A review by hetauuu
An Elegy for Easterly: Stories by Petina Gappah

4.0

An Elegy for Easterly is my first read from Zimbabwean author Petina Gappah. In this collection of thirteen short stories, Gappah explores the lives of ordinary people in contemporary Zimbabwe. This is a fantastic short story collection. I specifically noticed how amazing her endings are. The ending to almost every single story here was such a gut-punch, it knocked the air out of me and kept these stories lingering in my mind for days. My absolute favorite was The Cracked, Pink Lips of Rosie's Bridegroom, a story about a newlywed couple where the groom has AIDS. Gappah never uses the word AIDS, but she makes it clear to her readers in other ways - a perfect execution of show, don't tell - and it makes the story all the more impactful. Other stories I adored were The annexe shuffle about a law student who is admitted into a mental hospital after referring to a suicide attempt, Our Man in Geneva wins a Million Euros about a Zimbabwean man living in Geneva who gets caught in an email scam, and In the Heart of the Golden Triangle about a young wife and mother who longs for her past, written in second person.