Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Glory: A Novel

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Glory: A Novel by NoViolet Bulawayo

17 reviews

humdrum_ts's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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mariah_reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This was a hard read, but I also learned a lot and it forced me to educate myself. It needed to be cut by 100 pages, and maybe should have been short stories. But there were gripping vignettes.

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differentsisters's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

I see what the author was trying to do. Once I got use to the inclusion of Zimbabwean dialect, the book was readable. What became tiring was the heavy heavy use of repetition (a whole page of just the word take). I could see why some uses of repetition was used, but it became tiresome and felt like an editor needed to cut at least a hundred pages of repetition.

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deedireads's review against another edition

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challenging funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Glory is a challenging but rewarding read. I liked it, but I respected and admired it even more. It won’t be for everyone, but there’s no denying that Bulawayo is masterful.

For you if: You like satire, enjoy a challenge, and don’t mind anthropomorphized animals.

FULL REVIEW:

Glory is NoViolet Bulawayo’s second novel to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and it’s easy to see why. This book is smart, inventive, and effective at what it sets out to do.

Glory closely follows the events during and after the coup that ousted Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe in 2017 — except that in this world, the country is called Jidada (with a -da and another -da!) and all the people are talking (clothes-wearing, cell-phone-using, otherwise extremely human) animals. It swoops between a lot of characters’ perspectives and mixes in alternative storytelling formats like Tweets. But it’s also all tied together with a fictional character named Destiny, who’d self-exiled from Jidada after experiencing war violence and has now returned.

This book is challenging, but I (and many others) found it rewarding. Others found it impossible to connect with or get through. It’s not going to be for everyone, but I think it’s worth the attempt! Bulawayo’s approach here with the animals works so well in highlighting the farcical nature of its subject matter and society overall, and it enables her to add extra absurdism to underscore her point that would just come across dumb if the characters were human (for example, at one point the President starts hitting on Siri).

I also really liked the more traditional verbal storytelling style of the writing, filled with lots of repetition and punctuation. It translated really well to audiobook. Be aware that parts of this book are hard to read, as they deal with genocide and war violence (including sexual violence).

All in all, there were definitely parts that I struggled to stay engaged with, and I wasn’t sorry to finish this book and mark it complete. But I do put it in the “liked overall” column, and I have a ton of respect and admiration for what Bulawayo has done here.

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