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عذارى من حجر
تأخذك الرواية من أعوام القهر والفصل العنصرى فى الخمسينيات من القرن العشرين وحرب الأحراش أو الغابات ثم إلى الاستقلال فى ١٩٨٠ ثم الحرب الأهلية من ١٩٨١ إلى ١٩٨٦. كل هذا فى دوامة محتدمة قوامها كلمات حسية، مرهفة، قاسية، صادمة. السرد فيها نثر شعرى، لا يدعك تفلت منه حتى تخلص إلى آخر كلمة من الرواية (الخلاص) بمعناه الروحى الدينى، والنفسى. هذا، والرواية حازت على أكثر من جائزة منها: جائزة ماكميلان عن أفريقيا ٢٠٠٢ .
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
38 people are currently reading
973 people want to read
About the author
Yvonne Vera
13 books59 followersYvonne Vera (September 19, 1964 – April 7, 2005) was an award-winning author from Zimbabwe. Her novels are known for their poetic prose, difficult subject-matter, and their strong women characters, and are firmly rooted in Zimbabwe's difficult past. For these reasons, she has been widely studied and appreciated by those studying postcolonial African literature.
Vera was born in Bulawayo, in what was then Southern Rhodesia, to Jerry Vera and Ericah Gwetai. At the age of eight, she worked as a cotton-picker near Hartley. She attended Mzilikazi High School and then taught English literature at Njube High School, both in Bulawayo. In 1987 she travelled to Canada and she married John Jose, a Canadian whom she had met while he was teaching at Njube. At York University, Toronto, she completed an undergraduate degree, a master's and a PhD, and taught literature.
In 1995, Vera returned to Zimbabwe and in 1997 became director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, a gallery that showcases local talent ranging from that of professional artists to school children. In 2004 she went back to Canada, where she died on April 7, 2005, of AIDS-related meningitis.
(from Wikipedia)
Vera was born in Bulawayo, in what was then Southern Rhodesia, to Jerry Vera and Ericah Gwetai. At the age of eight, she worked as a cotton-picker near Hartley. She attended Mzilikazi High School and then taught English literature at Njube High School, both in Bulawayo. In 1987 she travelled to Canada and she married John Jose, a Canadian whom she had met while he was teaching at Njube. At York University, Toronto, she completed an undergraduate degree, a master's and a PhD, and taught literature.
In 1995, Vera returned to Zimbabwe and in 1997 became director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, a gallery that showcases local talent ranging from that of professional artists to school children. In 2004 she went back to Canada, where she died on April 7, 2005, of AIDS-related meningitis.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
February 6, 2016
This is the first work I have read by Yvonne Vera; indeed I had barely heard of her. I periodically look at the list of writers on the British Council website;
https://literature.britishcouncil.org...
and I found Vera on here and decided read some of her work. I’m glad I did because this is a remarkable book. The prose is so lush and poetic and so very powerful. What makes the work even more powerful and chilling is that it is based on actual events. Vera was Zimbabwean and she has chosen to focus on the power struggle post-independence between the forces of Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo. Mugabe’s forces were operating in the Matabeleland area. Many thousands of people died (probably over 20,000), many of them women. Vera choses to tell the story through the lives of two women, sisters, who were victims of the violence; one of whom survives. A certain level of knowledge of historical events is assumed, but even without it the novel is still coherent. Vera faces the most difficult subjects head on using a poetic and modernist approach. This doesn’t make the violence any less shocking, but the structure of the novel around it makes the impact very different to graphic violence written in a different way.
The first section of the book is about the lead up to independence and sets a sense of place as Vera carefully describes Bulawayo. The sense of place is very strong and the characters in the novel are really secondary to the nation itself and Vera’s critique. The pace of the novel is slow and is reminiscent of stream of consciousness; but its roots are in African, not western culture. The second and main part of the novel tells the story of Thenjiwe and Nonceba; the death of one and the rape and mutilation of the other. Nonceba survives;
“She holds on. Has she lived before this moment of urgency and despair? Is there something whispered before a cataclysmic earthquake, sleep, before a frightful awakening to death? Is life not lived backwards, in flashes, in spasm of hopeless regret?”
