Written by NoViolet Bulawayo, We Need New Names is a remarkable debut. She has won several awards including the PEN-Hemingway Award, and was sort-listed for the Man Booker Prize. This is the unflinching story of a young girl living in Zimbabwe, who dreams of moving to America.
Ten-year-old Darling and her friends spend their time in a Zimbabwe shantytown playing the mischievous games all children play. Bastard, Chipo, Godknows, Sbho and Stina wander the streets of the wealthier neighbourhoods to steal guavas, and turn the hardships adults deal with into games of imagination. They innocently see how the adults deal with things like church and the NGO's and take on new names as they play act. When they don't know the difference between life and play, things can turn serious, as when an adult discovers them trying to rid Chipo of the stone in her stomach that her grandfather put there.
Darling's father does not come around or send money from his job, but she has an Aunt in Detroit where she manages a ticket to, and begins cleaning houses with her. It is here the culture shock is apparent to the reader, if not to Darling, as people live in houses too large for themselves and hire people to pick up after them. America's abundance is hard to reach, and she must reckon the sacrifices with the rewards of assimilating.
This is a vibrant novel with rhythmic language that jumps off the page. Playful and powerful, Darling's story is filled with innocence and the yearning for place. A novel I would not have picked up, yet was glad I had. Bulawayo has a unique voice and I will watch for her novels to come.
2013 / Tradeback / 296 pages
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