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We Need New Names: A Novel Paperback – May 20, 2014

4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 2,188 ratings

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This unflinching and powerful novel tells the "deeply felt and fiercely written" story of a young girl's journey out of Zimbabwe to America (New York Times Book Review).

Darling is only ten years old, and yet she must navigate a fragile and violent world. In Zimbabwe, Darling and her friends steal guavas, try to get the baby out of young Chipo's belly, and grasp at memories of Before. Before their homes were destroyed by paramilitary policemen, before the school closed, before the fathers left for dangerous jobs abroad.

But Darling has a chance to escape: she has an aunt in America. She travels to this new land in search of America's famous abundance only to find that her options as an immigrant are perilously few. NoViolet Bulawayo's debut calls to mind the great storytellers of displacement and arrival who have come before her — from Junot Diaz to Zadie Smith to J.M. Coetzee — while she tells a vivid, raw story all her own.

"Original, witty, and devastating." —People
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Winner of the 2014 PEN / Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction

Winner of the 2014
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction

Shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize

Winner of the 2014 Zora Neale Hurston/ Richard Wright Legacy Award for fiction

Winner of the 2013 Etisalat Prize for Literature

Finalist for the 2013 Guardian First Book Award

One of the
New York Times Notable Books of the Year for 2013

One of National Public Radio's Great Reads of 2013



"A deeply felt and fiercely written debut novel ... The voice Ms. Bulawayo has fashioned for [Darling] is utterly distinctive - by turns unsparing and lyrical, unsentimental and poetic, spiky and meditative." --- Michiko Kakutani,
The New York Times

"Bulawayo describes all this in brilliant language, alive and confident, often funny, strong in its ability to make Darling's African life immediate ... She demonstrates a striking ability to capture the uneasiness that accompanies a newcomers arrival in America." -- Uzodinma Iweala,
The New York Times Book Review

"Writing with poignant clarity and hard-hitting imagery, Bulawayo delivers this first work as an offering of hope." --
The New York Daily News



"Bulawayo mixes imagination and reality, combining an intuitive attention to detail with startling, visceral imagery ... This book is a provocative, haunting debut from an author to watch." -
Elle

"Bulawayo, whose prose is warm and clear and unfussy, maintains Darling's singular voice throughout, even as her heroine struggles to find her footing. Her hard, funny first novel is a triumph." --
Entertainment Weekly

"Nearly as incisive about the American immigrant experience as it is about the failings of Mugabe's regime [in Zimbabwe]." -- National Public Radio

"Bulawayo's first novel is original, witty and devastating." ---
People Magazine


"Ms. Bulawayo's artistry is such that we can't help but see ourselves in that wider world ... Darling is a dazzling life force with a rich, inventive language all her own, funny and perceptive but still very much a child ... It would be hard to overstate the freshness of Ms. Bulawayo's language, with words put together in utterly surprising ways that communicate precisely." ---Judy Wertheimer,
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"How does a writer tell the story of a traumatised nation without being unremittingly bleak? NoViolet Bulawayo manages it by forming a cast of characters so delightful and joyous that the reader is seduced by their antics at the same time as finding out about the country's troubles." -- Leyla Sanai,
The Independent

"Bulawayo has written a powerful novel. Her gift as a visual storyteller should propel her to a bright future -- a dream fulfilled, no matter the country"-- Korina Lopez,
USA Today

"NoViolet Bulawayo is a powerful, authentic, nihilistic voice - feral, feisty, funny - from the new Zimbabwean generation that has inherited Robert Mugabe's dystopia." -Peter Godwin, betselling author of
The Fear and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun

"NoViolet Bulawayo has created a world that lives and breathes - and fights, kicks, screams, and scratches, too. She has clothed it in words and given it a voice at once dissonant and melodic, utterly distinct." -Aminatta Forna, author of
The Memory of Love and Ancestor Stones

"An exquisite and powerful first novel, filled with an equal measure of beauty and horror and laughter and pain. The lives (and names) of these characters will linger in your mind, and heart, long after you're done reading the book. NoViolet Bulawayo is definitely a writer to watch." -Edwidge Danticat, award-winning author of
Brother, I'm Dying and Breath, Eyes, Memory

