We Need New Names

An exciting literary debut the unflinching and powerful story of a young girl s journey out of Zimbabwe and to America.Darling is only ten years old, and yet she must navigate a fragile and violent world In Zimbabwe, Darling and her friends steal guavas, try to get the baby out of young Chipo s belly, and grasp at memories of Before Before their homes were destroyed by paramilitary policemen, before the school closed, before the fathers left for dangerous jobs abroad.But Darling has a chance to escape she has an aunt in America She travels to this new land in search of America s famous abundance only to find that her options as an immigrant are perilously few NoViolet Bulawayo s debut calls to mind the great storytellers of displacement and arrival who have come before her from Junot Diaz to Zadie Smith to J.M Coetzee while she tells a vivid, raw story all her own. Read We Need New Names – kino-fada.fr This is a book that really grew on me It starts off following a group of children in Zimbabwe Darling, Stina, Chipo, Bastard and Godknows, seemingly innocent children living in a not so innocent environment As a child, Darling and friends lived in shanty towns in Zimbabwe after Mugabe s paramilitary police bulldozed down their homes They spent their days stealing guavas,getting into mischief and daydreaming about the typical things African kids do about eating good food and ultimately becom This is a book that really grew on me It starts off following a group of children in Zimbabwe Darling, Stina, Chipo, Bastard and Godknows, seemingly innocent children living in a not so innocent environment As a child, Darling and friends lived in shanty towns in Zimbabwe after Mugabe s paramilitary police bulldozed down their homes They spent their days stealing guavas,getting into mischief and daydreaming about the typical things African kids do about eating good food and ultimately becoming rich overseas, in places such as Dubai and the USA.This story is a sort of coming of age story of Darling What complicates Darling s coming of age story is her moving to Detroit, Michigan to live with her aunt.As is typical among Africans and also non Africans, of course , an escape to the West may not be what it seems Added to that,the struggles and sacrifices they ve had to make We hid our real names, gave false ones when asked W...EDIT 10 09 2013 Oh boy This has been included in the shortlist despite my misgivings to the contrary Heartiest congratulations to NoViolet BulawayoBooks like this one have me fumbling around for the right approach to review them, because they try to cram in too much within the scope of a regular sized novel and consequently just stop short of resonating strongly with the reader It s like Bulawayo had a message to give me, something potent and fiercely honest enough to burn right through EDIT 10 09 2013 Oh boy This has been included in the shortlis...I had a spirited chat with a fan of this book She naturally stated I was behaving in a sexist manner and implied, with dark tones of voice, that I was probably a racist too, because I don t think this is a particularly good book, and certainly don t think it s Booker worthy.Rating 2.75 of fiveThe Publisher Says A remarkable literary debut shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize The unflinching and powerful story of a young girl s journey out of Zimbabwe and to America.Darling is on I had a spirited chat with a fan of this book She naturally stated I was behaving in a sex...A few years ago I was listening to one of those From our Own Correspondent programmes on the BBC A female journalist was on an assignment in Mali and had got herself completely lost She drove up to this village the middle of nowhere and a whole crowd of teenagers spotted her and came crowding around She noticed with a jolt that they all had Osama Bin Laden t shirts on With a sinking feeling, she figured that she might be in some serious trouble They demanded to know who she was She told th A few years ago I was listening to one of those From our Own Correspondent programmes on the BBC A female jo...I don t think I ve ever rated a book based mostly on its second last chapter, but I think that s what I did here For the majority of this book I thought it was an average read The first part with the child narrator in Zimbabwe was ok, but so scattered and not overly interesting how many times can the kids steal guavas, eat guavas, get constipated from guavas It felt like a bunch of observations and anecdotes, some standalone short stories even, not really a cohesive novel Then the child i I don t think I ve ever rated a book based mostly on its second last chapter, but I think that s what I did here For the majority of this book I thought it was an average read The first part with the child narrator in Zimbabwe was ok, but so scattered and not overly interesting how many times can the kids steal guavas, eat guavas, get constipated from guavas It felt like a bunch of observations and anecdotes, some standalone short