What Vera does as well is to take the reader into the mind of the killer to show his thoughts and reasons; to ask why a young idealistic university student should do this. Writing about this sort of horror runs the risk of making the violence too central or too acceptable; but Vera manages this my minimizing the factual and the realist and the history is engaged in a different way. It is an examination of male violence and perhaps poses the question of why men have taken on the attributes of their former colonial oppressors rather than finding a new way. The woman’s perspective and voice is central to the novel. But there is hope in the last section of the book as Nonceba recovers and a male character enters the novel and provides a different and more redemptive perspective for the future. Vera constructs a powerful argument about turning an honest gaze on her country’s history and the reasons for what happened. Again a novel which ought to be better known and really should be part of the canon.
https://literature.britishcouncil.org...
and I found Vera on here and decided read some of her work. I’m glad I did because this is a remarkable book. The prose is so lush and poetic and so very powerful. What makes the work even more powerful and chilling is that it is based on actual events. Vera was Zimbabwean and she has chosen to focus on the power struggle post-independence between the forces of Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo. Mugabe’s forces were operating in the Matabeleland area. Many thousands of people died (probably over 20,000), many of them women. Vera choses to tell the story through the lives of two women, sisters, who were victims of the violence; one of whom survives. A certain level of knowledge of historical events is assumed, but even without it the novel is still coherent. Vera faces the most difficult subjects head on using a poetic and modernist approach. This doesn’t make the violence any less shocking, but the structure of the novel around it makes the impact very different to graphic violence written in a different way.
The first section of the book is about the lead up to independence and sets a sense of place as Vera carefully describes Bulawayo. The sense of place is very strong and the characters in the novel are really secondary to the nation itself and Vera’s critique. The pace of the novel is slow and is reminiscent of stream of consciousness; but its roots are in African, not western culture. The second and main part of the novel tells the story of Thenjiwe and Nonceba; the death of one and the rape and mutilation of the other. Nonceba survives;
“She holds on. Has she lived before this moment of urgency and despair? Is there something whispered before a cataclysmic earthquake, sleep, before a frightful awakening to death? Is life not lived backwards, in flashes, in spasm of hopeless regret?”
What Vera does as well is to take the reader into the mind of the killer to show his thoughts and reasons; to ask why a young idealistic university student should do this. Writing about this sort of horror runs the risk of making the violence too central or too acceptable; but Vera manages this my minimizing the factual and the realist and the history is engaged in a different way. It is an examination of male violence and perhaps poses the question of why men have taken on the attributes of their former colonial oppressors rather than finding a new way. The woman’s perspective and voice is central to the novel. But there is hope in the last section of the book as Nonceba recovers and a male character enters the novel and provides a different and more redemptive perspective for the future. Vera constructs a powerful argument about turning an honest gaze on her country’s history and the reasons for what happened. Again a novel which ought to be better known and really should be part of the canon.
June 11, 2023
Poeetiline ja kauni keelega raamat sõjast ning kahe õe elust. Tõepoolest, raamatu keel on lopsakas ja nauditav, kuigi sisu on kohati üsna õõvastav. Loomulikult ei saagi sõjas midagi ilusat olla ja millegipärast kaotavad paljud seal oma inimlikkuse. Keeruline oli ka neil, kes ise sõjas ei olnud, sest inimesi ei saanud tegelikult usaldada.
Mulle meeldis eelkõige just raamatu keel. Tegevusi palju ei olnud, nii et see sobib inimestele, kes naudivad kirjeldusi ja loo rahulikku kulgemist.
Mulle meeldis eelkõige just raamatu keel. Tegevusi palju ei olnud, nii et see sobib inimestele, kes naudivad kirjeldusi ja loo rahulikku kulgemist.
