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Bringing us Back
Set in a tumultuous era of large-scale migration and disintegration, Brining Us Back is a collection of short stories that explore the quest for freedom and escape. Love and nationality. Locating itself in between arbitrary worlds and borders that separate foreign from local; men from women; the physical from the metaphysical, the collection zooms into the desolation, violence, hunger, anger, desperation and the naivety (and even the strength, defiance, and resilience) that breeds in the spaces that are either left behind, or that exist beyond borders and the spaces trapped in between.
120 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 17, 2021
At first glance, the title of Mercy Dhliwayo’s collection of short stories conjures up an image of another daughter of Africa raising her fist to the sky in defiance of forced exile. It reads like an expression of a wish to return home. But as one begins to read, this image is quickly dispelled.
The stories speak of so much more than the agonies of being forced to seek a living away from home. They address the issues of people forced into criminality by laws that serve to preserve the image of a failing government instead of protecting the citizenry. They tell of employees forced to put their conscience in their back pocket in exchange for survival. And in a time when the plight of women and children has become such a hot topic, Dhliwayo tells about the violence directed at women – married or otherwise – and the difficult choices forced upon innocent children by poverty and lack of guidance.
Dhliwayo has always wielded her pen skilfully. I have been privileged to see her perform and I also had the good fortune to hear her album. But this book is a whole new animal. She portrays her diverse characters effortlessly. No two characters are alike in their struggles, and yet each one is as intense as the next.
An example of this is Smashing Tomatoes. In this story, she moves between two characters and it is easy to see the vast difference in their world view. The first looks respectfully at her colleagues who ‘have not reduced themselves to the status of illegal immigrants across neighbouring borders’ despite the questionable nature of some of the activities they engage in. The second character, in spite of his own poverty and degradation, sees these same people as ‘scattering like kitchen cockroaches at the switching on of a light.’
But this is only the first story in a series that will keep you turning the pages. All the stories will grab your heart. And when you read the title story at the end of the book, you will be left – as I was – thinking of that old Shona saying that speaks of the plight of the cigarette; bitten at one end, burning at the other.
The stories speak of so much more than the agonies of being forced to seek a living away from home. They address the issues of people forced into criminality by laws that serve to preserve the image of a failing government instead of protecting the citizenry. They tell of employees forced to put their conscience in their back pocket in exchange for survival. And in a time when the plight of women and children has become such a hot topic, Dhliwayo tells about the violence directed at women – married or otherwise – and the difficult choices forced upon innocent children by poverty and lack of guidance.
Dhliwayo has always wielded her pen skilfully. I have been privileged to see her perform and I also had the good fortune to hear her album. But this book is a whole new animal. She portrays her diverse characters effortlessly. No two characters are alike in their struggles, and yet each one is as intense as the next.
An example of this is Smashing Tomatoes. In this story, she moves between two characters and it is easy to see the vast difference in their world view. The first looks respectfully at her colleagues who ‘have not reduced themselves to the status of illegal immigrants across neighbouring borders’ despite the questionable nature of some of the activities they engage in. The second character, in spite of his own poverty and degradation, sees these same people as ‘scattering like kitchen cockroaches at the switching on of a light.’
But this is only the first story in a series that will keep you turning the pages. All the stories will grab your heart. And when you read the title story at the end of the book, you will be left – as I was – thinking of that old Shona saying that speaks of the plight of the cigarette; bitten at one end, burning at the other.
February 25, 2021
This little book, 118 pages and ten short stories, packs a mighty punch in the themes it explores. It explores the 'quest for freedom and escape, love and nationality. It is written from the perspective of a migrant, and how she goes about life away from him.
The reader emerges out of the book with a better understanding of the lives of migrants, in South Africa and the world in general.
Bringing Us Back is beautifully written, and lends itself to easy reading.
The author, Mercy Dhliwayo is a 'creative writer and story teller, who tells her stories in different genres such as poetry, hip hop and fiction.'
The reader emerges out of the book with a better understanding of the lives of migrants, in South Africa and the world in general.
Bringing Us Back is beautifully written, and lends itself to easy reading.
The author, Mercy Dhliwayo is a 'creative writer and story teller, who tells her stories in different genres such as poetry, hip hop and fiction.'
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews