#19: Rainmaker

A Review of Idza Luhumyo's 5 Years Next Sunday

Greetings, once again! 👋🏽

I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
Thank you for reading another edition of The Reader’s Perspective.

Today’s newsletter is a little different; it’s about a short story (not a whole book) and my new experience with audiobooks. I found this one yesterday, in my quest for something new.

I haven’t been reading as much as I used to, and it’s not really for lack of time. I’ve always made out time to read but these days, I find that I’m too tired to read, no matter what book I’m holding. Hence the experiment. 30+ issues, maybe?

I see audiobooks like recorded sermons, in that it is near impossible to hear everything. I get that you can always rewind, but still. I read the book as the audio version played from my phone but it was a completely different experience.

Anyway, while I prefer books and my iPad (with the perks of highlighting and scribbling a note here and there), I may just listen to my next few books. That said, let’s get to the review of this intriguing story published in 2021.

5 Years Next Sunday is about a girl who is a caller. She grows the rain in her hair. Set in a fantastical world, albeit akin to the one we know. It’s written by an award-winning Kenyan author, who is famous for short stories about the Kenyan coast.

“My locs are just shy of five years. They flow, like water. They are fluffy and black. They are dark. I forbid anyone to touch them. I use a black scarf to cover them. And how they coil, and how heavy they are, weighing me down with the expectations of my quarter.”

Although a complex story, the author uses short, simple sentences to narrate it in first-person, with a poetic and enigmatic undertone. It is published as part of an anthology of short stories exploring physical, political and environmental change.

Pili, the narrator, is out on an errand when her scarf falls down. Before she could pick it up, someone else does, and goes away with it. He returns the scarf to her house the next day and her family, who rarely spoke to her, thanks to her hair, warm up to her because a new friend, a white man, had come looking for her.

Not long after, the white man, Seth, is back in Pili’s father’s house, along with someone else, Honey. This time, he is greeted with a grand feast served with plates and silverware only used at Christmas.

Seth is obsessed with Pili’s hair. He keeps sending her parents gifts and it’s not long before money changes hands. We see her family’s lifestyle change as the months go by and they encourage Pili not to cut her hair as there is no need for rain.

Pili becomes friends with Honey, one of Seth’s friends. She feels drawn to her, as if in some form of kinship and wants to save her. Honey also seems obsessed with Pili’s hair and keeps asking her about cutting it. She claims it's because Seth loves it and if it was gone, he could possibly pay attention to her.

“Here is what will happen, I want to say to her. It will rain like it never has before. There will be anger…The men will hold torches of fire in their hands…I will be barefoot in my banishment…watch me jump over the fire. The fire will be the test, the exam.”

She simply tells Honey that it will rain if she cuts her hair but she eventually falls for her and her tricks. Next, we see the ploy unfold, and everything for what it is. From climate change to fetishization, the story explores rather complex themes.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Leave a comment, maybe? 😉
If you read this book after reading this review, do come back and share, thank you!

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