NoViolet Bulawayo, a delightful contemporary voice
Have you ever finished reading a book and you immediately felt a deep connection with the characters and their environment?
This is certainly a feeling that you get when you read NoViolet Bulawayo’s debut novel, We Need New Names, which was initially published in May 2013. It has been six years since we discovered this talented author and her unique pen name, yet her work remains witty, original, timeless, relevant and a pleasure to go back to.
Incidentally, the author’s real name is Elizabeth Zandile Tshele. She took up the pen name ‘NoViolet’ which means ‘with Violet‘ in Ndebele, a Zimbabwean dialect, in order to honour the memory of her mother, Violet, who died when Elizabeth was eighteen months old. Bulawayo is the name of a city in Zimbabwe, her home country, of which she speaks and writes dearly.
We see this love for her country in We Need New Names, a coming-of-age story about a group of friends living in a shanty town called Paradise. 10-year-old Darling, is the main protagonist. We follow her adventures with Bastard, Godknows, Chipo, Sbho and Stina. The children’s lives are often in danger and we often wonder where the adults are.
Darling is finally able to extricate herself from this hectic life after she is invited to live with her aunt in the United States of America. Once there, she discovers that the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence and she has to struggle in order to fit in her new environment.
NoViolet Bulawayo paints a frank picture of Zimbabwean and American life as her characters thrive in the midst of chaos and unpredictability while retaining their dignity.
Here is an excerpt from the book We Need New Names. Enjoy!
We are on our way to Budapest; Bastard and Chipo and Godknows and Sbho and Stina and me. We are going even though we are not allowed to cross Mzilikazi Road, even though Bastard is supposed to be watching his little sister Fraction, even though mother will kill me dead if she found out; we are just going. There are guavas to steal in Budapest, and right now I’d rather die for guavas. We didn’t eat this morning and my stomach feels like somebody just took a shovel and dug everything out.
Getting out of Paradise is not so hard since the mothers are busy with hair and talk, which is the only thing they ever do. They just glance at us when we file past the shacks and then look away. We don’t have to worry about the men under the jacaranda either since their eyes never lift from the draughts. It’s only the little kids who see us and want to follow, but Bastard just wallops the naked one at the front with a fist on his big head and they all turn back.
When we hit the bush we are already flying, scream-singing like our voices will make us go faster. Sbho leads: Who discovered the way to India? and the rest of us rejoin, Vasco da Gama! Vasco da Gama! Vasco da Gama! Bastard is at the front because he won country-game today and he thinks that makes him our president or something, and then myself and Godknows, Stina, Sbho, and finally Chipo, who used to outrun everybody in all of Paradise but not anymore because somebody made her pregnant.
After crossing Mzilikazi we cut through another bush, zip right along Hope Street for a while before we cruise past the big stadium with the glimmering benches we’ll never sit on, and finally we hit Budapest. We have to stop once though, for Chipo to sit down because of her stomach; sometimes when it gets painful she has to rest it.
When is she going to have the baby anyway? Bastard says. Bastard doesn’t like it when we have to stop doing things because of Chipo’s stomach. He even tried to get us not to play with her altogether.
She’ll have it one day, I say, speaking for Chipo because she doesn’t talk anymore. She is not mute-mute; it’s just that when her stomach started showing she stopped talking. But she still plays with us and does everything else, and if she really, really needs to say something she’ll use her hands.
What’s one day? On Thursday? Tomorrow? Next week?
Can’t you see her stomach is still small? The baby has to grow.
A baby grows outside of the stomach, not inside. That’s the whole reason they are born. So they grow into adults.
Well, it’s not time yet. That’s why it’s still a stomach.
Is it a boy or girl?
It’s a boy. The first baby is supposed to be a boy.
But you’re a girl, big head, and you’re a first-born.
I said supposed, didn’t I?
Just shut your kaka mouth you, it’s not even your stomach.
I think it’s a girl. I put my hands on it all the time and I’ve never felt it kick, not even once.
Yes, boys kick and punch and butt their heads. That’s all they are good at.
Does she want a boy?
No. Yes. Maybe. I don’t know.
Where exactly does a baby come out of?
The same way it gets into the stomach.
How exactly does it get into the stomach?
First, Jesus’s mother has to put it in there.
No, not Jesus’s mother. A man has to put it in there, my cousin Musa told me. Well, she was really telling Enia, and I was there so I heard.
Then who put it inside her?
How can we know if she won’t say?
Who put it in there Chipo? Tell us, we won’t tell.
Chipo looks at the sky. There’s a tear in her one eye, but it’s only a small one.
NoViolet Bulawayo’s characters are endearing and much alive. It is not difficult to love and feel sorry for them at the same time. After we finish reading the book, we wonder what has happened to them. Where is Sbho? What is Stina doing right now? Where did Bastard go?
There lies the power of Bulawayo’s storytelling-the ability to create empathetic feelings for fictional beings. The author breathes life into her heroes and heroines and they jump out of paper with enough vigour to remain in our imaginations long after the book has been shelved.
We Need New Names falls into the precious category of books I go back to for the mere pleasure of it. In Darling’s company I cry, laugh and go through different kinds of emotions. The language is refreshing and the story is rivetting. Besides, Bulawayo sheds a different light on the common and recurring themes of poverty, disease, aid and immigration in Africa.
This is a story to read and read again. I assure you boredom and ennui will not be part and parcel of your reading experience.
That’s just how good NoViolet Bulawayo is!
Further Exploration: (NoViolet Bulawayo)
We Need New Names:
This book is definitely a must-read. you can find it here. You will fall in love with characters and you will keep thinking of the story long after you have put the book down. You can also visit the author’s website here.
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Read:
- 7 Reasons Why You Should Read We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
- Critical reviews of the book on the author’s website
- African Fiction: Lesson 1-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Fearless and Influential Writer
- African Fiction: Lesson 2-Chigozie Obioma, between Modernity and Tradition
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About the Author
Thandi Ngwira Gatignol is the founder of Learn English With Africa. She was born on June 11th, 1981 in Blantyre, Malawi. When she was 19, she left her country of birth for France. She currently lives with her two daughters and husband in Poland.
Thandi holds a Bachelor’s degree in English studies obtained at the Université Paris X Nanterre in France and a Certificate in Journalism from Malawi. She has taught English as a French Ministry of Education certified teacher both in France and in Poland. She speaks six languages fluently, including French, Polish and Italian. She is now learning Kiswahili, German and Spanish. Salt No More is her debut novel and you can find her other books here on the website or on Amazon.
Course Title: African Fiction: Lesson 3-NoViolet Bulawayo, a Literary Darling (Level B1-B2)© Learn English With Africa, May 2019