"Fans of Junot Díaz, who, as fiction editor of
Boston Review, published NoViolet Bulawayo's early work, will love her debut novel, We Need New Names ...Bulawayo's use of contemporary culture (the kids play a game in which they hunt for bin Laden and, later, text like their lives depend on it), as well as her fearless defense of the immigrant experience through honoring the cadence of spoken language, sets this book apart-on the top shelf." -- Kristy Davis, Oprah.com




One of National Public Radio's Great Reads of 2013





One of the
New York Times Notable Books of the Year for 2013

Finalist for the 2013 Guardian First Book Award

"[Bulawayo] shows the beaming promise of a young Junot Diaz. With a style all her own-one steeped in wit and striking imagination-she movingly details the complexities of the immigrant experience."―
The American Prospect

"A stunning debut... The hyper-imaginative and often surreal ways Bulawayo's narrator describes people, places, and experiences almost sound like things imagined in her sleep."―
Flavorwire

About the Author

NoViolet Bulawayo's story "Hitting Budapest," the opening chapter of the novel, won the 2011 Caine Prize for African Writing. NoViolet's other work has been shortlisted for the 2009 SA PEN Studzinsi Award, and has appeared in Callaloo, The Boston Review, Newsweek, and The Warwick Review, as well as in anthologies in Zimbabwe, South Africa and the UK.

NoViolet recently earned her MFA at Cornell University, where her work has been recognized with a Truman Capote Fellowship. She will be attending Stanford in the fall as a Wallace Stegner Fellow for 2012-2014. NoViolet was born and raised in Zimbabwe.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Back Bay Books; Reprint edition (May 20, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316230847
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316230841
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.75 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 2,188 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
2,188 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers praise the book for its readability, creative writing style, and vivid descriptions. They find the storytelling riveting and entertaining. The book provides insightful and thought-provoking content through a young girl's perspective. Readers appreciate the refreshing African voice and dialogue. The book offers a rich cultural perspective on life in Zimbabwe. Overall, customers describe the story as heartfelt and amazing.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

108 customers mention "Writing quality"94 positive14 negative

Customers praise the writing quality. They find the descriptions vivid and witty. The sentences are like poems, and the characterization is visceral and ever-present. Readers appreciate the talented writers who can write in different styles. The book is described as endearing and heartbreaking, with subtle yet powerful allegories.

"NoViolet Bulawayo has written a novel that sings. Its sentences are like poems and the characterization is visceral and ever-present...." Read more

"...by NoViolet Bulawayo, shortlisted for the Booker is a simultaneously endearing and heart-breaking coming of age story of Darling...." Read more

"...usual gathering of African communities in foreign places is beautifully described through family events with dance, music and loud sounds of native..." Read more

"...While beautiful in its own right, and easily capable of being a brilliant standalone essay, it was oddly out of place, especially as our narrator..." Read more

105 customers mention "Readability"105 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and engaging. They describe it as a well-written, harmonious novel that flows smoothly. Readers appreciate the story's originality and consider it a quick, captivating read.

"...Darling finds school easy and does very well. However, when she looks at the cost of college, she realizes that it is out of reach for her...." Read more

"...They are leaving in droves." I loved this compelling book and do not hesitate to recommend it." Read more

"...The book is well worth reading although it may take a little effort to get past the first chapter or two...." Read more

"Bulawayo is a great and smart storyteller...." Read more

67 customers mention "Storytelling"50 positive17 negative

Customers find the storytelling engaging and well-told. They appreciate the variety of stories and the author's storytelling mastery. The book engrosses readers with its authentic innocence and truthful portrayal of childhood.

"...The children are likeable and endearing and the stories of their escapades enjoyable...." Read more

"...It's a pretty grim picture, but it certainly feels quite honest enough...." Read more

"...The write’s mastery in storytelling shines through as she uses the “eyes” and childhood experiences of the main character “Darling” to illustrate..." Read more

"...It's the last chapter in the book. Of all the senseless, horrible ways to end a story, it describes what happens just after a truck has run over a..." Read more

42 customers mention "Insight"38 positive4 negative

Customers find the book insightful, compelling, and thought-provoking. They describe it as well-written, perceptive, clever, and filled with metaphors and hidden meanings. The author does a nice job of tying together different thoughts and ideas that came up in different places. Overall, readers appreciate the honest exploration of feelings away from home.

