Who Will Bury You?: And Other Stories

by Chido Muchemwa

Intimate stories about Zimbabweans in moments of transition that force them to decide who they really are and choose the people they call their own.


Set in Toronto and Zimbabwe, the twelve elegant stories in Who Will Bury You? touch on themes of loss, identity, and inequality as they follow the lives of Zimbabweans who often feel like they are on the outside looking in. A mother and daughter navigate new relationship dynamics when the daughter comes out as a lesbian. Two sisters wonder what will hold them together after their grandmother’s death. A daughter tries to tell her father she loves him as she prepares to leave home for the first time. A journalist takes her grieving mother on a trip to report on girls who are allegedly being abducted by mermaids. A girl born to be the river god’s wife becomes a hero when chaos breaks out in the mighty Zambezi. A group of mothers discover just how far they are willing to go to protect their children during wartime.


Ephemeral yet beautifully satisfying, the stories in Chido Muchemwa's debut collection ask what makes people leave home, what makes them come back, and what keeps them there.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

180 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 8, 2024

Reviews

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection! Full review soon!
Thank you to the publisher for my copy!

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories are rendered with quiet depth, gravity, and hope - though a slim volume, this requires a slow digestion. The stories are deeply personal and yet have the full weight of history at their backs.

[Ru Kero · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 good soup.

There were some parts of the book that were delicious, captivating story. The story follows multiple characters and paths. I kinda found the ending to be a little disconnected but I can see how it would be hard to connect sort of a big movement when all the previous stories felt more personal and individual.

[Tracy Hollen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the snore monitor

[Tutankhamun18 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a brilliant collection of short stories! Each story captured so much feeling and emotion in so few pages. I felt the stories in the first two thirds were all amazing and 5 star but the final third was also good but a little less mindblowing than the first two thirds.

The stories explore identity, self, relationship to parents, love and care and how these can’t always be voiced, about loss and mourning and how life goes on.

[Mish Middelmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really takes me back to my time in Zimbabwe: I lived there in the 1980s when these stories of colonialism and the war of independence were still fresh. In this collection of short stories written over the last ten years by a Zimbabwean living in Toronto, she reveals important aspects of black life in that wonderful but tortured land as it was from about 1960 to 1980, provided you are aware of the story of settler colonialism which is somewhat taken for granted in the book.

Muchemwa writes in a matter-of-fact way even as she addresses dimensions of life that are not tangible to many people, particularly in North America.

What I like best is the way she reveals and embodies in her characters the many layers of life, spiritual, emotional, social and political. I was particularly touched by the story Kariba Heights which weaves together the devastating displacement by Kariba Dam of the Tsonga people, a deep connection with the river spirits disturbed by the dam, and an account of the history of settler driven economic development.

And then, reading last story in the book on the day the 2024 US election results was devastating as she captures the utter destruction of a people at war, divided and eating itself up in The Last of the Boys. I remember the reverence with which the freedom fighters were held after independence was won in 1980. And Muchemwa tells another side of the story, the ways that ordinary village people were trampled underfoot between the two sides of the war.

[Rutendo Chabikwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful debut from Chido Muchemwa. The stories are deep and unflinching. You can connect with the characters and the world they inhabit. I consider this collection to be a literary descendent of a long line of unflinching Zimbabwean literature from writers such as Shimmer Chinodya. A must read!

[Shafiqah Nor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of 12 short stories with Zimbabwean identity threading each character together, spanning themes of loss, grief, and departure. In some, the setting was Toronto, others framed beautiful landscapes including the Victoria Falls of Zimbabwe. Really enjoyed the diversity of personality of characters in the different stories - I think the first three stories were my favourites.

[Enid Wray · Rating 5 out of 5]

And this is why we read!

Beautiful - and clearly very much “autobiographical” based on the research I did about her.

Debut… Zimbabwean… Stories that are brilliantly crafted, perfect little packages… some are intertwined... Culturally specific yet simultaneously universal.

[Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love how each story flowed from the other because of one element from one story loosely connecting to another. I especially loved 'Who Will Bury You?' and 'The Captive River'. 'Kariba Heights' also haunts me.

[Kupa Mabulala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this collection. my favourite was Kariba Heights, which was such a fresh take on Colonial era Zimbabwe told from the perspective of a maid in Kariba. The research that went into this collection was impressive. 4 out of 5 stars. I definitely would recommend it.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review coming soon! Enjoyed!

[Mike Broderick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is a keeper. More accurately a 4.5 star.
I learned so much about culture in Zimbabwe.
The series of stories mostly connected and wove together.
So well written.

[Andrew Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Tiffani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a small book and yet WOW! the impact. The range emotions and depth in these short stories is truly beautiful. Highly recommend!!

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautiful collection of short stories touching on: queerness, Zimbabwean history and culture, immigrants to Toronto, leaving home, finding your way, and loss

[Val Wilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really thoughtful stories here. I loved the trio that revolved around Tino coming out as a lesbian, but my absolute favourite was ‘Paradise’.

[AKOE · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthwhile collection of short stories. Touching on themes of identity, family, loss and love—it shares experiences many can identify with. Some parts had me feeling seen.