 Title:
Cassandra
Author: Violet Barungi
ISBN: 9970 9010 4 4
Publisher: FEMRITE Publications Limited
Cassandra is the story of an independent-minded, self confident
and ambitious girl, who is determined to reach the top without using
men's coat tails to do so. She believes women have more going for
them than the subservient role designed for them by society. But
what happens when she is waylaid by love, with all its power to
subdue and overwhelm is a lesson in self-discovery.
Written against the backdrop of the turbulent early eighties, Cassandra
is a girl's statement on life and on how to balance gender
roles to transform society positively.
"Ingenious and hilarious, Cassandra offers a delightful
reading. It dramatises a rare and racy experience that invites and
compels the reader to hold their breath." - Rugambwa
- Otim
"Cassandra is a powerfully written novel. Barungi
has employed rare artistry in her use of language. The plot is intricately
woven through a gripping use of suspense from the beginning to the
end. This keeps the reader on tenterhooks; unable to predict which
way the story will unfold. The characters, though, save for Cassandra,
Bevis and Raymond, remain largely undeveloped. Perhaps that is a
deficiency in characterisation, for the author concentrates mainly
on the main plot and we do not know much about characters like Tonia,
Belinda, Melinda and Gavin, for instance. There are also a few flaws
in the text which will need to be attended to in the second edition:
a disjointed sentence here, a missed quote there and so on, but
in no way do they ruin the novel’s artistic finesse.
Violet Barungi is undoubtedly one of the outstanding contemporary
Ugandan novelists, and her novel is a good candidate for a Book
Prize. It is a good lesson in matters of love, human relationships
as well as gender issues, which are on the agenda in Uganda today.
It is a must read for all." - Aaron Mushengyezi
"Violet Barungi’s new novel, Cassandra
is a unique mix of a thriller and serious social commentary. In
Cassandra, Barungi presents a modern, liberated woman as
a central character of her novel but warns: “Feminine liberation
does not mean rejection of men and repudiation of a woman role in
the family.” Cassandra also has the ingredients of a conventional
thriller: a tickling romance, unsolved murder mystery, child abduction,
money and property, and a guerrilla war in the background. Both
these elements make the novel a compelling reading." - Joseph
Rwagatare
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©MMV
Violet Barungi