What do you think?
Rate this book
The Scandalous Times of a Book Louse
Ah, you’ve arrived. Sit down, please, and make yourself comfortable. There may not be much dinner tonight – Father is still out of work; Mother can’t do anything with those stunted maize plants in the stony ground – but at least you are here, in Gushure Village, home to unsurpassed raconteurs and the Guramatunhu family, who know that telling stories staves off hunger.
Surprise awaits at every turn: thoughts and conversations bloom into poems, political speeches and songs. You will find instructions for cooking a hare, for how to defend yourself when a dead snake is your enemy’s chosen weapon, how to speak in war tongues, how to compose a fist and aim it at a tree trunk, how to eliminate animal terrorism in a time of rabies, how to rehearse the body-viewing of a good-looking corpse, how to rock under flying okapis with The Double Shuffle, and how to practise your lovemaking technique on a woman drawn in the sand.
At a time when cooked ants constitute a feast, the future nevertheless holds abundant prospects for the boy who devours words. But there is an unexpected fork in the road for this book louse, and plenty of wondrous twists and shocking turns.
Hilarious, poetic and poignant, Robert Muponde’s vibrant coming-of-age story of Ronald Guramatunhu brings to life rural Zimbabwe from The Second Chimurenga to independence. There are malevolent mermaids, eccentric shamans, outrageous relatives, fearsome teachers, and men who transform into hippos in a tale that captures all the magic of childhood.
Surprise awaits at every turn: thoughts and conversations bloom into poems, political speeches and songs. You will find instructions for cooking a hare, for how to defend yourself when a dead snake is your enemy’s chosen weapon, how to speak in war tongues, how to compose a fist and aim it at a tree trunk, how to eliminate animal terrorism in a time of rabies, how to rehearse the body-viewing of a good-looking corpse, how to rock under flying okapis with The Double Shuffle, and how to practise your lovemaking technique on a woman drawn in the sand.
At a time when cooked ants constitute a feast, the future nevertheless holds abundant prospects for the boy who devours words. But there is an unexpected fork in the road for this book louse, and plenty of wondrous twists and shocking turns.
Hilarious, poetic and poignant, Robert Muponde’s vibrant coming-of-age story of Ronald Guramatunhu brings to life rural Zimbabwe from The Second Chimurenga to independence. There are malevolent mermaids, eccentric shamans, outrageous relatives, fearsome teachers, and men who transform into hippos in a tale that captures all the magic of childhood.
Paperback
Published May 21, 2021
2 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 29, 2022
I can't believe I got through that. Finally!
I usually devour books quickly, but this one dragged on... it frustrated me.
It was a difficult read...
(Disclaimer: I am not professional book critic just an ordinary guy who likes reading. But this will probably be my longest book review anyway.... because I am trying to unpack and digest what I just read over the last few weeks.)
As another reviewer, Anita said, "It is frequently peppered with African terminology and names, which make it a difficult read for the average European, who has not grown up in Africa."
I did grow up in Africa. But quite differently. As a 'umlungu' (white person in isiZulu).
People usually quit on books if they don't like them. But I was determined to push through and see what I may enjoy or learn from it.
I didn't enjoy it :(
But I did learn or observe a few things.
I was allured by the catchy title: "The Scandalous Times of a Book Louse" (Perhaps that age old adage is true - we cannot judge a book by it's cover.)
I am somehow still on the mailing list of Penguin Random House South Africa.
A newsletter of theirs introduced me to the book. I ordered it. it arrived at my mom's and sat in her cupboard. (On a recent trip back to South Africa) I was excited to grab it. Much ado about nothing...
I find it so difficult to follow the thoughts of the writer. (This is a memoir, after all) but he jumps from one story and one thought to another without much transition.
Leaving the reader baffled a lot.
I appreciated the translations of the Shona phrases... but there was just way too many characters to keep up with.
At one point I thought he described his mom as having died only to discover twenty or thirty pages later that she was still alive.
The ending, seriously... what an anti climax. :(
I did learn though, how tough and difficult it is growing up in rural Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)
And how the older boys did distasteful things to the young boys and girls. Horrific!
Also how in rural schools to are sent very "Western" books to learn and nursery rhymes too.
"Jack and Jill going up a hill" has nothing to do with young Africans...
I thought of the haunting REM lyric "How the west was won and where it got us"
Westernization creeping in everywhere...
In some cases, not a very good thing.
It was confusing to work out what was true, what as a fable or folklore.
But I trudged through.
Well done to the author on getting a book published.
I am sure other readers may identify with it or understand it more.
