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kammikim's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The challenges:
1. The unique style of narration is no doubt intentional and I think meant to represent oral traditions of storytelling, while also making a point about the repetitiveness of history, but the constantly repeating phrases and sentence structures did make for a sluggish or exasperating read at times. Some places it added power to the story, others it took away from the power and momentum in my opinion.
2. The violence in this book is necessary to the story, but it is truly difficult to get through. I ended some chapters sobbing and had to step away from the book for a month+ at a time to process and recover. It's a testament to Bulawayo's incredible command of emotion, empathy, and unflinching attention to the worst sides of humanity that it had such a visceral effect on me as a reader, but be aware that this is a really, really tough read.
Graphic: Torture, Colonisation, Child death, Animal death, Rape, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, Violence, Sexual violence, War, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Grief, and Genocide
orlagal's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia
michaelsbirthday's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I can understand why this book is divisive. It’s got a slow, boring start (a) and the writing style might not be for everyone (b). But I really think that Bulawayo’s writing is where this book is triumphant. It’s written as a zoomorphic fable or a fairy tale - a parable for us to take heed from - and it’s also a direct allegory for Zimbabwe’s very recent history - real, actual history. It has the devices you’d expect from a fable - repetition, allegory, generalisation - and the excruciating detail of historic events. I can see why some people say the animal gimmick doesn’t work, but I think, perhaps, that that in itself is something worth investigating. Can we reduce real, human events to a satirical generalisation? Isn’t it horrifying that in some ways, we can universalise these events - because Zimbabwe is far from the only place this has happened and happens? The rhythm/prosody/metre (I don’t know the right word) of the text is mesmerising. I personally loved the repetition; it contributed to the story-telling aspect, was emphatic, drew out semantic nuance and deconstructed political symbolism. I ate it up.
In terms of the plot, I do feel that the political set up at the start could have been cut by 100 pages. While the writing was interesting, the plot barely existed - or rather, it did, we were just told it from three different characters’ perspectives successively and the so the plot went nowhere for a very long time. I wish, conversely, that more time had been spent with Destiny and Simiso and their relationship.
Graphic: Violence, Torture, and Genocide
Moderate: Rape
pagesofash's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Colonisation, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, War, Police brutality, and Torture
Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault
rachelko's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Police brutality and Torture
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Sexual assault
plasticpansy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Animal death, Violence, War, and Torture
oddity123's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Violence, Genocide, Torture, Police brutality, Colonisation, Rape, and War
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Suicide
faduma's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Violence, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Police brutality, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, and Trafficking
eliodelio's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.75
i found the first half of the book quite slow, i think because it was more focused on the dictator and his inner circle and how they were ruling the country rather than the ordinary citizens of the nation and their struggles, which is what the second half was more about. it was interesting to imagine the behind-the-scenes of a dictatorship too, though; i've always wondered how they rationalise their actions and this helped understand it a bit better. in the second half the plot focuses more on a specific character and the people around her, all of them ordinary citizens in a village, as well as on the brewing revolution.
some things i wasnt a fan of: chapters showing public sentiment through tweets. it was a bit corny. im not really familiar with african twitter but to me the writing style didnt feel super authentic and it seemed like kind of a forced way to show conflicting opinions on politics etc among the citizens (as well as those who had left the country). i understood what the author was trying to do but i wasnt that satisfied with the execution.
kind of a small detail but it kept bugging me whenever it came up - race is a topic in this book, they often bring up how they are a black nation ruled by black people etc since they became independent from the white colonisers. what was never made clear though was how race works among animals - do the "black people" all have black fur? that doesnt really make sense to me. what race are orange cats? or ur classic black and white cows? or was the point just to illustrate the absurdity of race as a social construct? either way i feel like it could have been more clear.
other than that i did quite enjoy the book, it gave a lot of insight into how political systems often function outside of the imperial core and it was especially spooky reading it this close to the turkish elections.
Moderate: Rape, Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, and Murder
your_true_shelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Gun violence, Animal death, Sexual violence, Murder, War, Police brutality, Torture, and Genocide