We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

This week I read We need new names by NoViolet Bulawayo. NoViolet is an amazing author. Her words leave you wanting more and the geenrous use of Zimbabwean colloqiual expressions has you laughing in delight and sighing with nostalgia at the same time. I was taken back to my youth with her reference to the games we played Andy Over etc. Wow.

The book is about a young girl who lives in urban Zimbabwe and describes her experiences as well as offering a sort of social commentary of the times. She lives through Murambatsvina, through the dollarisation of the economy as well as occupation of white people’s land. She lives with her grandmother and mother; her father having gone to South Africa to look for work. He subsequently returns after many years of neglecting his family, now on his death bed, dying of AIDS.  Her mother’s sister secures a visa for her and she moves to America where she goes to school and struggles to fit in what with her accent and way of doing things. She eventually makes friends with a Ghananian girl and a Black American and together they explore early teenagehood amongst the temptations they are exposed to. 

This book was very good and offered an insight to people not familiar with the Zimbabwean situation. The only thing I found wrong is that she crammed all the Zimbabwean woes and American stereotypes into one book. For example, she writes about the introduction of the US Dollar, Murambastvina, farm occupations all in one go. At times the geographical setting seems off centre as she tries to fit in every thing without changing the location of the girl’s dwelling. She also delves into American stories such as the lack of discipline in American children, their exposure to societal evils such as drugs and pornography. It is amazing that the narrator, Darling manages to maintain any purity at all by the end of the book.

The book also reflects the pressure and sadness people living in the diaspora feel at being away from home. Always being asked for money, not having papers and not being able to attend funerals and weddings. It also looks at second generation diasporians who are so far removed from their parents culture and norms.

All in all, it was a fairly good book. I enjoyed it.

Second Hand Heart by Catherine Ryan Hyde

The cover of this book promises that if you love Jodi Picoult, you will love this author. It was right. Catherine Ryan Hyde has the ability to make you live and breathe a book, feel the heartache and pain in the main characters and find yourself cheering them on and hoping and praying for a happy ending.

There are two main characters, Vida and Richard. Vida is a young woman who has a heart condition and is literally at death’s door. Richard’s wife dies in a car accident and he makes the spontaneous decision to donate her organs. Her corneas go to an old lady who is mentioned in passing and her heart goes to Vida.

On a whim, he decides to visit Vida once her operation has been done. On walking in, Vida sees him and knows him instinctively, experiencing a connection with him that transcends all understanding. As the days go by, she struggles to make him believe that there is a connection. That she loves him even though she doesn’t know him. The book explores quasi scientific theory that all the cells in our bodies retain memory and emotions and that although an organ can be transplanted, it comes with its previous owners memories and experiences. Vida finds herself remembering things she has never experienced herself and this remembering takes her on a journey where she retraces the donor’s memories. Richard tries to shut her out but finds himself inexplicably drawn to her. The book culminates with the two meeting at the spot that Richard first met his wife and connecting. But afterwards they both decide to let go and move on with their lives.

 

This book had an ending that although it made sense was still a disappointment. I kept on wishing Vida would get her happy ending with the man that she loves and for Richard to receive solace and comfort in her love. It made absolute sense though for them to part as their only connection really was the heart and we are not sure if that connection would have been sustainable in the long term.

 

I enjoyed reading this book and I would definitely look out for more of her work

Harare North by Brian Chikwava

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The book Harare North by Brian Chikwava is not easy to read because of the particular writing style that he used. Although I recognized a few typical examples of the Zimbabwean way of speaking, I really did not feel that this particular style of writing represented any sector of Zimbabwe in general. Zimbabweans are known for their exceptionally high levels of literacy so the leading character narrating his story in broken english was strange. But the author did win a prestigious international writing competition so he obviously has reasons why he wrote like that.

Writing style aside, the book was a great read. It entwined humor, tragedy and  irony all in one go. Harare North refers to London UK and is thus named because of the high concentration of Zimbabweans working there. The book reveals the hardships and shame of leaving your home country to work as BBC (Bum Cleaners)…

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Harare North by Brian Chikwava

The book Harare North by Brian Chikwava is not easy to read because of the particular writing style that he used. Although I recognized a few typical examples of the Zimbabwean way of speaking, I really did not feel that this particular style of writing represented any sector of Zimbabwe in general. Zimbabweans are known for their exceptionally high levels of literacy so the leading character narrating his story in broken english was strange. But the author did win a prestigious international writing competition so he obviously has reasons why he wrote like that.

Writing style aside, the book was a great read. It entwined humor, tragedy and  irony all in one go. Harare North refers to London UK and is thus named because of the high concentration of Zimbabweans working there. The book reveals the hardships and shame of leaving your home country to work as BBC (Bum Cleaners) in the UK. The difficulty of finding a non exploitative job without the right papers and the expectations from relatives back home that drain one’s pocket on a monthly basis.

Our leading character arrives in London as a political fugitive seeking asylum status. He thinks he will be immediately granted asylum and the perks that go with it. On arrival, he is given a rude awakening and detained for a week by the Immigration officials before being given into the custody of his cousin and his wife who had previously invited him to come and stay with them.

It soon becomes clear that his cousin’s invitation was not meant to be taken seriously and he endures many indignities at their home. The book follows his attempts to get a decent job that doesn’t involve caring for the elderly. It looks at the lives of the flatmates he eventually stays with after he moves out of his cousin’s house. These interesting individuals who are stuck in a quandary and end up resorting to desperate measures to make ends meet. Like, the single mother who was impregnated by her aunt’s husband. She ends up hiring out her baby to women seeking welfare assistance. And the owner of the flat who is unmasked when it turns out he is housesitting the flat for its original owners and far from having a fancy job, he is actually a bum cleaner who has gone to great lengths to hide his profession from everyone else.

It also reveals the timeless struggles of infidelity and how women, instead of meekly accepting it, are now fighting back fire with fire. Although, as it is revealed in the book, this is a hollow victory with no clear winners on each side.

However, things are not as they seem, both in the situation the narrator is in and in himself and he develops a coping mechanism which brings the book to a dramatic and surprising turn. Readers will find the ending of the book very unexpected but also tragic.

Despite my skepticism about the writing style, I can see why Brian Chikwava is a literary genius whose star is on the rise.

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Purple Hibiscus is by far the BEST book I have read this year. When I was younger, my siblings and I would eat our ice cream slowly. We didn’t want the dessert to finish. That is exactly the way I felt about Purple Hibiscus. I didn’t want the story to end! It was so good I didn’t want to get to the end.

The storyline left me with mixed feelings about Kambili’s father. An abusive man or a victim of religion? Her mother also left me ambivalent. While you feel sorry for her trapped in an abusive marriage, you hate her for letting her children be physically and emotionally abused by their father. The scene when Kambili’s father pours boiling water on her feet to stop her from”walking” into sin the next time left me so heartbroken as a mother. Although Kambili’s mother’s final actions against her husband speak off a woman who finally snaps understandably; it is the entire family which suffers and has to pick up the pieces.

The story ends abruptly I think. I would have loved Chimamanda to explore the relationship between the Priest and Kambili further. All in all, it was an amazing book.

Jodi Picoult-Plain Truth

Just finished reading this book. Could. Not. Put. It. Down! Jodi Picoult has an amazing way of drawing you into a story so that you feel such strong emotions about the book’s characters.

This book is about an Amish girl who is accused of murdering her new born baby. It brings about a whole new definition of guilt. How society in comparison to the deeply religious Amish society views guilt. It explores sub themes of love. The things the characters do in the name of love. As always Jodi Picoult’s books do not disappoint.