August 16, 2024
En mänsklig, poetisk, oerhört grym berättelse om tiden efter självständigheten i Zimbabwe, och effekterna av inbördeskriget. I den romantiska första delen, där Tjenjiwe möter mannen från Bulawayo, känner jag drag av Anaïs Nins poetiska, drömska kärleksskildringar, som beskriver både kropparnas och själens möte. I andra delar ser jag drag av Duras, något i krassheten som ändå på något sätt är poetisk, varje ord av betydelse och respekten för grammatiska regler upphävs - som när det skiftar i perspektiv från första till tredje person under våldsakten, våldtäkten, då Noncebe är i Sibasos våld. Det är också nästan som ett övergrepp i sig att läsa sig in i Sibasos perspektiv, man värjer sig, vill inte vara där men den verkligheten finns också. Utöver detta mycket skickligt beskriven överblick av människornas liv, stämningen i Kezi, buzzet i Thandabantu store, naturen. Makalöst, helt enkelt.
Och Cephas Dube ❤️ ger mig hopp om mänskligheten trots allt.
Och Cephas Dube ❤️ ger mig hopp om mänskligheten trots allt.
November 7, 2013
Butterfly Burning is a difficult book to forget. But though the memory of its beauty and the terribleness of its tragedy stayed with me, the weight of it faded over a decade. Which is why I didn’t really know what I was getting into with The Stone Virgins. I only knew that it had been too long since I had picked up a novel by Yvonne Vera. The Stone Virgins is a lyrical, lush, beautifully written book. It is prose poetry, and lovely. And then it is terrible—truly, truly terrible. More terrible than I was expecting; perhaps one of the most ugly, violent books I have ever read. All told in this relentlessly poetic voice, and the terribleness of what happens—to Nonceba and Thenjiwe, to the general store in Kezi, to Kezi itself—is all the more horrifying for Vera’s tone, and for the tenderness with which she introduces the town and the sisters. The same voice that crafts the love is the same voice that destroys them. It is a novel about destruction and healing—of a person, of a memory, of a town, of an entire country engulfed in two massive, violent, ugly wars. Vera tells us the story of a person’s survival, after showing us what no person should ever have to, or be able to, survive. I've never come across any writer with a voice quite like Vera's, and I don't know who but her could tell this story.
February 27, 2021
It was my first time reading any of Yvonne Vera’s works . She is really a master of her craft as she doesn’t use a lot of dialogue between different characters for the narrative. However, her use of powerful symbols are so evocative , all senses are heightened and she blew me away . She takes lyrical , descriptive and poetic prose to a whole new level . In as much as the story touches on the horrors of Guhurahundi genocide, she does it with so much care , sensitivity and tenderness . A definite read for a discerning reader who loves historical fiction.
April 15, 2025
Didn't like the style at all, right through 🙃 but wonder how else you write about something so painful.
May 27, 2023
I read this as part of an African literature book club and I enjoyed going through this slowly with the group, which allowed for deeper reading. This book is full of so much pain and I don't know that I'll ever be able to articulate the emotion that it brought out in me. Vera's writing was stunning. It's the first time I've read their work, but it surely won't be the last.
February 18, 2025
This book is worthwhile work… Rhodesia/Zimbabwe independence and civil war in the 1980s at a very personal level.
June 1, 2023
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/
TL;DR REVIEW:
The Stone Virgins is a technically challenging and emotionally difficult read, but there’s no denying that it’s also an incredible work of fiction. While I struggled with it, I was also so impressed.
For you if: You are comfortable with prose that’s lush, but sometimes hard to follow, if it’s worth it.
FULL REVIEW:
I’d never read Yvonne Vera before — my experience with African literature is pretty lacking overall, truth be told — so when my good friend Bernie Lombardi announced he was hosting a buddy read of The Stone Virgins, I eagerly joined. And while I wasn’t quite in the right head space to fully enjoy this one, there’s no denying it’s a masterful work.
Vera’s author bio puts it best when it says her books are “known for their poetic prose, difficult subject-matter, and their strong women characters, and are firmly rooted in Zimbabwe's difficult past.” This is no exception. Winner of the Macmillan Prize for African Adult Fiction in 2000, it focuses on two sisters — only one of whom survives — who live in a village near Bulawayo before and after Zimbabwe’s independence from Britain.
