A story of hope

A difficult read as a Zimbabwean but an important one. Thank goodness for the performer! The sounds and pronunciations were great, I teared up remembering some of the difficult conversations in 2017/2018. I suppose this is the most hopeful I have heard about our story at the end. And that is painful to say but beautiful as well. This is a well written hopeful story.

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2 people found this helpful

Extraordinary novel and performance

Found this book incredible, thought provoking, relevant, primal, intellectual, deeply human. And the reading of it was beyond. Highly recommend.

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Better to read than listen I think

I haven’t been able to finish this book on audible. I think I need to read it not listen. It’s not the reader. I think it’s the repetitions. It’s sensory overload for me. But on the page I imagine they’re very effective. So I’ll get it and read slowly at my own pace. If like me you have sensory overload and processing issues you might want to try this through the written medium.

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Funny but overlong

The narration was fantastic. As for the story, I found the first half tough going. There are numerous, quotable, killer one liners that highlight the ridiculousness of governmental mismanagement but it just took a really long time for the story to go anywhere. Making the characters animals added to the ridiculousness and worked, on the whole, but don't expect an animal farm esq allegory. This is straight characters are named as dogs/birds/horses but are to all intents human. Ironically, the second half, which was far more poignant and horrific, was an easier listen as it seemed to be building to a purpose. And there are some sections which simply didn't work on an audio book (5 mins of repeating the same sentance...). Not bad by any means but probably not a book i will return to.

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3 people found this helpful

Best read this year!

An excellent book, so cleverly written, captivating story! Love the allegory and nuance. The narration was absolutely AWESOME!

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Difficult but beautiful

I found the story difficult to follow since one character was described by multiple names. However i do see the beauty of the story. Unfortunately it wasn’t the right book for me

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This is an important book.

This book tells the story of Zimbabwe’s oppression by its despots. It offers hope and bears witness to the injustices perpetrated by the Zanu of of regime.

The reader is clearly not Ndebele. As a result there are many phrases that she mispronounces which I found grating.

The writing style too is plagued by the use of repetition which I found at times to be applied too abundantly.

But as I said this is a very important book and I applaud NoViolet for having been brave and enough to write it.

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4 people found this helpful

Perfect

I was hesitant in choosing this novel because of its Animal Farm-like style, assuming (very wrongly) that I would be bored by the format. Instead, I discovered a captivating, thought-provoking and immensely powerful story that utilised the animal analogy in a completely novel and impressive way, it's bold and energetic and very real.

The Narrator was fantastic, as someone with some family history in Zimbabwe it was a heartwarming surprise to hear the perfect grasp of the colloquial terms, accents and performance. I did google her and see she is Zimbabwean, so this makes sense of course, but she gave a wonderful edge to a story that would have been a lot more dim if only read by my own internal narration !

With its beautiful encapsulation of Zimbabwean people, culture, and resilience, Bulawayo's writing really breathes life into this tale.
I can't remember the exact quote (because I listened to the audio) but the story mentions comedians whose satire about the country is tremendously funny but at the same time deeply upsetting because of how true they ring. I found this similar to my thoughts on the book, the quirky, heartwarming writing and humour of the political absurdity only slightly veiling the gross tragedy being told.
All in all I really enjoyed this, give it a go !

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Worthy Booker Nominee

A slow burner, it took me a little time to get into the story but I grew to love this modern allegory. The narration is excellent.

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Brilliant

A wonderful unfolding tale which looks at Kenya's post colonial story from many angles. Written in a way which feels fresh and original and if this book doesn't win the Booker it's hard to imagine what could beat it!

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4 people found this helpful