#ReadAroundTheWorld. #Zimbabwe

This is a coming of age story set in Zimbabwe around 2007 or 2008, told through the eyes of ten-year-old Darling. The author NoViolet Bulawayo (Elizabeth Tshele) was the first African woman to be shortlisted for a Man Booker Award.

The book starts off following a group of children in Zimbabwe: Darling, Stina, Chipo, Bastard and Godknows. As they run around stealing guavas, trying to figure out how to get the baby out of Chipo’s belly and watching the spectacle and drama of Sunday church services, they reveal a world of political unrest and turmoil. Through the oblique gaze of childhood, not fully understanding the politics and events occurring, and just accepting life as it is, these children show us something of their world with a humour and candour that made this an engaging read. There are clearly terrible events happening but this style makes them somewhat easier to read.

I found the second half of the novel when Darling goes to America and lives with her aunt far less interesting. Clearly the immigrant experience and feeling of displacement and disconnection is an important one, but somehow did not come off as well for me.

I am glad I read this book and I would like to read another by this author. Be aware if you do choose to read this book it does contain a childhood rape. ( )

This book provides an incredibly interesting perspective of a young girl immigrating to the US from Zimbabwe. I was struck by how the story jumps in time, skipping months or years to get to the next event. It reminded me a bit of "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros in that regard. Watching Darling grow up and see how her time in the US changes her from who she was in Zimbabwe is very poignant. There is a lot to think about with this book, and I feel it would make a good book club book. ( )

NoViolet Bulawayo's first novel made the 2013 Booker shortlist, which gives an insight into her talent. We Need New Names is the story of Darling, a young child living in poverty in a Zimbabwean shanty town. Darling and her friends run riot amid the squalor, and their games innocently reflect the horror going on around them.

Darling eventually escapes this environment and moves to the USA, where she struggles to get to grips with her new life. She feels the strings attaching her to her old country, but knows she can never go back.

The first half of the book is both amusing and shocking as Darling describes the games she plays with her friends. However, the second half is a more mundane account of a young immigrant in a new country. That said, there is one chapter called How They Lived which is as good an account of the experiences of a third world migrant to the new world as I've ever read. Gems like this chapter make We Need New Names a very worthwhile addition to African literature. ( )

Beautiful, horrifying, funny, thoughtful. Story of a poor ten-year-old girl in Zimbabwe and then a few years later as an immigrant teenager in Michigan. Great first novel -- I'm waiting for her next work. ( )

A very fast paced novel reflecting the life of a person leaving her broken indigenous country for life in the USA. Very moving account of the experience with quirky references to Zimbabwe and the horrors of the regime. ( )