or his love for his family tip the balance in his favour. Was he, as he claims, just a pawn in a bigger game? The novel is both his confession and his attempt at restitution, inspired by the arrival of Joseph, Njoroge’s son.

Despite the sensational nature of his hero’s confession, ‘The In-Between World of Vikram Lall’ is quiet, subdued, and reflective. A masterfully written epic that presents a vivid picture of Kenya during a turbulent period in its nascent history, Vassanji’s novel has an elegiac quality to it, as if both he and his principal character are saying farewell to the Kenya of their childhood while putting to rest a few ghosts from the past.

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Shahbano Bilgrami is a freelance writer and copy editor who lives in Morgantown, West Virginia. Aside from being a regular book and film reviewer, she has had poetry published in An Anthology (OUP 1997) and has authored/contributed to several children’s textbooks during her eight-year period as editor at Oxford University Press, Pakistan. She is currently working on her first novel.

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© 2005 Laura Hird All rights reserved.