stories even, not really a cohesive novel Then the child immigrates to America and grows up, and there are some wonderful moments like discovering th...4.5 stars rounded up I had read mixed reviews of this novel with comments focussing on it being disjointed or running through a ticklist of African problems to squeeze in them all Some have taken issues with the first half of the book, some with the second half It is the story of Darling she is born in Zimbabwe and in the first part of the book she is ten years old Darling and her gang of friends Chipo, Godknows, Bastard, Stina and Sbho, do pretty much what children left to their own device 4.5 stars rounded up I had read mixed reviews of this novel with comments focussing on it being disjointed or running through a ticklist of African problems to squeeze in them all Some have taken issues with the first half of the book, some with the second half It is the story of Darling she is born in Zimbabwe and in the first part of the book she is ten years old Darling and her gang of friends Chipo, Godknows, Bastard, Stina and Sbho, do pretty much what children left to their own devices will do in terms of games, adventures and getting into trouble They live in a shanty town called Paradise and each day has its own particular adventures They often venture into the wealthy white area to steal guava...Darling is a dispossessed soul in conflict with everything she ever knew She grew up in Buluwayo, Zimbabwe, but never really names the country or its leader until in her acknowledgement at the end of the book In truly picturesque prose Darling shares her memories of violence, pseudo religious events headed by Prophet Revelations Bitchington Mborro on the mountain, and numerous incidences of hunger, and the joy of their childhood games like Catching Osama Ben Ladin , Country game and Vasco Darling is a dispossessed soul in conflict with everything she ever knew She grew up in Buluwayo, Zimbabwe, but never really names the country or its leader until in her acknowledgeme...You may love a book and hate it at the same time I did, for this one Why love Too many reasons, African, Man Booker tagging at it, youngish writer, and a powerful and unique style that is not too easy to forget Why hate Because, because, why cram in a million things into a single book At some point I felt like I was reading a reportage of Zimbabwe and the American immigrant experience all rolled into a tight, clever, linkage to the main character incidents and mis adventures So that the You may love a book and hate it at the same time I did, for this one Why love Too many reasons, African, Man Booker tagging at it, youngish writer, and a powerful and unique style that is not too easy to forget Why hate Because, because, why cram in a million things into a single book At some point I felt like I was reading a reportage of Zimbabwe and the American immigrant experience all rolled into a tight, clever, linkage to the main character incidents and mis adventures So that the issues stood so out so much you d feel that they sort of matteredthan the story.Well, that s a longer paragraph than the love one, but love outweighs the dislike These kind of books are rare, trust me That though they have a singular inherent weakness, the artistry of the story s ...Hard to say what drew me to this book the author s name is just awesome The cover is eye catching The reviews have been stellar Also, I ve long been interested in the painful history of Zimbabwe once British colonial Rhodesia since I tried to figure out how to teach this hugely complex subject and do it justice in my middle school social studies classroom I can t say that I ever really succeeded Bulawayo writes a searingly beautiful story a fictionalized memoir about a young gi Hard to say what drew me to this book the author s name is just awesome The cover is eye catching The reviews have been stellar Also, I ve long been interested in the painful history of Zimbabwe once British colonial Rhodesia since I tri...NoViolet Bulawayo s debut novel has just been added to the long list for the 2013 Booker Prize A short story of hers called Hitting Budapest won the 2011 Caine Prize for African Literature and became the first of several astounding chapters inNew Names The work feels brave and completely fresh raw even The perspective, voice, and language held me spellbound.On Bulawyao s website is a quote from Chinua Achebe Let no one be fooled by the fact that we may write in English, for we intend NoViolet Bulawayo s debut novel has just been added to the long list for the 2013 Booker Prize A short story of hers called Hitting Budapest won the 2011 Caine Prize for African Literature and became the first of several astounding chapters inNew Names The work feels brave and completely fresh raw even The perspective, voice, and language held me spellbound.On Bulawyao s website is a quote from Chinua Achebe ...

• English
• 18 June 2017
NoViolet Bulawayo
• Hardcover
• 298 pages
• 0316230812
• NoViolet Bulawayo
• We Need New Names