NoViolet Bulawayo
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo unfolds in the first-person point of view of ten-year old Darling in Zimbabwe. Darling lives in a shanty town, ironically named Paradise. She is without consistent adult supervision and spends her time running riot with her gang of friends, playing games, stealing guavas, supporting each other, calling each other names, and generally getting into mischief.
Darling and her young friends suffer from bouts of hunger due to food shortages. They are surrounded by tragedy and violence: a young woman hangs from a tree; a mob invades the home of a white couple, destroys their possessions, and defecates on their floor; Darling’s father dies of AIDS; a man is brutally beaten and ferreted away by the authorities. Darling’s young friend is raped by her grandfather and now carries his child. The children are feral, dirty, hungry, barefoot, and clothed in tatters. Despite these horrendous hardships, Darling’s voice is fresh, young, and engaging. She is astute, sensitive, resilient, street smart, and with a keen eye for observation and an ability to decipher the moods of adults. She can also be very funny.
With no transition, the second half of the novel finds Darling living with her aunt in Michigan. She is torn between adjusting to her new environment and homesickness. She dislikes the intense cold and snow of Michigan but is gratified by the abundance and availability of food. She learns life in America has its benefits as well as its disappointments. Constantly reminded of her outsider status while living in fear of deportation because she is an illegal immigrant, Darling adopts the language and mannerisms of an American teenager to blend in with her new environment.
The plot structure of the novel is episodic in nature. The accumulation of events in Zimbabwe eventually coalesce to form a picture of life there. Darling does not shy away from describing the hardships. Her feelings of humiliation when aid workers take photos of the children covered in dirt and wearing torn clothing is poignant. The children tolerate the embarrassment and accommodate with smiles in exchange for gifts. But despite its challenges, Zimbabwe provides Darling with a sense of belonging, a community, and friends with whom she shares common experiences—qualities she doesn’t fully come to value until they are no longer available to her. This section throbs with vitality and energy.
The second section of the book lacks the vibrancy and immediacy of the opening half. Darling seems to drift aimlessly, recording one experience after another. The series of episodes chart her sense of alienation in America as well as her growing estrangement from family and friends in Zimbabwe. She straddles between two cultures and feels the pain of being an outsider in both. She gradually realizes she is a displaced individual who no longer has a place to call home.
Bulawayo skillfully captures the intensity and communal life in Zimbabwe with vivid details and realistic dialogue. And through Darling, she captures the alienation of a first-generation immigrant torn between two cultures. Darling must abandon her old identity and adopt a new one, a new beginning and that calls for new names.
Recommended.