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A review by half_book_and_co
House of Stone by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma
5.0
When Bhukosi, a young man, goes missing in Bulawayo, Zamani, who lives as a lodger at Bhukosi's parents, sees his chance to secure his place in this family and unearth the hi-stories of the parents, Abed and Agnes. Zamani implores later in the novel: "For a man cannot shape his own life while still under the thumb of History. History has been known to consume men whole, to make out of them its playthings. No, I shan't be History's plaything!"
But what are his real motives? Why is he so interested in what Abed and Agnes have to tell? How are their stories entangled? Zamani is a fascinating protagonist and unreliable narrator. He makes the reader complicit in his task to peel back layers of memory: His methods to make Abed and Agnes speak, the way he manipulates them, are often deplorable, but still, as a reader, you need him to succeed to learn more.
Novuyo Rosa Tshuma's House of Stone, whose title echoes Marechera's House of Hunger, is a thrilling page-turner and at the same time a philosophical examination of how trauma - colonial and post-colonial inflicted - seeps through generations, creates silences, shame, confusion, and how history is told, how it is re-created, how people insert themselves or take themselves out of narratives. The writing is poetical and takes you through a whole range of emotions, at one moment you laugh at another you look at horrible violence being laid bare in front of you. A beautiful book, I highly recommend.
"It is through hi-story's shadow that we conquer the past, this past in which nothing can live but from which everything springs."
But what are his real motives? Why is he so interested in what Abed and Agnes have to tell? How are their stories entangled? Zamani is a fascinating protagonist and unreliable narrator. He makes the reader complicit in his task to peel back layers of memory: His methods to make Abed and Agnes speak, the way he manipulates them, are often deplorable, but still, as a reader, you need him to succeed to learn more.
Novuyo Rosa Tshuma's House of Stone, whose title echoes Marechera's House of Hunger, is a thrilling page-turner and at the same time a philosophical examination of how trauma - colonial and post-colonial inflicted - seeps through generations, creates silences, shame, confusion, and how history is told, how it is re-created, how people insert themselves or take themselves out of narratives. The writing is poetical and takes you through a whole range of emotions, at one moment you laugh at another you look at horrible violence being laid bare in front of you. A beautiful book, I highly recommend.
"It is through hi-story's shadow that we conquer the past, this past in which nothing can live but from which everything springs."