The prose here is lush and gorgeous, and her ability to whiplash between beauty and extreme violence (be warned; there are stomach-churning scenes here) is incredible. There’s something reminiscent of Toni Morrison in the reading experience. But it’s also a challenging read that demands slow attention (and that’s where I struggled, as I was traveling for work, pulled in many directions, and super busy). The book has almost no dialogue; the narration moves fluidly forward and backward in time. One review that I read said it felt like reading someone’s dream, and I wholly agree.
Even though this was a bit of the wrong book at the wrong time for me, I’m really glad I read it — and even more glad to have had Bernie’s group chat full of such smart, careful readers to discuss it with. I’m in awe of Vera’s talent, and it’s easy to see why this one received so much acclaim.
CONTENT AND TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Rape and extreme sexual violence; Murder (decapitation); War
TL;DR REVIEW:
The Stone Virgins is a technically challenging and emotionally difficult read, but there’s no denying that it’s also an incredible work of fiction. While I struggled with it, I was also so impressed.
For you if: You are comfortable with prose that’s lush, but sometimes hard to follow, if it’s worth it.
FULL REVIEW:
I’d never read Yvonne Vera before — my experience with African literature is pretty lacking overall, truth be told — so when my good friend Bernie Lombardi announced he was hosting a buddy read of The Stone Virgins, I eagerly joined. And while I wasn’t quite in the right head space to fully enjoy this one, there’s no denying it’s a masterful work.
Vera’s author bio puts it best when it says her books are “known for their poetic prose, difficult subject-matter, and their strong women characters, and are firmly rooted in Zimbabwe's difficult past.” This is no exception. Winner of the Macmillan Prize for African Adult Fiction in 2000, it focuses on two sisters — only one of whom survives — who live in a village near Bulawayo before and after Zimbabwe’s independence from Britain.
The prose here is lush and gorgeous, and her ability to whiplash between beauty and extreme violence (be warned; there are stomach-churning scenes here) is incredible. There’s something reminiscent of Toni Morrison in the reading experience. But it’s also a challenging read that demands slow attention (and that’s where I struggled, as I was traveling for work, pulled in many directions, and super busy). The book has almost no dialogue; the narration moves fluidly forward and backward in time. One review that I read said it felt like reading someone’s dream, and I wholly agree.
Even though this was a bit of the wrong book at the wrong time for me, I’m really glad I read it — and even more glad to have had Bernie’s group chat full of such smart, careful readers to discuss it with. I’m in awe of Vera’s talent, and it’s easy to see why this one received so much acclaim.
CONTENT AND TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Rape and extreme sexual violence; Murder (decapitation); War
August 12, 2020
This is the third time I read this book, and it still pulls me in like few other novels do. It reminds me of the writing of Toni Morrison and Zoë Wicomb. It is lyrical and challenging, and stresses the fact that even the most literary and abstract language has the ability to deal with a physical and concrete political reality.
This novel is so important because it deals with a taboo subject very few people talk about, namely the wave of violence perpetrated by the Dissident Movement that engulfed Zimbabwe after they gained their independence in 1980. At the heart of the novel is a horrifyingly violent scene, but the scope of the novel demonstrates how this event tells us something about not only the recent history of Zimbabwe, but also the global postcolonial structures that define our contemporary world.
Yvonne Vera died at the age of 40 in 2005. It is sad to think about all the great literature she didn't get to write. But I am very keen on exploring everything she did have time to write before the world lost her.
This novel is so important because it deals with a taboo subject very few people talk about, namely the wave of violence perpetrated by the Dissident Movement that engulfed Zimbabwe after they gained their independence in 1980. At the heart of the novel is a horrifyingly violent scene, but the scope of the novel demonstrates how this event tells us something about not only the recent history of Zimbabwe, but also the global postcolonial structures that define our contemporary world.
Yvonne Vera died at the age of 40 in 2005. It is sad to think about all the great literature she didn't get to write. But I am very keen on exploring everything she did have time to write before the world lost her.
