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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
This story was first published in 2013, a debut novel by Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo. When it was published it made quite a stir. It was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize (2013), the Guardian First Book Award (2013). It was also a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Award. It won the following: the Etisalat Prize for Literature, the PEN Hemingway Award for debut work of fiction and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction (all 2013).
This was a year that I didn’t read any of the Booker longlist, so I wasn’t even really aware of Bulawayo.
The description (above) is accurate, the book commences with ‘Hitting Budapest’ the first chapter which also is a stand alone short story (which won the Caine Prize for African Writing). In this chapter you are introduced to Darling and her friends aged 9-11, who are the children of Paradise, a shanty tin town created when their homes were destroyed. Darling lives with her mother and mother of bones (her grandmother).
The children, no longer able to attend school after it closed, run free, stealing guavas from the trees in the neighbouring town, playing games and generally being children. The book is told from Darling’s point of view and brilliantly demonstrates their excitement for each different adventure. It also provides a child’s context of their environment, their hunger, their want for a better life and even their curiosity with foreigners:
The writing is observational, painting a picture of life as an outcast to society, but more than everything else it is light and candid, Darling is innocent and fun, she wants to run and play. Of course, she hopes for her better life with her Aunt in America, but for now that is too far away and so she and her friends focus on their immediate needs, which are dominated by hunger, and play. As a reader and an adult, you cannot help but see through the mist of childhood to the reality of the scenes, that will both warm and break your heart.
And that is what is amazing about this book. There is some mastery where you can demonstrate the cruelty of the conditions that surround these children, and there is a lot that they are subjected to, but keep the story bubbling along like a shallow brook on a summer’s day.
I don’t want to give too many quotes, but I think this passage highlights somewhat my comments above (which I found hard to articulate):
Both quotes are in the first 30 pages. To me I just absolutely adored this first half of the book, the part set in Zimbabwe.
The second half follows Darling as she contemplates America. I didn’t find this part as enjoyable, I think maybe because some of the innocence of youth is gone? Darling is 13-18 during this period, and so is examining what she sees with more knowledge. So the gauze of youth is lifted and you do see more of the gritty nature of human existence and of coming of age. I think some of this part goes too far, it is almost every negative with America is exposed here, bullying, suicide, mental health, sex / porn, consumerism, violence, unfaithfulness, war, as well as what you would expect, displacement, different customs and the burden of new expectations on her, to study, to work, to become something.
While I didn’t want to wrap my arms around Darling as a teenager, it is still compelling. We see that tragedy can unfurl in both countries, just that the details and narrative are different. I think this may be something the author was trying to highlight, but in America, it is a bit overdone. Again, the story keeps pace as Darling processes events at arms length as she observes society.
Ultimately for me, the book is about belonging, and displacement and I would recommend it.
Read more of my reviews: https://yarrabookclub.wordpress.com/
This was a year that I didn’t read any of the Booker longlist, so I wasn’t even really aware of Bulawayo.
The description (above) is accurate, the book commences with ‘Hitting Budapest’ the first chapter which also is a stand alone short story (which won the Caine Prize for African Writing). In this chapter you are introduced to Darling and her friends aged 9-11, who are the children of Paradise, a shanty tin town created when their homes were destroyed. Darling lives with her mother and mother of bones (her grandmother).
The children, no longer able to attend school after it closed, run free, stealing guavas from the trees in the neighbouring town, playing games and generally being children. The book is told from Darling’s point of view and brilliantly demonstrates their excitement for each different adventure. It also provides a child’s context of their environment, their hunger, their want for a better life and even their curiosity with foreigners:
“Chipo points at the thing and keeps jabbing at the air in a way that says ‘What’s that?…
Oh this? It’s a camera, the woman says, which we all know; even a stone can tell that a camera is a camera. The woman wipes her hand on her skirt, pats the camera, then aims what is left of the thing at the bin by the door, misses, and laughs to herself like a madman. She looks at us like maybe she wants us to laugh with her, but we are busy looking at the thing that flew in the air before hitting the ground like a dead bird. We have never ever seen anyone throw food away, even if it’s a thing. Chipo looks like she wants to run after it and pick it up. The woman’s twisted mouth finishes chewing and swallows. I swallow with her, my throat tingling”
The writing is observational, painting a picture of life as an outcast to society, but more than everything else it is light and candid, Darling is innocent and fun, she wants to run and play. Of course, she hopes for her better life with her Aunt in America, but for now that is too far away and so she and her friends focus on their immediate needs, which are dominated by hunger, and play. As a reader and an adult, you cannot help but see through the mist of childhood to the reality of the scenes, that will both warm and break your heart.
And that is what is amazing about this book. There is some mastery where you can demonstrate the cruelty of the conditions that surround these children, and there is a lot that they are subjected to, but keep the story bubbling along like a shallow brook on a summer’s day.
