Sweet and Sour Milk was published in 1979, four years after Somalian anglophone writer Nuruddin Farah was forced into exile by Siyad Barre's military regime. It is the first novel of the trilogy that also includes SARDINES and CLOSE SESAME. The overall title of the trilogy is "Variations on the Theme of an African dictatorship".

The novel is the story of two twins, Loyaan and Soyaan. Loyaan is a dentist and Soyaan occupies an official position in the country's military regime. At the beginning of the novel (in the Prologue), Soyaan dies mysteriously. Before hiccupping his last, he shouts his twin brother's name three times.

The whole novel is Loyaan's inquiry on his brother's death: who poisoned Soyaan? SWEET AND SOUR MILK is, in a way, a detective story with metaphysical and mythical undertones.

Among other things, Loyaan finds out that Soyaan was a member of a clandestine organization that aimed at overthrowing the regime. He also finds out about the fact that Soyaan had a two-year old son, Marco.

Loyaan is surrounded with supposedly friendly people, people who want to help, such as Doctor Ahmed-Wellie. Whom should he trust? Whom can he trust?

And what do his mother and sister (Qumman and Ladan) think? Why does his father, Keynaan, (a patriarch and a dictator in his own household) "breathe respectability" into Soyaan's name by saying in the national newspaper that Soyaan was a national hero and a fierce follower of the General's regime?

What does that mean? Why does Farah lead us through ambiguous pathways and seemingly clear-cut formulas? Why is there a poetical vignette at the head of each chapter and why do those vignettes sound like enigmatic allegories?

At the end of the novel, Beydan, Keynaan's second wife, dies giving birth to a child who is immediately named Soyaan by the brave and firm sister, Ladan. Is that a note of hope?

Well, read the novel and try to find answers to these questions, and to all the other enigmas that I have not mentioned.

A good book can be read five or six times in a row, from several angles and divergent points of view. Take my word for it, this in an EXCELLENT book!

Bibliography

Jacqueline Bardolph has written numerous articles on Nuruddin Farah. I can give you a complete list if you wish (my e-mail address is at the top of the page).

Derek Wright, THE NOVELS OF NURUDDIN FARAH, Bayreuth African Studies, #32, 1994

I have also written an extended essay devoted to the trilogy. It is called "A Study of Duality in Nuruddin Farah's Dictatorship Trilogy".

Guillaume Cingal

I read this book based on the glowing, 5 star reviews of others. I stopped reading the book 30 pages before the end. The first half of the story held my interest well, but then it started lagging until my interest stopped altogether.

Mr. Farah does have a pleasant way with words and presents the life in Somalia well indeed. I enjoyed the differences and understand the importance of superstition in their society. Also it seems that every word spoken is analyzed by each person to the extent that all sorts of unspoken psychological challenges are experienced in a chit chat conversation.

For me this was not a reading joy.

Woow! When I read this book, I though this author is rather unique in this world. The language is rich and vivid. From there I decided to read all his work.

I came to thi s book after reading the review in the New York Times Book Review (the quote on this page doesn't do the review justice). I had never heard of the author and thought I was discovering someone completely new. When I looked at the book I learned that many of the world's great writers--Rushdie, Achebe, Gordimer--have been reading him for years and loving him. If you look at the page for Secrets and click on the Click Here for All the Reviews button you'll see what I mean. They're right. He's a great writer who deserves to be more famous. This is a great book. Now I'm going to read all of his other books.

I've just posted rave reviews of Maps and Gifts, the other books in the Blood in the Sun trilogy, but Secrets is I think the best--the deeply textured, invigorating climax to a series of books that has literally changed the way I read literature. It's also probably the most controversial, but that shouldn't keep anyone away. These books should be required reading for living in our new Global Village, and they're already necessary for anyone who cares about reading future classics, about reading books that, if there is any literary justice, will forever change the way every writer from every country will write novels.

While this book is about secrets, as its title proclaims, so is it also about family; family and the ties that bind its members sometimes into convoluted knots, sometimes into neat unison. Early in the book we are thrust into the fable-rich nature of this culture where dreams are the life-blood, myths inform decisions and names have significance beyond the obvious.