It did contain one heck of a journey and an array of things...
from right at the end, fitting in a war memoir...
to a random "how to cook a hare" recipe
And an attempt at trying to be clever (but maybe overly clever) with words such as spot and sport...
(What?!)
We do come from words.
And storytelling does carry us through all sorts of things.
On that I can agree with - the opening of the book.
PS. I honestly mean no harm here. Please note. It was just such an unexpected and difficult book to follow.
I usually devour books quickly, but this one dragged on... it frustrated me.
It was a difficult read...
(Disclaimer: I am not professional book critic just an ordinary guy who likes reading. But this will probably be my longest book review anyway.... because I am trying to unpack and digest what I just read over the last few weeks.)
As another reviewer, Anita said, "It is frequently peppered with African terminology and names, which make it a difficult read for the average European, who has not grown up in Africa."
I did grow up in Africa. But quite differently. As a 'umlungu' (white person in isiZulu).
People usually quit on books if they don't like them. But I was determined to push through and see what I may enjoy or learn from it.
I didn't enjoy it :(
But I did learn or observe a few things.
I was allured by the catchy title: "The Scandalous Times of a Book Louse" (Perhaps that age old adage is true - we cannot judge a book by it's cover.)
I am somehow still on the mailing list of Penguin Random House South Africa.
A newsletter of theirs introduced me to the book. I ordered it. it arrived at my mom's and sat in her cupboard. (On a recent trip back to South Africa) I was excited to grab it. Much ado about nothing...
I find it so difficult to follow the thoughts of the writer. (This is a memoir, after all) but he jumps from one story and one thought to another without much transition.
Leaving the reader baffled a lot.
I appreciated the translations of the Shona phrases... but there was just way too many characters to keep up with.
At one point I thought he described his mom as having died only to discover twenty or thirty pages later that she was still alive.
The ending, seriously... what an anti climax. :(
I did learn though, how tough and difficult it is growing up in rural Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)
And how the older boys did distasteful things to the young boys and girls. Horrific!
Also how in rural schools to are sent very "Western" books to learn and nursery rhymes too.
"Jack and Jill going up a hill" has nothing to do with young Africans...
I thought of the haunting REM lyric "How the west was won and where it got us"
Westernization creeping in everywhere...
In some cases, not a very good thing.
It was confusing to work out what was true, what as a fable or folklore.
But I trudged through.
Well done to the author on getting a book published.
I am sure other readers may identify with it or understand it more.
It did contain one heck of a journey and an array of things...
from right at the end, fitting in a war memoir...
to a random "how to cook a hare" recipe
And an attempt at trying to be clever (but maybe overly clever) with words such as spot and sport...
(What?!)
We do come from words.
And storytelling does carry us through all sorts of things.
On that I can agree with - the opening of the book.
PS. I honestly mean no harm here. Please note. It was just such an unexpected and difficult book to follow.
September 18, 2021
This book, described as a memoir, is rather a series of short sketches and remembrances from a rural Zimbabwean childhood. It is frequently peppered with African terminology and names, which make it a difficult read for the average European, who has not grown up in Africa.
Nevertheless, I found it enlightening on the subject of a young boy’s view of life in Zimbabwe shortly after Independence from colonial rule. It is frequently amusing and the narration “tongue in cheek”. The colorful characters from the author’s childhood are vividly described, as is the landscape in which he grew up.
Maybe the hardships and setbacks of his childhood were the influences which drove him on to succeed so remarkably in his adult life.
An interesting and enlightening read.
Nevertheless, I found it enlightening on the subject of a young boy’s view of life in Zimbabwe shortly after Independence from colonial rule. It is frequently amusing and the narration “tongue in cheek”. The colorful characters from the author’s childhood are vividly described, as is the landscape in which he grew up.
Maybe the hardships and setbacks of his childhood were the influences which drove him on to succeed so remarkably in his adult life.
An interesting and enlightening read.
September 14, 2021
'My story is a story about stories or stories about a story.' Muponde drops this gem early on. It feels especially apt as you reel from anecdote to anecdote, laughing out loud then feeling guilty for doing so. The reality of rural Zimbabwe life that he describes takes turns to be surreal, sad, disturbing, and distressful, but mostly after it is funny as hell. I love his liberal use of slang and Shona as he dares you to hang on for what is a wonderfully offbeat ride. My book of the year (Yeah, I know, it's only September but still.)
May 14, 2022
I'd heard good things about this book and so was very excited to pick it up in Bloem because it's harder to find in the states. In retrospect, maybe not worth the trouble. I've never been a huge fan of child narrators and this book was a particularly non-linear collection of stories of being a child mixed with stories heard as a child.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews