Stories are the collateral Kirabo uses to bribe Nsuuta to learn about her absent mother against her grandmother’s wishes. And her hunger for storytelling permeates the novel through Kirabo at twelve, engaging the annoyed teenagers of her village in storytelling by activating a cultural etiquette that they must abide by in the presence of adults. In fact, it is how Makumbi introduces her young protagonist-eager to tell a story she has been practicing. Trading stories is foundational to Ugandan culture.
It is not the power that Kirabo develops and learns to wield, though her own origin story is still compelling. Unfortunately, this supernatural aspect of the story, though effective as a hook, dissolves rather quickly and is only referenced later in the book when necessary. She wants to suppress it, but the story of the first woman is what begins chiseling out the form of Kirabo’s core being. Occasionally, it reappears, and Kirabo is both intrigued by the idea and frightened by the responsibility. The first woman, as Nsuuta explains to Kirabo, was “…huge, strong, bold, loud, proud, brave, independent.” But it was apparently too much for the world and it was bred out of womankind. She tells Kirabo that her “flying out” is a special ability, stemming from woman’s “original state” at the beginning of time, an enchanting story that Nsuuta tells Kirabo. Nsuuta no longer has use of her eyes, but what she can see is the shifting of woman’s place in the world. Kirabo secretly meets with Nsuuta to help rid her of the out-of-body affliction, but Nsuuta hesitates.
The only woman who could possibly understand her problem is Nsuuta, the blind “witch” who lives nearby. She finds it evil and thinks herself possessed. In her newest novel, A Girl is a Body of Water, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi reveals that twelve-year-old Kirabo has within her another self that is able to fly out of her physical body and travel to other places. She does not outright reject her people’s customs, but her desire to learn where she comes from-specifically, the history of her mother-drives her to seek help along the edge of what tradition allows to find her own way into womanhood. Kirabo presses against the boundaries of tradition in her small village of Nattetta, Uganda.
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