"...beautiful in its own right, and easily capable of being a brilliant standalone essay, it was oddly out of place, especially as our narrator herself..." Read more

"...make the reader feel an appreciation of children's imagination and creativity...." Read more

"...alone--titled "How They Lived"--WE NEED NEW NAMES is a most compelling work." Read more

"This book uniquely and honestly uncovers feelings anyone away from home must have experienced. A great insight into a common life of ordinary people." Read more

25 customers mention "Voice"25 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's voice refreshing and powerful. They appreciate the narrator's choice and the dialogue, describing the author as gifted. The events with dance, music, and native language sounds are also mentioned as enjoyable aspects.

"...described through family events with dance, music and loud sounds of native languages...." Read more

"...The narrator's voice has a wonderful innocence, even as she and her playmates..." Read more

"...The author was so adept in depicting both the old world and the new, as mirrored in the girl's thoughts...." Read more

"...Junot Diaz chose her as an outstanding new voice. I agree." Read more

23 customers mention "African perspective"23 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the African perspective in this book. They appreciate the rich cultural details about Zimbabwe and the melting pot of races. The book provides a good introduction to African literature and daily life in Zimbabwe. Readers find it informative and interesting, with beautiful prose and a realistic global setting.

"...crude at times, the book is an honest account of life and events in Zimbabwe's history...." Read more

"This witty and well crafted work informs one about an African experience - a silent experience that seems to say a lot...." Read more

"...evolving brand of African literature that situates itself in a realistic global realm...." Read more

"A timely book of Zimbabwe and the struggles of its people, adolescents coming of age, the pursuit of and struggle for the American dream, the..." Read more

22 customers mention "Heartfelt story"22 positive0 negative

Customers find the story moving and touching on many themes. They describe it as a passionate, beautiful read that captures the people's emotions and aspirations. The book helps readers appreciate how immigrants feel and the loss of their homeland.

"...coming to the U.S. Is worth the price of admission: funny, tender, voracious, and yearning...." Read more

"...But MORE SO--it is a story about losing one's country, one's connection to ancestors, one's place in the past and the future...." Read more

"This book uniquely and honestly uncovers feelings anyone away from home must have experienced. A great insight into a common life of ordinary people." Read more

"...She successfully captures the disappointment, pain, hope and aspirations of a torn nation, and how its people have coped over the years...." Read more

21 customers mention "Narrative pace"4 positive17 negative

Customers find the narrative pace slow and difficult to follow. They mention it's hard to get into the story, the narrative is disjointed and convoluted at times. The chapters are described as short stories and anecdotes of Darling's life experiences. Readers dislike the stream of consciousness storytelling style and feel the story is incomplete.

"...Once she gets to the United States, the narrative weakens a bit. However, it still remains strong and powerful, poetic and moving...." Read more

"...First, this is definitely not a plot driven work...." Read more

"...However, it was difficult getting into the novel. The context of living in post-war Zimbabwe in the first half was daunting...." Read more

"...A stream of consciousness style of story telling left me dissatisfied." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2013
    NoViolet Bulawayo has written a novel that sings. Its sentences are like poems and the characterization is visceral and ever-present. Taking place in Zimbabwe, the book's beginning is about a group of children with unusual names - Darling, Chipo, Bastard, Bornfree, Forgiveness and Messenger, to name a few. Narrated by 10 year old Darling, we learn of their lives in Paradise, a tin house shanty that is where they ended up after a revolution that took away their family's homes, jobs, and way of life. "We didn't always live in this tin, though. Before, we had a home and everything and we were happy. It was a real house made of bricks, with a kitchen, sitting room, and two bedrooms." Darling's father has gone to South Africa to find work but they never hear from him and he sends no money home. "Because Father does not do anything for us, Mother complains. About our tinned house, Paradise, the food that is not there, the clothes she wants, and everything else."

