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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
This book was amazingly great at the beginning the narrator voice works so well in the story when it's in Africa but once she gets to America and is lonely it's so depressing and the pace changes and I couldn't feel excited about reading it anymore.
Hat mir leider nicht so zusagt obwohl ich sehr gerne mehr über Zimbabwe gelesen/ gelernt hätte. Die Sprache enpfand ich als etwas zu vulgär und gleichzeitig befremdlich. Vielleicht ist die deutsche Übersetzung zugänglicher.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Engaging, even powerfully distressing at times. But ultimately too scattered, like a collection of short stories that hadn't yet quite coalesced into a novel.
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Purchasing this book was a rarity, in that I pretty much always stick to books that are on my wishlist, and hardly ever buy books I’ve not even heard of before. The colourful spine first drew my eyes to We Need New Names, and then I recognised NoViolet Bulawayo’s name from the 2022 Booker shortlist. What made me decide to buy it, though, was the blurb.
Bulawayo manages to cover lots in under 300 pages, but the novel never felt rushed. The first half of the book covers main character Darling’s life in a country in Africa (unnamed, but clearly based on Zimbabwe). Darling is the ten year old narrator of the book – but this isn’t an annoying child narrator, rather it just highlights the juxtaposition of her innocence with the horror of what is going on around her and her friends as a result of the political turbulance (again, Zimbabwe and Mugabe aren’t specifically named, but they don’t really need to be). Partly as a result of having her house knocked down and having to move to a shantytown, seeing soldiers violently attacking citizens and trying to console her mute pregnant 11 year old friend, Darling dreams of moving to America.
'[T]he problem with those who speak only English is this: they don’t know how to listen; they are busy looking at your falling instead of paying attention to what you are saying.'
The second half of the book follows this move – with Darling going to live with her aunt in Detroit, Michigan. Here, she crosses over from dreaming about America to dealing with the less-than-perfect realities of America. Darling recounts feelings of displacement, with neither her home country or America feeling like her home, not being able to leave America due to not having the correct papers to get back into America and the expectation to assimilate into American culture.
'We dropped our heads because we were no longer people; we were now illegals.'
Mixed in amongst Darling’s narration are powerful chapters narrated by the collective ‘we’/narrating the collective ‘them’, covering the realities of immigration. These are my favourite chapters in terms of the writing; they are intense, eloquent and important, and really showcase Bulawayo’s talent as a writer. Her words moved me – there was one paragraph in particular which was so emotive and upsetting that it took me aback.
'Look at them leaving in droves despite knowing they will be welcomed with restraint in those strange lands because they do not belong, knowing they will have to sit on one buttock because they must not sit comfortably lest they be asked to rise and leave, knowing they will speak in dampened whispers because they must not let their voices drown those of the owners of the land…'
Before reading We Need New Names, I hadn’t even contemplated reading Glory, Bulawayo’s aforementioned 2022 Booker shortlisted title, but I have no doubt that I will now.
Bulawayo manages to cover lots in under 300 pages, but the novel never felt rushed. The first half of the book covers main character Darling’s life in a country in Africa (unnamed, but clearly based on Zimbabwe). Darling is the ten year old narrator of the book – but this isn’t an annoying child narrator, rather it just highlights the juxtaposition of her innocence with the horror of what is going on around her and her friends as a result of the political turbulance (again, Zimbabwe and Mugabe aren’t specifically named, but they don’t really need to be). Partly as a result of having her house knocked down and having to move to a shantytown, seeing soldiers violently attacking citizens and trying to console her mute pregnant 11 year old friend, Darling dreams of moving to America.
'[T]he problem with those who speak only English is this: they don’t know how to listen; they are busy looking at your falling instead of paying attention to what you are saying.'
The second half of the book follows this move – with Darling going to live with her aunt in Detroit, Michigan. Here, she crosses over from dreaming about America to dealing with the less-than-perfect realities of America. Darling recounts feelings of displacement, with neither her home country or America feeling like her home, not being able to leave America due to not having the correct papers to get back into America and the expectation to assimilate into American culture.
'We dropped our heads because we were no longer people; we were now illegals.'
Mixed in amongst Darling’s narration are powerful chapters narrated by the collective ‘we’/narrating the collective ‘them’, covering the realities of immigration. These are my favourite chapters in terms of the writing; they are intense, eloquent and important, and really showcase Bulawayo’s talent as a writer. Her words moved me – there was one paragraph in particular which was so emotive and upsetting that it took me aback.
'Look at them leaving in droves despite knowing they will be welcomed with restraint in those strange lands because they do not belong, knowing they will have to sit on one buttock because they must not sit comfortably lest they be asked to rise and leave, knowing they will speak in dampened whispers because they must not let their voices drown those of the owners of the land…'
Before reading We Need New Names, I hadn’t even contemplated reading Glory, Bulawayo’s aforementioned 2022 Booker shortlisted title, but I have no doubt that I will now.
Darling's narrative voice is so powerful that it almost felt like she was standing in front of me telling her story of growing up in an African country (never specified where) and then in the US. The displacement of migration is slipped in through almost lyrical passages between the plot chapters and Darling's cynical, no-nonsense humour points out the absurdity of colonial influence, conspicuous consumption and growing up with mixed cultural values, all battling to overcome and swallow each other out. Forced to leave her country, family and friends that she loves because of unceetainty and violence, Darling is forever in-between, longing for home, but not daring to show signs of her heritage in her new life, lest she stands out and is ousted. Darling represents a collective voice of those living the same incomplete and unsettled life through no fault of their own, but because of power struggles beyond their reach.
brutally honest book.
I read this due to it being on a list of "Love these male authors? Try this female ones" with it being compared to one of my all time favorite books "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathon Safran Foer.
goal in 2018: read more women authors!
I read this due to it being on a list of "Love these male authors? Try this female ones" with it being compared to one of my all time favorite books "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathon Safran Foer.
goal in 2018: read more women authors!
I loved this book. Bulawayo vividly portrays not just the main character Darling, but her circle of friends and their lives in Zimbabwe. It is the view of the country through Darling’s acute gaze - their games, their dangerous trips to steal fruit from the trees of the wealthy, the religious rituals, the despair of the adults around them - that gives life to the novel. The second half of the novel takes place in the US. It is a masterful commentary on the immigrant experience. The hardship of no longer truly belonging to either place. One of the most powerful scenes is when Darling tries to talk to her friends on the phone - friends she misses and longs for - but there is so much she can’t really describe about her new life, so many imperfections about America she doesn’t want to admit to, so many experiences she no longer shares with them - that she can’t find anything to say.
Her chapters that directly talk about what many immigrants have in common, the jobs they take and the dreams they put away, the family they try to support, but cannot visit because they don’t have papers -these are the most powerful chapters in the book. Her language is beautiful - almost poetic - and very moving.
Her chapters that directly talk about what many immigrants have in common, the jobs they take and the dreams they put away, the family they try to support, but cannot visit because they don’t have papers -these are the most powerful chapters in the book. Her language is beautiful - almost poetic - and very moving.