Great African Reads discussion

Our June selection is We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo, which was shortlisted for some prestigious awards. NoViolet Bulawayo also won the Caine Prize for her story "Hitting Budapest" in 2011.

I just finished reading this book. Curious to see what people think of it.

I just started reading today, I think I'm going to like it a lot.

I just downloaded it from the library so should start shortly!

I read this last summer I think and I liked it very much except.for the ending. I wrote a review but having reread it I dont want to post it here just in case it spoils people's read. I

I'm on a wait list for the audio version and will start it as soon as it becomes available.

I read it last year and could not put it down. A very fine novel.

I started reading it in December but didn't finish and switched to Happiness, Like Water. I plan on finishing it this month! I did attend a reading for the book with Bulawayo and I'm excited to finish it.

Just downloading the audio version now. I should be able to start this evening on my drive home. I'm looking forward to this book.

Zainab wrote: "I started reading it in December but didn't finish and switched to Happiness, Like Water. I plan on finishing it this month! I did attend a reading for the book with Bulawayo and I'..."

thanks for this tip! this is a new author for me and looks like I should add her to our Nigeria project thread.

I started on the train this morning...the first chapter is the "short story" that won her the Caine Prize, right?

Hitting Budapest was the prize winner. The stories are all connected however. Enjoy the book..:)

Clearly I have not done my background work on this...it's not a novel-novel, but a collection of connected short stories? I have only read Hitting Budapest (which I first read when it was on the short list for the Caine Prize) and barely started the second one.

Her writing is very evocative and unusual. So far I love it.

I've started the first "story", Hitting Budapest and am taken with it. Listening to it is an amazing experience; the narrator is wonderful and really gives life to the characters. It's almost as if the book was written to be read aloud. What really struck me in this part was how the children reacted to the pregnant woman in the large home. There is such a large cultural gulf that everything each does is misunderstood by the other.

Marieke wrote: "Zainab wrote: "I started reading it in December but didn't finish and switched to Happiness, Like Water. I plan on finishing it this month! I did attend a reading for the book with ..."

Yes! Chinelo Okparanta is a must add. Looking forward to her book coming out this fall, Under the Udala Trees

It is certainly a novel, but the first chapter works as an open-ended stand-alone

I read this in April and was blown away by the first half which is set in Zimbabwe. The second part where Darling is in America didn't work as well but overall this was a wonderful book

I have just posted my review!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Zainab - thanks for the tip!!

great review Zanna

I'm about 3/4 through. So far I also prefer the first part to the second. Zanna, I'll have a look once I finish. :)

Joining the discussion a little late (was away), but I had mixed feelings about the book -- on the one hand found it frustrating how many of the 'could be catalyst' events turned out to be something minor in the grand scheme of things, but on the other hand...that felt so accurate that I had to give the author/book a whole lot of respect for it.

Yeah i wasn't having a great time reading but had to take my hat off at the end!

I got part way through listening to it and my loan period ended. When I tried to borrow it again, it turns out someone else had requested it. But I won't have to wait long to get it again so I can finish it. I was really enjoying it.

Just finished this book. Loved the portrayal of life in Zimbabwe--made me go read up on the history of the country during the time of the book--and of the experience of Zimbabwean immigrants to the US. The characters rang true, and I loved the writing as well.

I loved it. A LOT.