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A review by savvylit
Drinking from Graveyard Wells by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Drinking from Graveyard Wells is a skillfully crafted collection featuring oft-forgotten Zimbabwean voices. Ndlovu explores a myriad of themes that have shaped modern Zimbabwe including colonialism, generational trauma, extractive capitalism, tourism, misogyny, and migration.
Ndlovu, who is an excellent writer, is perhaps at her most skilled when her stories take on a mythological and surreal form. In one such story, the recently deceased toil away in a cave to appease a diamond-hoarding beast known as the Grootslang. In another, freshwater mermaids called njuzu vengefully thwart the building of a dam and reservoir in a river that they call home.
Overall, Drinking from Graveyard Wells is a delightful debut full of many memorable stories. I'm looking forward to whatever Ndlovu publishes next.
Ndlovu, who is an excellent writer, is perhaps at her most skilled when her stories take on a mythological and surreal form. In one such story, the recently deceased toil away in a cave to appease a diamond-hoarding beast known as the Grootslang. In another, freshwater mermaids called njuzu vengefully thwart the building of a dam and reservoir in a river that they call home.
Overall, Drinking from Graveyard Wells is a delightful debut full of many memorable stories. I'm looking forward to whatever Ndlovu publishes next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Gaslighting, War, Colonisation, and Xenophobia