I don’t want to give too many quotes, but I think this passage highlights somewhat my comments above (which I found hard to articulate):
“On her small feet, Mother of Bones wears mismatched shoes, a flat green shoe and a red tennis shoe with a white lace, but that doesn’t mean she’s crazy.
We pass tiny shack after tiny shack crammed together like hot loaves of bread. I’m not wearing shoes because they are too small now, and the other made-in-China ones that Mother brought me from the border just fell apart, so I walk carefully and make sure to lift my feet to avoid things on the dusty red path: a broken bottle here, a pile of junk over there, a brownish puddle of something here, a disembowelled watermelon there. It’s early in the morning but the sun is already frying the shacks; I fell it over my body, roasting me like.”
Both quotes are in the first 30 pages. To me I just absolutely adored this first half of the book, the part set in Zimbabwe.
The second half follows Darling as she contemplates America. I didn’t find this part as enjoyable, I think maybe because some of the innocence of youth is gone? Darling is 13-18 during this period, and so is examining what she sees with more knowledge. So the gauze of youth is lifted and you do see more of the gritty nature of human existence and of coming of age. I think some of this part goes too far, it is almost every negative with America is exposed here, bullying, suicide, mental health, sex / porn, consumerism, violence, unfaithfulness, war, as well as what you would expect, displacement, different customs and the burden of new expectations on her, to study, to work, to become something.
While I didn’t want to wrap my arms around Darling as a teenager, it is still compelling. We see that tragedy can unfurl in both countries, just that the details and narrative are different. I think this may be something the author was trying to highlight, but in America, it is a bit overdone. Again, the story keeps pace as Darling processes events at arms length as she observes society.
Ultimately for me, the book is about belonging, and displacement and I would recommend it.
Read more of my reviews: https://yarrabookclub.wordpress.com/
Bought this at Sherman's, my ibs, after reading a review in O Magazine. It is a devastating and beautiful book, with several chapters that could stand on their own as short stories or excerpts to use in a class. What made the book especially impressive was that it didn't fit the usual narrative arc of an immigrant story: I read the chapters set in Zimbabwe with anxiety, watching as things deteriorated, hoping for improvement, for Darling to "get out of there" to some place better--but then, when she gets to the US, the better is muted, confusing, not-always-better. The novel/memoir? is heartbreaking not in its scenes of brutality or suffering, but in its depiction of the fact that home, for better or worse, leaves marks on our souls that can't ever be erased, and leaving home--no matter the reason, no matter the improvement--causes disruption and loss. A beautiful and sad book, We Need New Names should be required reading for anyone considering immigration issues.
At first I wasn't very into this book. The writing style was very different (no traditional dialogue), and I kind of plodded through the first half. But the second half was really, really good, especially the ending, and I really ended up appreciating the writing style - it's beautiful in its own way. The author did a wonderful job of changing the narrator's voice based on her age, and there are certain passages and thoughts that, because they're done from the lens of a teenager or child, are really funny. Just little things here and there. And I do tend to get attached to books where the narrator has certain mixed feelings about their homeland, and not feeling like they belong where they currently are. It's so, so truthful and definitely a good book.
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book chronicles the pain of growing up in a dysfunctional country and having to start life abroad, in countries that'll never truly belong to you. It is funny, heartbreaking and gripping. This was my second time reading the book and I fell in love with the characters all over again. NoViolet Bulawayo, you will always be famous.
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
the book is really beautifully written and gives a good insight into life in zimbabwe and the immigrant experience. still, i felt like something was missing. i can't exactly pinpoint what, i just wanted..... more. i think maybe it was lacking in direction or plot. then again, i guess that's a good reflection of real life: sometimes it is just kind of pointless and directionless, and there is not much you can do about that.
How do you call a book about violence, crime and crumbling nations repetitive? By starting a review with that question. There was nothing new about this. It was the same atrocities-to-emigration story seen over and over again, and it had nothing unique in terms of voice, structure, or content. It was intelligently written, but that's not enough to make Darling's story stand out, be engaging, be memorable. As others reviewers have shared, just because a book isn't bad, doesn't mean it's good, no matter the topic.
This is a powerful, bleak, beautiful book about belonging, about home. Darling is a ten year old girl in Zimbabwe, living in a shanty town called Paradise and dreaming of America with her friends. She joins her aunt in America and, predictably, it isn't paradise anymore than the shanty town. The writing is beautiful at times and she deals so well with the complexities of leaving your broken country and trying to make a new life in a different culture.
I had a false start but on the second go really loved this. Darling and her friends have such real kid voices, real kid concerns, real kid confusions. Being little and mean and loving and adventurous and scared and playful. Then the teenager feelings, diaspora feelings, longing and pride and loneliness and responsibility. NoViolet Bulawayo tells these stories so beautifully.