They Are Coming (Zimbabwe): Read it Because You Will Learn About Family in Zimbabwe

Our full 2016 Reading List is here.




They Are Coming (Zimbabwe)

READ IT BECAUSE: You are wanting to read something from Zimbabwe.  But really if you are just going to read one thing from Zimbabwe, I would recommend We Need New Names--my review of it is here (LINK COMING SOON).

Look, this wasn't the best thing I've ever read but it was an important read because it forced me to think of the idea of family outside the normal western version.  In this story's case, a township family struggles as a rebellious daughter joins a local militia before the approaching 2005 parliamentary elections.  So in this case, They are Coming is about the locality of all politics but moreso it's about what it means to grow up amidst uncertainty and violence.

*One of my Reading Around the Continent books--the full list is here.
My 2016, 2015 and 2014 Reading Lists.

KIndle Notes

They are Coming by Chris Mlalazi

You have 6 highlighted passages

Last annotated on April 30, 2016

With the red band around his forehead, and without a shirt, Ambition feels like a WWF champion. He kneels on the slab of rock, the white cloth draped over his small shoulders, its ends in his hands. He has not yet covered his head to pray. The scene before him is too interesting. His mind wanders.

‘When we’re very frightened we can do the impossible.’

In 1977 the war of liberation was escalating. Firefights between the Rhodesian army and the defiant guerrillas became a regular feature of life in rural Zimbabwe.

A warm feeling settled on Thenjwe’s heart when Solomon called her by her totem, but

For the umpteenth time, Ngwenya wonders how so many vendors selling the same produce can make any money.

‘Who is Doctor Martin?’ Ntando whispers. ‘Maybe he’s a doctor in town that Mrs Gumbo visits when she’s not feeling well. He’s probably a white person, because his name is “King”.’ ‘Now I’m going to read an excerpt from Dr Martin Luther King’s speech. “I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice …”’ ‘Her doctor is very good in English,’ Ntando comments. ‘What’s Mississippi?’ ‘Maybe it’s an injection for mararia, but shhh, let’s listen.’