Book Review: These Bones Will Rise Again, Panashe Chigumadzi; Manchester Happened, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi and My Sister the Serial Killer Oyinkan Braithwaite

Hiya!

Super excited to host this series of amazeballs Afrolit books that you can’t miss indulging in lieu of Black History month. Today’s guest is an amazing book reviewer that I met on Instagram. Her page is a hive of sensational literature which will get you remarkable recommendations on good reads.

You can follow her blog on www.kweeninpages.wordpress.com and her Instagram is a booksgram at https://instagram.com/kweeninpages .

Before I hand over the blog to her, I’d like to quote what Billy Chapata said about black history month in an interview he had recently about his breathtaking poetry;

A month isn’t enough to quantify the impact of Black history. Black history has to be celebrated every day because its not celebrated enough, appreciated enough or nearly understood enough. But what Black history month does allow for me to do is to breathe, step back and appreciate all the strong, resilient and beautiful people of color who have paved the way for me and many others before me. It allows me to reemphasise my blackness in spaces that want to shrink it. It allows me to remember who I am, my magic and to remember that it goes beyond the color of my skin.

Over to Maya now. Thank you for allowing to review your phenomenal recommendations on the Resolute Scribbles.

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THESE BONES WILL RISE AGAIN by Panashe Chigumadzi is an essay reflection/ memoir that critically analyses Mugabe’s ousting “coup not coup” of November 2017. Panashe brings forth the pasts and presents that are omitted from history.

The power of storytelling is a an assignment left to the living for those that have passed on and it’s no surprise that the death of Panashe’s grandmother woke up a sense of duty to find answers to questions that weren’t being asked, stories unheard and lost memories of the big and small women in the history of state making.

The book holds themes like power, memory, chimurenga, colonialism, state/family history and the formidable presence of women who are forcibly silenced as is the norm. when I say I annotated a lot while reading it’s not an exaggeration because there was such wisdom in the authors writing and a lot of reflection to be made for a lot of African states and how politics is tailored to accommodate heroes and not heroines. This book is beautifully written and a brilliant educator everyone should read it to learn and be enriched. I am going to quite while I am ahead before I spoil your reading experience. I will however share some breath-taking lines from the book that will hopefully nudge you and show you how worthy a read it is.

“…history is like water it lives between us, and comes to us in waves…”

“… we are always living in the tension between water’s tranquillity and its tumult…”

“…oral tradition tells us, history lives in the mouth, and so we must draw on memory and myth to craft these alternative pasts, presents and futures.”

“A person is a person through other.”

 So, let us all take up our places in the art of being human and share knowledge and stories that would not have been told.

Happy reading

MANCHESTER HAPPENED by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi is a short story collection that accounts stories of Ugandans in the diaspora and their homecomings. The book carries themes like love, loss, betrayal, extended family and then some.

There is something to be said about how Makumbi just really knows how to weave a story and captivate her reader. She slowly unpacks the delicate subjects of her characters and their experiences. She truly knows how to make an awkward conversation readable and who knew dogs could talk?

I can not pick a single story from the 12 as a favourite because I loved every single one of them and appreciated the research she puts behind her work because the accuracy was uncanny. Better yet, I love that Makumbi came to the international stage centring her home audience unapologetically. Trust a Ugandan to find humour to usher you through calamity, distress and all, I was tickled in this book occasionally I read a story twice and out loud because I was not about to miss the hilarity of it all. Dear reader if you have not read anything by Makumbi yet please be kind to your self and start with this short story collection and it will launch you into her other writing.

Don’t be saying I never heard or I never understood…(read with Ugandan English)

Happy reading

MY SISTER THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite is I do not know what kind of genre set in Nigeria and I found it both gripping and mind blowing. The book carries themes like beauty, sisterhood, social media, and love.

Two sisters one does the serial killing and the other does the cleaning up and the short punchy chapters just adventure through the dynamics of this relationship. Braihwaite, really does not wait for her readers to get distracted with character details, she quickly gets to the point which makes for a fast-paced read.

The authors poetic background does shine through her writing of the blog within the book, her words were very active which I found well done. And at the end if this I was convinced of the statement,

“blood is thicker than water”

The above has terms and conditions though so I’m not holding back on extraordinary circumstances (insert cheeky smile here)

If your looking for a change of pace and something new and haven’t already read it.

Happy reading.

If you do choose to read any of these books please let me know what you thought, because I can disclose that I have really held back on writing my thoughts away. And I love a good book chat honesty I could do book talking all day every day (insert song Monday paka Sunday).

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Cheers!