We Need New Names punches gaping holes in Africa’s boundaries and oozes lovely echoes of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Nope, not with Bulawayo, this book is the most contemporary piece of literature I have read in a long time, it situates itself firmly in the 21 st century, firmly in our sitting rooms, in our laptops, tablets and smartphones and connects communities, countries and continents with muscle – and Skype. I have always thought that thanks to technology, the book at best would be relegated to an archival role, of dead history, etc. The book may be dying, but Bulawayo is going to ensure that it doesn’t go down without a great fight. It is a beautiful book, in every sense every sentence is pretty, you want to take each word home and cuddle up to it. Bulawayo kicked this one way out of the ball park dear writers, this is the book to beat.
Let’s just say the book did not make me cry but it certainly aggravated my allergies, something in the pages made a mess of my tear ducts. NoViolet Bulawayo’s debut book, We Need New Names is such a book. I n the 21 st century, in the age of twitter and Facebook-induced ADHD, when a hard copy book is able to engage you nonstop for two days until you get to its end, all you can do is stand up at the end and give the author of such a miracle a rousing standing ovation. Moving, running, emigrating, going, deserting, walking, quitting, flying, fleeing – to all over, to countries near and far, to countries unheard of, to countries whose names they cannot pronounce. Those with ambitions are crossing borders. Those with strength are crossing borders. Look at them leaving in droves, the children of the land, just look at them leaving in droves.
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