    Schools are no longer in service as the teachers have all left to go and live somewhere else in Africa where they will get paid. Chipo is pregnant by her grandfather and the children want to try and end her pregnancy. They spend their days in the richer part of town called Budapest, stealing guavas and eating them until their stomachs are upset and they are ill. When they are not stealing guavas, they play games such as Find Bin Laden and other interactive games.

    Politics is a big concern for the adults and there is an election that they hope will change the power structure in the country. They hope they will be able to move back to their houses, get jobs and have things as they once were. "We'll start living. It won't be the same again. Come, change, come now. They talked like that, stayed up night after night and waited for the change that was near. Waited and waited and waited. But then the waiting did not end and the change did not happen."

    Food is so scarce that the children are often hungry. Once, when they are stealing guavas they meet a woman from London who asks them some questions and throws away a piece of food. They have never seen anyone do this before and it creates puzzlement and anger. "We shout and we shout and we shout; we want to eat the thing she was eating, we want to hear our voices soar, we want our hunger to go away. The woman just looks at us puzzled."

    Darling lives in Paradise with Mother of Bones and her own mother who is gone for days at a time. She dreams of going to 'Destroyedmichygen' to live with her Aunt Fostalina. "Look at them leaving in droves, the children of the land." "Those in pain are crossing borders." "Those with hopes are crossing borders." "When things fall apart, the children of the land scurry and scatter like birds escaping a burning sky. They flee their own wretched land so their hunger may be pacified in foreign lands, their tears wiped away in strange lands, the wounds of their despair bandaged in faraway lands, their blistered prayers muttered in the darkness of queer lands." They leave their mothers and fathers behind, "leaving everything that makes them who and what they are, leaving because it is no longer possible to stay." "Look at them leaving in droves despite knowing they will be welcomed with restraint in those strange lands because they do not belong."

    Once she gets to Michigan, she finds that the U.S. is not what she had hoped it would be. She is teased at school, is unfamiliar with the snow and cold, and does not know how to eat with a knife and fork. However, there is a lot of food and she no longer goes hungry. "There are times, though, that no matter how much food I eat, I find the food does nothing for me, like I am hungry for my country and nothing is going to fix that." "We ate like pigs, like wolves, like dignitaries; we ate like vultures, like stray dogs, like monsters; for our parents and brothers and sisters and relatives and friends who were still back there."

    Darling finds school easy and does very well. However, when she looks at the cost of college, she realizes that it is out of reach for her. Ten years old when the book opens, Darling gets to her teenage years by the book's end. She is working in a supermarket sorting recyclables and hope is draining from her spirit. She had promised to remain in touch with her friends back home but, with time, she has stopped writing to them. She feels like two people, one part of her yearning for her friends and the other part not knowing how to be with them anymore. After school, she and her friends go to Darling's home where they watch pornography after school.

    Darling has no papers except for an expired student visa so she is unable to go home and visit. If she did so, she would be unable to return to the United States. She lives in the U.S. with her Aunt Fostalina, her Uncle Kojo and her cousin TK who likes to play video games alone. He ends up joining the army and going to Afghanistan which almost destroys her uncle's life.

    The strongest part of the book is the beginning when Darling is in Zimbabwe. Once she gets to the United States, the narrative weakens a bit. However, it still remains strong and powerful, poetic and moving. I loved this book and highly recommend it. I thank Ms. Bulawayo for this gift she has given us and can see why she is a Stegner fellow at Stanford.
    18 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2015
    We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo, shortlisted for the Booker is a simultaneously endearing and heart-breaking coming of age story of Darling. It begins with 10 year old Darling and her friends foraging for guavas to sate their hunger in a wealthy area of Zimbabwe called Budapest. These children no longer go to school because their school teachers have all escaped from the country and school has closed so they occupy themselves by finding much needed food and playing invented games like Name the Country and Find Bin Laden.

    The children are likeable and endearing and the stories of their escapades enjoyable. Poignant, heart-breaking moments are added to the mix: 11 year old Shibo is pregnant and the children attempt to remove her belly because they are afraid she will die if she has the baby, Darling's father returns from the mines of South Africa dying of AIDS.