July 23, 2019
Zimbabwe. I learned a lot about independence and the aftermath. Would not recommend for everyone as there is terrible violence and the prose is harder...like reading someone’s dream. But, it’s also a beautiful book, my copy is dog-eared all over the place.
March 3, 2017
Poetic prose, jarring, but ultimately wasn't a very gripping narrative.
Read
July 4, 2023This was the second pick this year for @bernie.lombardi’s African classics discussions (check out his page for details - there will be two more this year). I’m grateful that I read this book because I like to expand my reading horizons beyond the books I gravitate towards on my own. This book is probably one of the most challenging reading experiences of my year so far, but worthwhile, even if I didn’t always love or personally connect as much with parts!
This book looks at the brutality of war through the lives of two sisters - Thenjiwe and Nonceba. Vera does not shy away from the horrors experienced. These horrors contrast with the often beautiful writing style with a strong sense of place setting that she utilizes here. At times, the very descriptive and more abstract writing made it harder for me to figure out what was happening, and I think rereading some parts would help. It was very beneficial to be part of a reading group for this, as that provided more insight on the book.
This won’t be a personal favorite of mine, but I am still glad I got to read and discuss it! Yvonne Vera is clearly a strong and beautiful writer and is doing impressive things in how she crafts this novel and the many perspectives included.
This book looks at the brutality of war through the lives of two sisters - Thenjiwe and Nonceba. Vera does not shy away from the horrors experienced. These horrors contrast with the often beautiful writing style with a strong sense of place setting that she utilizes here. At times, the very descriptive and more abstract writing made it harder for me to figure out what was happening, and I think rereading some parts would help. It was very beneficial to be part of a reading group for this, as that provided more insight on the book.
This won’t be a personal favorite of mine, but I am still glad I got to read and discuss it! Yvonne Vera is clearly a strong and beautiful writer and is doing impressive things in how she crafts this novel and the many perspectives included.
May 7, 2022
When I got past awing over the prose, I quickly got exhausted by Vera analysing every action to death, but also somehow skirting around the materiality of the story, only talking about the characters in meta-symbolic terms. And then, when I was just about to give up from sheer headache, the characters started narrating the story. So now I'm here, frustrated with how I feel about this book, because on one hand I enjoyed Vera's beautiful writing, but on the other, I wish she had weaved it into the story more seamlessly, rather than splitting the book into one half drowning poetry, one half fiction. The disconnect between the two parts only gave me little time to discern and comprehend the defining events of the novel, and gave me no time to care about the sisterhood between Thenjiwe and Nonceba.
November 13, 2021
A gorgeous novel. The prose washes over you, giving a very felt sense of the beauty, hope, brutality, fear, and, again, hope.
The style was rewarding and wowing to me, but also challenging. The weaving of the story through what is nearly poetry made it hard times to follow exactly what was happening -- either because it wasn't written plainly or because I got lost in the beauty of the words -- but also made it all the more rewarding as the threads of the story connected as the story drew on.
It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea due to the style. But if you feel you're in that camp, give it one more chance. I almost put it down, but am glad I didn't.
I listened to the audio version and can say that the reader -- Danai Gurira -- does an outstanding job.
The style was rewarding and wowing to me, but also challenging. The weaving of the story through what is nearly poetry made it hard times to follow exactly what was happening -- either because it wasn't written plainly or because I got lost in the beauty of the words -- but also made it all the more rewarding as the threads of the story connected as the story drew on.
It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea due to the style. But if you feel you're in that camp, give it one more chance. I almost put it down, but am glad I didn't.
I listened to the audio version and can say that the reader -- Danai Gurira -- does an outstanding job.
November 5, 2022
This book is powerful, painful, and intimate. It demands that the reader do the work of healing and finally giving attention to the genocides that occurred in Zimbabwe following its independence. As someone who has read a lot of hard, challenging books, I can confidently say this is one of the most painful. To think that so much of this book is real is horrifying. However, the world has turned away from Zimbabwe for too long, and Vera is determined that we should all come to know this country’s pain and history; we are asked to bear witness where the rest of the world has turned away. A must read.
