Reviews

Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo

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deservingporcupine's review against another edition

5.0

This book walked the line between devastating and hilarious so skillfully. I don’t love satire, but this one propelled me through the story so smoothly- with repetition, varying story-telling methods, and a few very sympathetic central characters— that I couldn’t put it down. The sense of seething rage and deep mourning hiding beneath the witty allegory was truly masterful writing. At times you forget the characters are animals, which feels very intentional. Of course this is about the specific history of Zimbabwe, and I learned quite a bit about that. I don’t know if I’ll use some of this with Animal Farm in 8th grade, but anyone who teaches Animal Farm in high school absolutely should pair this text.

bub_9's review against another edition

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4.0

This was funny but sometimes a little tiresome and repetitive (others will have pointed out the recurring structures, but the ones that particularly grated me were those that felt meaningless - Jidada with a -da and another -da??), and to be entirely frank I did not always think the use of animal characters was always effective, particularly in the latter half of the novel. While it served to lighten up the tenor of the opening sections, perhaps even lending them some satirical, biting humour, I thought it was sometimes at odds with the emotionally powerful scenes of the Gukurahundi and conclusion of the work. I also did not think that it made the work at all universal - much of the scenes are tied with some specificity to events in Zimbabwe and, in my opinion, gain power from that.

This uneasiness with itself also results in the half-baked nature of the personal narrative of Destiny, who, perhaps until the very close of the novel, feels like someone who we randomly start to follow away from the political center that dominates the first half of the novel.

Nonetheless, this is an impressive, admirable piece of writing with a beautifully uplifting ending that offers some much-needed hope for an undeniably dispirited country.

omipotent's review against another edition

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5.0

I dont think I fully understood everything but I think I liked the tone it felt unbiased and I think this is a fun way to introduce yourself to history and culture of a place you haven't been to and know nothing about so I really liked it and I recommend it if you want to learn something new about African history