The central character, Kalaman, is the only son of Somalian Muslim parents. A childhood lover, Sholoongo, returns to Mogadiscio to seek him out and hold him to a childhood promise. This event stirs up a hornet's nest, ' making the family behave like scorpions whose hiding place has been disturbed.' Many old grievances rise to the surface and many previously unanswered questions now demand resolution.

Kalaman embarks on a search for answers by returning to his roots through his own and his family's memory. An undercurrent throughout the book, that runs parallel but submerged, is the civil strife in Somalia. The question asked is whether the breakdown in Kalaman's family is a symbol or a cause of the breakdown in greater society. In trying to make sense of himself, Kalaman, is also trying to make sense of Somalia.

The story is intriguing and whets the reader's curiosity regarding these secrets and what they could be. In the first half of the book, one feels quite bemused as many of the allusions are yet to be explained. Perseverance through this deliberate maze will be amply rewarded as things fall into place in the second half of the book.

Another striking aspect of this book is the convincing way the writer represents the relationships between the different characters. Kalaman's relationship with his grandfather, Nonno, hit a particular chord of recognition with me. It is Nonno that has coloured his life from birth onwards with myth and legend, tradition and values. His grandfather is his touchstone and his security and he cannot imagine 'what life would be like if [he] ceased to see Nonno in [his] dreams'. Kalaman too holds a special place in his grandfather's heart and mind. This renders the outcome of the secrets all the more poignant as well as highlighting the tragedy and irony when brother rises against brother.

This story is a universal one but what makes Secrets a special and remarkable read is the beautiful, sonorous, lyrical language. Never have I read a book as rich in metaphor and simile as this. Every phrase is finely crafted yet none seem contrived. The whole flows with a beauty and elegance that is startling. The characters are colourful yet realistic. A strong theme of sexuality sometimes bordering on the erotic runs through their lives and many taboos are transgressed. This all adds to the rich fabric of Secrets, making it a real find.

Farah possesses that rare ability of drawing the reader into the lives he has created until one believes that one is part of the action, indeed thinking the thoughts of the narrator. I only discovered after reading this book that it is the third in a trilogy, the first two being Maps and Gifts. I will certainly be doing my best to find them.

I learned about author Nuruddin Farah while researching contemporary African writers and was immediately intrigued by him. This novel won the 1998 Neudstadt International Prize for Literature which has also been awarded to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Octavio Paz, and this year to David Malouf. Secrets is well-deserving of this prize for a multitude of reasons.

Not many people have read African authors, especially contemporary African authors, and this is a shame. Nuruddin Farah's work is a perfect representation and a very strong introduction to the obscure African literary canon. This is a bold and challanging work--one that will teach readers an awful lot about Somalian life and engage them in a brilliant story, as well.

The story is set in Mogadiscio, Somalia during the horrific civil war, but readers should not let the setting frighten them away. One need not know anything about the conflict in order to enjoy the book. Farah has taken care of all of the details readers require. The plot involves the protagonist Kalaman's experiences upon receiving a visit from a childhood friend Sholoongo who wishes to bear his child. Her mysterious appearance causes Kalaman to confront his past's secrets and discover his own true identity.

Farah's writing almost outshines his own story with its jewel-like descriptions and sensuous, organic details. His poetic and magical writing is engrossing as are his curious characters who are unlike any I have met in other novels. This is a novel that will transport the reader to a particular time and place in Africa and fill it with spellbinding details that are both very real and very magical. Animals have totemic significance and secrets, as the title suggests, are the focus of many, many mysteries in the book. In fact, the word "secret" appears hundreds of times and is used in as many ways in this book. That, in itself, is amazing indeed.

This is a multi-layered, and multi-faceted novel, and its subplots, magical realism, and variety of speakers make this a challenging book, but if you are intrigued with African or are looking for an extraordinary story written in a very unique style, this book will not disappoint you.

Sardines offered a tantalizing portrayal of African life under a military dictator. In particular, this book was strong in portraying women's issues in Somalia. The female gender is still actively oppressed in Somalia and Sardines illustrates this idea in a subtle, yet captivating way.