May 10, 2023
This was my first encounter with Yvonne Vera's work, and so I wasn't sure what to expect from The Stone Virgins. What a found was a heartbreaking, difficult, but beautifully-written account of war in Zimbabwe. I could not get over her lush prose, so contrasted with the brutality of war.
The plot of The Stone Virgins is present but sparse, used to compliment her descriptions of the landscape and larger events of the war, rather than to drive the book forward. This alone will make this book not for everyone. But it is well-worth the time spent.
Much like war itself, there are some truly brutal moments in this book. I read a lot of books like this, but there were some scenes here that are truly difficult to read. These are made more difficult, I think, by the way that Vera jumps from her beautiful, extended scenes of the surroundings into these harsher events. The contrast is stark.
Vera is known for her strong female characters, and Nonceba is a perfect example. Without spoilers, she goes through a lot of terrible events, yet has a satisfying character arc by the end. At the same time, Vera doesn't let the reader brush over Nonceba's trauma. She dwells in it, allowing us time in Nonceba's head as she processes what has happened to her.
There is also a first-person POV of one of the soldiers of the war, which I admittedly struggled a bit with. I was grateful to the group I was reading this with, who talked through this interesting shift to his character and why Vera may have included him. Despite all the terrible acts he committed, she also shows the suffering he goes through without apologizing for the pain he also caused.
I'm very glad to have read this book and will certainly check out more of Vera's work in the future. This may even be one I need to revisit, if only to linger in her writing style once again.
The plot of The Stone Virgins is present but sparse, used to compliment her descriptions of the landscape and larger events of the war, rather than to drive the book forward. This alone will make this book not for everyone. But it is well-worth the time spent.
Much like war itself, there are some truly brutal moments in this book. I read a lot of books like this, but there were some scenes here that are truly difficult to read. These are made more difficult, I think, by the way that Vera jumps from her beautiful, extended scenes of the surroundings into these harsher events. The contrast is stark.
Vera is known for her strong female characters, and Nonceba is a perfect example. Without spoilers, she goes through a lot of terrible events, yet has a satisfying character arc by the end. At the same time, Vera doesn't let the reader brush over Nonceba's trauma. She dwells in it, allowing us time in Nonceba's head as she processes what has happened to her.
There is also a first-person POV of one of the soldiers of the war, which I admittedly struggled a bit with. I was grateful to the group I was reading this with, who talked through this interesting shift to his character and why Vera may have included him. Despite all the terrible acts he committed, she also shows the suffering he goes through without apologizing for the pain he also caused.
I'm very glad to have read this book and will certainly check out more of Vera's work in the future. This may even be one I need to revisit, if only to linger in her writing style once again.
October 5, 2023
At first I was quite impatient with this book, I was waiting for specifics to be introduced, and I found some of the descriptions themselves unspecific and unbelievable. But, when the book turned around when the defining tragedy takes place, I began to understand it. This is a very unusual and creative way of telling a story, and it's very compassionate, putting human experiences at the absolute centre of events that can be described in history in a way that dehumanises. I ended up really appreciating and admiring this unusually written story.
May 11, 2023
“Truth is elusive; they settle for the evident; their own hearts, beating.“
“You do not stop till you reach that ancient parting in the rocks, the valley with the stream wedged in it, which they call Simude. It glitters. Now you are close to the largest rocks of Gulati, which spill into the clouds, and the water at last is pure. It is so pure that you can hardly see your own reflection in it.“
From: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘝𝘪𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘴 by Yvonne Vera
I finished this book a week ago after reading it in @bernie.lombardi’s read along. It is an exceptional and extraordinary book, that I won’t be able to do justice with this post. It is about Zimbabwe’s violent struggles post-independence in the Matabeleland area.
I’ve been mulling over how to describe this book. Vera’s prose is so very rich and lush and poetic. The sense of scenery that Vera creates is cinematic and moving. You feel like you’re there and you can actually look around.
