We Need New Names

by NoViolet Bulawayo

* Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013*

* US National Book Award 5 Under 35 *

* Winner of the Etisalat Prize 2014*


‘To play the country-game, we have to choose a country. Everybody wants to be the USA and Britain and Canada and Australia and Switzerland and them. Nobody wants to be rags of countries like Congo, like Somalia, like Iraq, like Sudan, like Haiti and not even this one we live in – who wants to be a terrible place of hunger and things falling apart?’

Darling and her friends live in a shanty called Paradise, which of course is no such thing. It isn’t all bad, though. There’s mischief and adventure, games of Find bin Laden, stealing guavas, singing Lady Gaga at the tops of their voices.

They dream of the paradises of America, Dubai, Europe, where Madonna and Barack Obama and David Beckham live. For Darling, that dream will come true. But, like the thousands of people all over the world trying to forge new lives far from home, Darling finds this new paradise brings its own set of challenges – for her and also for those she’s left behind.

• ISBN10: 0701188030
• ISBN13: 9780701188030
• Publish Date: 6 June 2013 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 1 March 2014
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Vintage Publishing
• Imprint: Chatto & Windus
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Rinn]

I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

Initially, I was a little put off of this book when I started reading it because of the lack of speech marks – which may seem like a petty thing, but it’s not a device I particularly like. To me, it makes the text run into itself, and can sometimes make it difficult to tell who is talking. However I quickly got over this small hiccup, due to NoViolet Bulawayo’s gift for prose. Her writing is visual and vivid, shocking and touching, but also honest.

I felt just as gripped by Darling’s simple life of stealing fruit and inventing new games to play with her friends as I would be with some epic quest-filled fantasy or giant space opera. I was drawn into Darling’s world, where every little thing seemed to have so much meaning and significance.

However, this book was not just about a ten year old girl in Zimbabwe, passing her days playing games with her friends. There were so many serious issues – politics, poverty, AIDs, rape, child pregnancy, racism – covered within the book. The portrayal of these issues through the eyes of an innocent child made them all the more shocking, such as Darling’s emotionless reaction to her father dying of AIDs.

Darling’s main ambition is to move to America, and live with her aunt in Detroit (referred to by Darling and her friends as ‘Destroyedmicheygen’). Eventually she is able to join her aunt in the US, and this is where NoViolet Bulawayo demonstrates fantastic character progression. Darling’s language changes as she ages and adapts to the USA. She picks up slang, she is suddenly surrounded by technology and supermarkets and other things that were missing or less common in her life in Zimbabwe. As she grows, we see her lose her curiosity in things. We see how many people like Darling move to the States with big hopes and dreams, with the aim of providing for their family, and then can never return home because if they do, they cannot re-enter the States. Therefore they must sacrifice this connection with their family for the ability to provide for them.

We Need New Names was an absolutely beautiful book, in both prose and subject matter. We see Darling change from a curious young girl to a hard-working woman, working her way towards community college and also sending money back home for her mother, friends and other people from her village. The book felt both sad and joyful at the same time, in that Darling achieved her goals, but for that she had to sacrifice her connection to her homeland. Definitely highly recommended to all.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

We Need New Names tells the story of Darling and her friends growing up in what they call Paradise in Zimbabwe. This novel explores the struggles faced growing up in this landlocked country, which isn’t all-bad; the kids find ways to manage and even have fun. When Darling got a little older she was sent to America where a whole new set of mischief and adventures began.

Zimbabwean author NoViolet Bulawayo (real name Elizabeth Tshele) does an interesting job of exploring life growing up in Zimbabwe and then learning to live in America. A culture clash, that is not unlike her own story. Darling and her friends seem to make their own fun, from playing made up games like Country Game and stealing guavas. But Zimbabwe is politically unstable and they have suffered because of the white people. There are some interesting insights about life in this country and I really enjoyed learning about Darling’s life.

Then the novel changes drastically and Darling starts her life in America. This might be an improvement in her life style but this doesn’t mean she was not missing her home. The culture clash was the most interesting part of this book, from stealing guavas to survive and making up games to fast food and spending her afternoons with new friends watching redtube. This was a completely different life and story and it was interesting to compare the two and follow Darling’s journey.

At times in the novel I got confused; especially when Darling refers to Shanghai and Budapest, I couldn’t work out how she got to these locations but then worked out these are different sections of Paradise and named after the ethnic groupings. I know, I’m a little slow and a little surprised I didn’t pick up on this right away but Darlings language took me a while to work out and fully understand what she was saying.

While this book is easy to read (once you get to know Darling’s narrative style), this can be hard hitting. The novel is confrontational and will give you some insight into an African life and the struggles facing children in places like Zimbabwe. Struggles you might never have thought of and moving them to a place like America might give them a better chance in life but then you have a whole new set of struggles to understand.

Longlisted for the Man Booker and I was recommend this book by another book blogger (Jennifer from The Relentless Reader), I am really glad I read We Need New Names. The novel took me on an interesting journey and I feel I learnt from it and that is what makes for a great book. I don’t think it will win the Man Booker, but I hope it make the shortlist as well. I wouldn’t call this novel a typical literary prize nomination but a novel that deserves some boost in sales from its nomination.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/09/14/book-review-we-need-new-names/