fiandaca 's review for:

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

3.0

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This was a compelling book with a lot of promise, but in the end, it completely fizzled out. I was caught up by the story of Darling, a ten-year-old Zimbabwean girl, and her oddly named friends Chipo, Stina, Godknows, Bastard, and Sbho. They had all lived in fairly stable homes with parents until they were caught in the chaos of ? I can’t exactly explain what, because I’m not well-informed about Zimbabwean politics, and Darling herself is unable to clearly articulate whether her home was bulldozed and her life turned upside down due to civil war, corruption, a change in power, or something else altogether. In any case, the maturity, reliance, and wisdom of these children is astonishing and drew me in. Eventually, Darling was able to escape to Michigan, to live with her aunt and uncle. Bulawayo does a great job showing us how difficult it is for a poor, hungry Zimbabwean girl to adjust to the excesses and inconsistencies of life in the U.S. But the story ends abruptly, without Darling even being able to form a stable identity, much less any clue about whether Darling returns to Zimbabwe, gets to go to college in the US, becomes an alcoholic like her uncle, or any other possibility. The abrupt ending, the lack of quotes, and the two brief summary chapters not in Darling’s voice all contributed to my feeling that this could have been, but wasn’t, an amazing novel. Also, to a westerner like me, sure, maybe they did need new names . . . but I don't feel the novel ever addressed the title. The closest was "we need new games."