The first part is setting that scene with its beautiful nature but it’s punctured by the injustice and inequality of the time.
And then, in the second part, destruction hits. It is brutal and violent and so personal and intimate. So very hard to read (I was tachycardic after only a few sentences) yet still so poetic, it’s relentless.
The last part brings a much awaited healing and love with still the memory of the violence.
I am so glad I found this book and read along, which greatly enhanced my reading of this difficult book. I will think about it for a long time.
“You do not stop till you reach that ancient parting in the rocks, the valley with the stream wedged in it, which they call Simude. It glitters. Now you are close to the largest rocks of Gulati, which spill into the clouds, and the water at last is pure. It is so pure that you can hardly see your own reflection in it.“
From: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘝𝘪𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘴 by Yvonne Vera
I finished this book a week ago after reading it in @bernie.lombardi’s read along. It is an exceptional and extraordinary book, that I won’t be able to do justice with this post. It is about Zimbabwe’s violent struggles post-independence in the Matabeleland area.
I’ve been mulling over how to describe this book. Vera’s prose is so very rich and lush and poetic. The sense of scenery that Vera creates is cinematic and moving. You feel like you’re there and you can actually look around.
The first part is setting that scene with its beautiful nature but it’s punctured by the injustice and inequality of the time.
And then, in the second part, destruction hits. It is brutal and violent and so personal and intimate. So very hard to read (I was tachycardic after only a few sentences) yet still so poetic, it’s relentless.
The last part brings a much awaited healing and love with still the memory of the violence.
I am so glad I found this book and read along, which greatly enhanced my reading of this difficult book. I will think about it for a long time.
November 7, 2022
This book is extremely well-written, but I think it really has too much description and not enough plot. It takes much too long for the first character to be introduced, and the style of Vera's writing, while interesting, is not really conducive for understanding what is actually happening in the book. However, I'm sure that if I were to read this again I would enjoy it a lot more.
April 29, 2023
I read this as part of a read along which helped me think more critically about the message of the book and how things could be perceived. The writing is absolutely stunning and cinematic, which carried me through. For much of the book I was unsure that there was any big plot, but I do think it speaks to the trauma of war and decolonization very well.
July 26, 2023
Aplaus, Heili Sepp, milline imepärane tõlge!
Teos ise on lüüriline, hingeminev, kohati on teema nii tuttav oma riigikorra muutustega ja inimeste raskustega sellega kohanemisel, teisalt on see kirjeldatud julmuste tõttu täiesti võõras ning talumatu lugada, kuni tulevad mängu järgmised tegelased, lootus ja eluga edasiminek.
Teos ise on lüüriline, hingeminev, kohati on teema nii tuttav oma riigikorra muutustega ja inimeste raskustega sellega kohanemisel, teisalt on see kirjeldatud julmuste tõttu täiesti võõras ning talumatu lugada, kuni tulevad mängu järgmised tegelased, lootus ja eluga edasiminek.
October 14, 2020
3.5 stars
Well written at a sentence level, interesting voice, unusual subject matter, but incredibly depressing. That's kind of the point but I just wanted to point out that this is not an enjoyable read. Do expect some beautiful sentences though, even if they are describing torture.
Well written at a sentence level, interesting voice, unusual subject matter, but incredibly depressing. That's kind of the point but I just wanted to point out that this is not an enjoyable read. Do expect some beautiful sentences though, even if they are describing torture.
October 15, 2025
This book is super deep and interesting and cool but boy oh boy I hate how much the rapist talked. Also switching pronouns halfway through a chapter with the same narrator is the most confusing thing ever
February 7, 2018
Would have been a 5 if it were more streamlined. Very nearly cry-worthy.
August 3, 2019
Beautifully written it reads like a poem set to music. The only downside is the sadness of the story. Heavy but also hopeful.
December 19, 2019
Quite elusive in tone and in language but a beautiful ending that is more human and realistically beautiful than most books.
April 6, 2021
This book changed the way I think about everything.
November 21, 2021
نوعي غير المفضل من الكتابة
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