Nov 27

Nov 27 Glory

Author: NoViolet Bulawayo
Publisher: Viking
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

From the award-winning author of the Booker-prize finalist We Need New Names, a blockbuster of a novel that chronicles the fall of an oppressive regime, and the chaotic, kinetic potential for real liberation that rises in its wake.

Glory centers around the unexpected fall of Old Horse, a long-serving leader of a fictional country, and the drama that follows for a rumbustious nation of animals on the path to true liberation. Inspired by the unexpected fall by coup, in November 2017, of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president of nearly four decades, Bulawayo's bold, vividly imagined novel shows a country imploding, narrated by a chorus of animal voices who unveil the ruthlessness and cold strategy required to uphold the illusion of absolute power, and the imagination and bullet-proof optimism to overthrow it completely.

As with her debut novel We Need New Names, Bulawayo's fierce voice and lucid imagery immerses us in the daily life of a traumatized nation, revealing the dazzling life force and irrepressible wit that lies barely concealed beneath the surface of seemingly bleak circumstances. At the center of this tumult is Destiny, who has returned to Jidada from exile to bear witness to revolution—and focus on the unofficial history and the potential legacy of the women who have quietly pulled the strings in this country.

The animal kingdom—its connection to our primal responses and resonance in the mythology, folktales, and fairytales that define cultures the world over—unmasks the surreality of contemporary global politics to help us understand our world more clearly, even as Bulwayo plucks us right out of it. Glory is a blockbuster, an exhilarating ride, and crystalizes a turning point in history with the texture and nuance that only the greatest of fiction can.

TL;DR Review

Glory is a challenging but rewarding read. I liked it, but I respected and admired it even more. It won’t be for everyone, but there’s no denying that Bulawayo is masterful.

For you if: You like satire, enjoy a challenge, and don’t mind anthropomorphized animals.

Full Review

Glory is NoViolet Bulawayo’s second novel to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and it’s easy to see why. This book is smart, inventive, and effective at what it sets out to do.

Glory closely follows the events during and after the coup that ousted Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe in 2017 — except that in this world, the country is called Jidada (with a -da and another -da!) and all the people are talking (clothes-wearing, cell-phone-using, otherwise extremely human) animals. It swoops between a lot of characters’ perspectives and mixes in alternative storytelling formats like Tweets. But it’s also all tied together with a fictional character named Destiny, who’d self-exiled from Jidada after experiencing war violence and has now returned.

This book is challenging, but I (and many others) found it rewarding. Others found it impossible to connect with or get through. It’s not going to be for everyone, but I think it’s worth the attempt! Bulawayo’s approach here with the animals works so well in highlighting the farcical nature of its subject matter and society overall, and it enables her to add extra absurdism to underscore her point that would just come across dumb if the characters were human (for example, at one point the President starts hitting on Siri).

I also really liked the more traditional verbal storytelling style of the writing, filled with lots of repetition and punctuation. It translated really well to audiobook. Be aware that parts of this book are hard to read, as they deal with genocide and war violence (including sexual violence).

All in all, there were definitely parts that I struggled to stay engaged with, and I wasn’t sorry to finish this book and mark it complete. But I do put it in the “liked overall” column, and I have a ton of respect and admiration for what Bulawayo has done here.