Memories We Lost

by Lidudumalingani

In Lidudumalingani's twelve-page tale of mental illness in the isolated village life of South Africa, siblings are violently afflicted by one's schizophrenia. In the wake of having yet another violent episode, the two decide to escape from their home village in the middle of the night.

12 pages, Audio

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Lidudumalingani Mqombothi, born in the village of Zikhovane in the Eastern Cape, is a South African writer, film-maker and photographer.
He is the 2016 Caine Prize winner for the short story "Memories We Lost".

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4* of five

Another Caine Prize nominee, this story is about a thing I'd never so much as considered: Mental illness among the isolated rural population of South Africa, or anywhere else for that matter. It isn't all that different than anywhere else: Sufferers are isolated, feared, shunned, and if they're lucky, just drugged into submission instead of murdered.

Cheery little bagatelle, no; honest, searing, brave? Most certainly yes.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A riveting account of some of the challenges the mentally ill face in contemporary society, mostly in 3rd world nations.

[Sara G · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writer is good at writing words. The writer also needs to think a little harder on what he's writing. If we were living in a society that made it clear that there is a happy, safe middle for people with mental illnesses that both include medical help and allow them to function, this story would have just been an interesting look at a way someone else somewhere else might react to a relative with schizophrenia. However, that's not the case and both approaches shown are both very widely spread (false) ideas of the way to approach severe mental illness, and very harmful sort of "general knowledge" that genuinely hurts mentally ill people in real, everyday life.

I am not saying this to be nitpicky or mean but, when writing about mental illness, could we please stop thinking "what would a relative of someone with this mental illness think of this piece" and maybe consider "what would the person suffering from this mental illness think of this piece", as a start?

[Adeeb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't generally read short stories, not because they aren't good or anything. I just haven't heard of that many so I stuck to good old novels. I did not know about this short story before. The reason I found about it was because a friend of mine was taking the contemporary world literature class at my university and this was one of the required readings.

I am very glad about this because literature doesn't always have to cover overly famous books over and over again. This was a great change.

The story is written from the first person point of view and talks about mental illness. The way this was done was fantastic because it was not from the mentally ill character's point of view. This story was about the repercussions mental illness has on the surroundings.

The writing was great, the ending perfect, and the message very sufficient.

This was a great experience to be further exposed to African literature. I look forward to read much more in this genre.

[NJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my opinion, one of the best short stories I've read so far. I knew of these book because it was part of the school set books. And I have to say, the first story was heavy for me

[Kudzai Mhangwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subject matter is so powerful and he couldn't be closer to the truth as possible. I have witnessed what mental illness can do to a person and the great misunderstanding of the conditions. The language is very direct and gives the reader a clear image of the action. However the characters were not fully developed (perhaps because it was a short story), you do feel empathy towards them though I feel we should have had a just a little more on the sister who is suffering from the mental illness.
This was an excellent read over and above, and a very necessary story for those people who are sometimes badly misunderstood.

[Murimi Kinyua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mqombothi Lidudumalingani is calling for the world to show love to Schizophrenic and on a larger scale all mentally challenged persons. It's also an appeal to us as well as any relevant authorities to share useful information with a view of educating the masses (especially in rural Africa) about these dissorders. If the narrator's community knew more about "this thing" they would have done better

[Simphiwe Yana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mental illness remains a heavily ignored and misunderstood sickness, especially where the story is set (in deep rural areas). It is often dismissed as a demon that needs the intervention of ancestors. What do we then do about the lack of information around mental health in especially marginalized parts of our society? I loved this story.

[Wim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful short story, highlighting the importance of universal mental health care. Well written, moving story.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is home for great minds

[Sakshi Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twelve pages of sheer love!