A review by shonatiger
For you I'd steal a goat by Niq Mhlongo
3.0
Moral panic, flames of lies, and muddled reality, in Mhlongo’s short story collection:
Niq Mhlongo is an award-winning South African writer and the editor of two recent anthologies. He is, also, in my opinion, a master of the short story format, the format that African writers traditionally excel at. In the wonderfully titled For You I’d Steal A Goat, Mhlongo shows off this prowess in ten stories running the gamut from queer love, through families and their burdens, to ghosts.
I had to settle myself into Mhlongo’s authorial voice and style, which is fairly elaborate and a little wordy. Once I did, I enjoyed its distinctness; he brings to his characters a realness and worldliness that I came to appreciate. Mhlongo is also not afraid of bringing an ick factor to his stories, so be warned, especially when you read Ghost Story, the story of a Malawian immigrant killed in a possible xenophobic attack, which brings all the body horror you could imagine.
I was particularly moved by Displaced, about people who were removed by the apartheid government from Sophiatown in the 1950s. I have not read much fiction that tells the story from the perspective of the displaced—no doubt my own fault, because I have not looked to see if such fiction exists—but this was very beautifully done by Mhlongo. The twist at the end was heart-wrenching.
I was also astonished, to say the least, to find words from the resignation letter of a former vice-president of Zimbabwe preserved in a letter of resignation by a character in one of the stories. In Fireplace, MEC Comrade Leadership Mgobhozi, corrupt to the hilt, uses these amazing words:
“The interconnectivity within social media ecologies have been relaying viral moral panic, peddling flames of lies, creating myths, and muddling the reality of my life as a family man. I am a victim of information distortion, voice cloning, sponsored spooking and political sabotage by your office. Digital media, in their hybridity, have been abused by my enemies to blackmail me, but my spirit, like that of a leopard, will never die. Following the recurring disinformation and virilisation of my alleged immoral unions, dispensed through awkward slacktivism, I’m stepping down from your re-election campaign.”
This is almost word-for-word what Kembo Mohadi wrote in his letter to Zimbabwe’s president on March 1, 2021. I laughed out loud when I came upon this speech in Mhlongo’s book. I wonder if Mohadi would be flattered?
Mhlongo has astonishing range in the stories he is able to tell, and I enjoyed that in this collection. He also has the ability to hold one’s attention while delivering interesting and imaginative plots. High literature, this is not, but it is a quick read—I read it over the course of a day.
This was the first time I had read Mhlongo, and it will not be the last. I also have, on my bookshelf, the two anthologies he has edited, Joburg Noir, and Hauntings, both of which I hope to be able to get to before the end of the year.
Rated: 6/10.
A version of this appeared in The Continent, Issue 93, July 16, 2022.
Niq Mhlongo is an award-winning South African writer and the editor of two recent anthologies. He is, also, in my opinion, a master of the short story format, the format that African writers traditionally excel at. In the wonderfully titled For You I’d Steal A Goat, Mhlongo shows off this prowess in ten stories running the gamut from queer love, through families and their burdens, to ghosts.
I had to settle myself into Mhlongo’s authorial voice and style, which is fairly elaborate and a little wordy. Once I did, I enjoyed its distinctness; he brings to his characters a realness and worldliness that I came to appreciate. Mhlongo is also not afraid of bringing an ick factor to his stories, so be warned, especially when you read Ghost Story, the story of a Malawian immigrant killed in a possible xenophobic attack, which brings all the body horror you could imagine.
I was particularly moved by Displaced, about people who were removed by the apartheid government from Sophiatown in the 1950s. I have not read much fiction that tells the story from the perspective of the displaced—no doubt my own fault, because I have not looked to see if such fiction exists—but this was very beautifully done by Mhlongo. The twist at the end was heart-wrenching.
I was also astonished, to say the least, to find words from the resignation letter of a former vice-president of Zimbabwe preserved in a letter of resignation by a character in one of the stories. In Fireplace, MEC Comrade Leadership Mgobhozi, corrupt to the hilt, uses these amazing words:
“The interconnectivity within social media ecologies have been relaying viral moral panic, peddling flames of lies, creating myths, and muddling the reality of my life as a family man. I am a victim of information distortion, voice cloning, sponsored spooking and political sabotage by your office. Digital media, in their hybridity, have been abused by my enemies to blackmail me, but my spirit, like that of a leopard, will never die. Following the recurring disinformation and virilisation of my alleged immoral unions, dispensed through awkward slacktivism, I’m stepping down from your re-election campaign.”
This is almost word-for-word what Kembo Mohadi wrote in his letter to Zimbabwe’s president on March 1, 2021. I laughed out loud when I came upon this speech in Mhlongo’s book. I wonder if Mohadi would be flattered?
Mhlongo has astonishing range in the stories he is able to tell, and I enjoyed that in this collection. He also has the ability to hold one’s attention while delivering interesting and imaginative plots. High literature, this is not, but it is a quick read—I read it over the course of a day.
This was the first time I had read Mhlongo, and it will not be the last. I also have, on my bookshelf, the two anthologies he has edited, Joburg Noir, and Hauntings, both of which I hope to be able to get to before the end of the year.
Rated: 6/10.
A version of this appeared in The Continent, Issue 93, July 16, 2022.