Author: Noviolet Blubayo
ISBN: 9780701188030
Coming June 2013!
This book will change your life. Set in a shanty town on the outskirts of Budapest this is an emotional, terrible, enchanting story about a young girl named Darling. She lives with Mother of Bones and her Mother as her father is away traveling to make money for them, she remembers what it was like to have a nice house, clean clothes and pretty toys before the time when their country was taken over and their houses destroyed leaving them with worthless money and few possessions. She is also keen to remind the other children that she has a rich auntie in america who she will live with one day. However her and her friends Bastard Stina Godknows Chipo and Sbho have more pressing matters to attend to. They are off to steal guava fruits. Guava fruits from the rich houses that will temporarily full their empty stomachs but have the unfortunate side effect of painful constipation.
However this is book is not miserable angry or bitter; it displays the determination and strength of a beaten down race who did anything to escape their dying country but never relinquished its culture or their love for it. Through the mind of a child Blubayo successfully captures images through words in a unique and enchanting manner. I have read few books where I actually sense feel and experience the story and the setting as I do in "We Need New Names". Also worth mentioning is he authors skill in creating a change of tone and manner of the narrator as she grows from a child to an adolescent with her own strong opinions, often intervening with chapters speaking for all African people who have been forced to leave their country behind. I can't recommend this book enough; it really will change your view on life.
9/10
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