The Daily Assortment of Astonishing Things and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2016

by The Caine Prize for African Writing, NoViolet Bulawayo (contributor), Abdul Adan (contributor)

?Now entering its seventeenth year, the Caine Prize for African Writing is Africas leading literary award (named for the Booker Prize founder Michael Caine), and is awarded to a short story by an African writer published in English. This collection brings together eighteen short storiesthe five 2016 shortlisted stories, along with stories written at the 2016 Caine Prize Writers Workshop in Zambia. The shortlisted writers include Abdul Adan (Somalia/Kenya), Lesley Nneka Arimah (Nigeria), Tope Folarin (Nigeria), Bongani Kona (Zimbabwe), and Lidudumalingani (South Africa).

Genres: Africa, Short Stories

296 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 2016

Reviews

[Liza]

Favorites:

- In The Garden: pink and silky and eerie.
This is about Cleopatra's twisted mind and her discovering her talent for manipulation, but we see that through a servants adoring eyes, which makes it 100 times creepier.

- What it Means When a Man Falls from the Sky: unique idea that's explored from different perspectives.

- Genesis: gosh, this was beautifully written and heart-wrenching. I liked the parts about the significance of day-dreaming.
,,To my mother, silence is love.
So we, in turn, learn to love silence. [...] If she looks ignores us when we ask her a question she's actually telling us that we're smart enough to figure things out ourselves. If we call for her and she refuses to respond, we know she is hugging us all the same.
To my mother, awareness is anger.''

- At Your Requiem: a devastating story about the dynamics of an untraditional family.
Similar to 'Genesis' because they both showcase a mother resenting her son because he reminds her of his father (but 'At Your Requiem' feels so fresh because it is told from the mother's "new son's" perspective)

- Memories We Lost: this is a story about the protagonist's sister struggling with "the thing that takes over her", her serious mental illness. Unique idea, great writing.
,,My mother preferred her numb. I preferred a sister. A laughing sister, a talking sister, and a sister who looked into my eyes and cried and laughed.''

- The Goat: fucking terrifying and utterly disgusting... Anyway, great story!

- The Wandering Festival: a funny and endearing story about the afterlife. Finally something light among these heavy topics... Plus I got to imagine the Grim Reaper with a 'fan-girl expression on his face', so thank you.
,,[The sound] was drowning out my thoughts and throwing them against chaotic winds. I was afraid.''


Unfortunatly I really didn't like or just wasn't touched by the other stories.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Discovered Lesley Nneka Arimah with this collection. Her story, “What it means when a man falls from the sky” is stunning.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wide variation in topics and my personal preference for different authors. I may want to stick to short story collections by the same author in the future: more risk but also stylistic consistency and potential for thematic linkages. But I liked the chance to sample a number of African authors I can now read in longer installments.

My favorites were stylistically adventurous and a bit fantastical without being disturbing:
- Lesley Nneka Arimah: What it Means When a Man Falls from the Sky
- Elnathan John: Walking
- The Wandering Festival: Benny Blow Kapumpa
- FT Kola: In the Garden
- Okwiri Oduor: The Daily Assortment of Astonishing Things
- Namwali Serpell: Zo’ona

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the great variety of stories in this collection - many were based on wonderfully original ideas, cleverly executed.

[World Literature Today]

This book was featured in the Nota Benes section of the May 2017 issue of World Literature Today Magazine.

https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/...