We Need New Names

#1038
Title: We Need New Names
Author: NoViolet Bulawayo
Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books
Year: 2013
298 pages

Linked short stories generally follow Darling, a Zimbabwean girl, from her hungry, conflict-saturated childhood in Africa to her dislocated/relocated young adulthood in the U.S. Most of the sections worked well, though the end point of some didn't resonate or satisfy. There are some intrusions of a poetic narrator, best understood as Darling's philosophical future self, perhaps. They add complexity and perspective, but are at times heavy-handed and detract from the intensity I imagine the story would have had if it stayed tightly connected to the developing and acculturating protagonist.

A creditable first novel. Nicely read by Robin Miles.