Robert Gribbin, The
Serpent of the Nile: A Novel of South Sudan.
A review by Alan G. Johnston.
Note: both Robert Gribbin and
Alan Johnston were in the Peace Corps group that arrived in Kenya in October
1968. They both spent many years in
Africa.
The last place that you want to end up is in a prison
cell in some remote part of Africa, whether that cell is controlled by a rebel
group, an opposition warlord, or a government.
Especially if you happen to be a journalist. Bad things happen in those
cells. Yet that is exactly where we meet up with the protagonist of Robert
Gribbin’s new novel, The Serpent of the
Nile. As he always does, Gribbin has
used his lengthy experience in many parts of Africa, including South Sudan, to
provide an authentic context for this tale of insurrection and intrigue in this
unstable part of Africa. By the time you
have finished this short novel, much of which consists of a concise briefing on
the history, culture and politics of South Sudan, you may feel ready to take up
a diplomatic post in that country, but you will probably not want to do much
investigative journalism there.
As it turns out, our as yet un-named journalist is
soon let loose by his captor and led to the border by the captor’s son, Owino,
so that the journalist can return to his base in Kenya to recover from this
close call. All the characters in this
novel seem quite plausible, and Gribbin reviews a comprehensive list of foreign
aid organizations, UN agencies, NGOs, and diplomats from across the globe that
have assembled in Juba to somehow help build a new country. The name Owino reminded me of my many Luo
friends from Kenya who were serving in Juba as consultants and advisors; they
even jokingly referred to Juba as “Little Kisumu.” But after a short respite our free-lance
journalist friend, Paul, who happens to be a Black American who served in the
Peace Corps in Kenya and who can pass as a Kenyan when it serves his purposes,
is back in Juba searching for a lead on some illegal Chinese dealings, a story
that he can sell to the international press.
The main problem that I have with this novel is that
it is too short. It establishes a
realistic context for the events of the novel, but three-quarters of the way
through the book Paul is still not yet in the serious trouble that we know is
coming. A more elaborate rendition of
the story would get us more invested in the characters and leave us even more
astounded by the outcome.
It is quite possible to spend significant amounts of
time in Africa and not realize the extent to which sorcery and various spirits have
such a major influence for both good and evil.
Gribbin does not make that mistake.
The novel’s namesake Serpent of the Nile raises its head and has a
practical impact at several key junctures in the story. In fact, for many of the South Sudanese who
we meet in these pages, their glimmer of hope for the future, in this otherwise
forlorn country, rests in their eventual salvation by this very serpent.
