THE CONFESSIONS OF NAIROBI MEN

The confessions of Nairobi men by Joan Thatiah is an anthology of short stories , true stories as told to Joan Thatiah. This collection, entails fifteen stories, whose main characters are men who have endured life’s brutal hand. The stories revolve around love, marriage, money , family, black tax, extramarital relations , sexual abuse ,upbringing, desire and loss , career e.t.c.

The rawness of these stories , is so intriguing to the readers. I often wonder if in my day to day life I have come across any of these men and perhaps wondered to myself why they behave as they do, sadly unknown to me they are silently enduring and processing something they’d rather go to the grave with only having disclosed it toJoan.

The anthology opens with a very heartwrenching story whereby a man spots a very dreamy girl, every man’s dream. In his words, her sight motivated him to work hard, as it dawned on him, ‘ hapo bila pesa hatoboi,’ or rather , the air and aura about her, said,’ usiniguze bila doh.’ Things escalate in a feigned perfection until DNA tests are carried out. As it pans out, it ends in suicide. Here is a man , living with the reality that his whole marriage was indeed false, beaten , betrayed and forever left to seek answers on what he ever did to his late wife ,Grace.

This particular story , as an opening to the stories is one of those that as reader, stays with you. It shifts your views on certain jokes and tugs parts of your heart. This story like many in the book, weighs on the theme of betrayal and self-centredness.

Story no. 3 is another one that left my heart gasping for air literary. ‘ The streets break me and put me back together. ‘ This story, in my opinion paints a clear picture on the aspect of luck and fate. It revolves around the life of a man , who earns his bread from uber driving. It all sets off with a request, as he is enjoying his smokie pasua and a client whose scent announces her arrival asks him to drive offline to Kileleshwa. He is just going on with his work, when the said client turns into a returning client. It then turned into a romantic interest. A reminder to never intertwine business with pleasure. The matters take a sour twist, as the client’s lover finds out, the rest of the story contains gory details. But as soon as the said uber driver gets back to his feet , his joy is short-lived as he encounters another ugly incident that ends in him being hospitalised.

Being a murder suspect and being proven innocent is already enough trouble to go through in an entire lifetime, but having to be hospitalised and yet go back to the streets that broke you, really takes a spiI will skip to story fourteen, ‘ Mine in every way that matters. ‘ The reason why this story has stayed with me is that, it occurred to me that when there is infidelity to save the face of a man it then becomes a lesser evil. When the man’s wife announces that she or rather they are expecting , he has to fake enthusiasm, because when you are infertile, you don’t go announcing. Especially after you silently watched your first wife being sent away over supposed infertility . So when this man is informed of the first pregnancy he has to be elated, then it occurs again. Both times playing daddy cool until one day he decided to make an attempt to open the can of worms while still keeping it locked. His wife said, she did all that for him and them. She even boldly adds that she never wants to have the conversation again. So here is a family , with a big secret, but the man maintains that the children, despite not having being fathered by him, are his in every way.

I wondered to myself how many fathers are dads to children they knowingly didn’t sire ? Why is it deemed a taboo for a man to come out and say he is impotent? If a woman gets to have children with another man is she covering up for her husband and if yes does it then serve as an ego boost ?

To read these and more heart-wrenching stories such as My mother’s enormous secret,under the Jacaranda tree,The round Peg and I don’t want to carry it anymore, get yourself a copy of Joan Thatiah’s Confessions of Nairobi men, book one. I highly recommend this book . It is a very heavy read,but it will call you to be more empathetic and less judgemental. There is also book two,all available in leading stores. If you have read the stories, comment on the one that has stayed with you. Happy reading, remember to read Kenyan authored books. Bye