    After every few chapters of Darling's story is a chapter which tells the story of Zimbabwe. These are quite powerfully written as can be seen by the beginning of one of those chapters:

    "Look at them leaving in droves, the children of the land, just look at them leaving in droves. Those with nothing are crossing borders. Those with strength are crossing borders. Those with ambitions are crossing borders. Those with hopes are crossing borders. Those with loss are crossing borders. Those in pain are crossing borders. 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. They are leaving in droves."

    I loved this compelling book and do not hesitate to recommend it.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2013
    a very credible first novel for the author, NoViolet Bulawayo. the first half of the novel takes place in Zimbabwe well after independence and deals with a group of street kids, centering on one girl in particular named Darling wandering about the town, looking for food and things to do, since life doesn't really offer all that much of either. School is no longer an option and life is very precarious at best for these kids living in a shanty town after being pushed out of their houses by the local authorities. Parents are powerless and largely absent from the story line. It's a pretty grim picture, but it certainly feels quite honest enough. you get a pretty gritty look at life in Zimbabwe for those not allied with Mugabe, including an incident with a white middle class family suddenly pushed out of their house as well. Later a primarily European NGO comes around the area dropping off a few toys and clothes, solving nothing in particular.

    Somehow or another Darling manages to do to visit relatives in the Detroit area and becomes yet another African in more or less permanent exile from the homeland. For me, it's such a twist that the book feels more like two almost unconnected stories. The transition doesn't really flow. But there are lots of interesting moments in America as well, so it retains interest.

    The book is well worth reading although it may take a little effort to get past the first chapter or two. But keep an eye out for this author in the future.
    3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
  • sapienada
    5.0 out of 5 stars BIEN
    Reviewed in Spain on January 26, 2020
    Para practicar lectura en inglés es una buena opción
  • Marco DSouza
    5.0 out of 5 stars A crackling read
    Reviewed in India on April 4, 2017
    Bulawayo is a masterful storyteller. With words that resonate the innocent, raw experiences of childhood to the confused maturity of a young person in a foreign land, this tale takes you on an emotional dune ride. The narrative is fearless, hilarious, poignant and often visceral, with many sparkling passages that jump out at you -- the kind that you can't help but share with the person sitting next to you. Two thumbs up!
  • Tim_HunterValley
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
    Reviewed in Australia on August 10, 2019
    Such a great novel. Beautifully written and exploring some really hearty issues including transnational migration. I really enjoyed this one.
  • KrankyKat
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very distinctive voice, so many layers
    Reviewed in Germany on August 18, 2015
    This novel is mostly told from the perspective of a child growing up in a slum in Zimbabwe and who then moves to her aunt's place in Michigan.

    Darling's, the narrator's, voice, drew me in from the first moment, when she tells us about stealing Guavas in a rich neighborhood, about the hunger that motivates her and her friends to do so. The author manages to render a child's perspective so well - the little adventures children experience when they roam without adult supervision, how they try to explain things to themselves to make sense of the world around them.

    What strikes me most is the humorous quality of Darling's voice. That doesn't mean the book is funny in a silly way. But Darling observes the world around her and she is both a very inquiring and skeptical child. This leads to great passages in the novel, for example when she describes how Americans treat their children (as opposed to the way the African immigrants are used to). Another gem is when she reflects about how Angelina Jolie can travel to any part of the world and just adopt a child and how much she herself would have loved to be adopted by her. All of this happens in a way that just shows the absurdity which is created by the inequalities in our world.

    The novel is very honest about the situation in Zimbabwe - the hunger, the desperation, how the adults try to maintain hope and dignity in extreme poverty. It is also honest about how moving to the US transforms Darling, because she now partakes in the privileges of living in a rich country.
    There are some interesting short chapters included in which the narrative voice is a collective "we" of immigrants from poor countries. These I find heartbreaking. They speak of the loss of language, the hard work, and the inability to return to your country, even when your parents die, because some procedure has declared you "illegal".

    The novel reads more like a collection of short stories which have the same narrator and are arranged in chronological order but that doesn't make the reading any less enjoyable.

    Absolutely recommended.
  • Glossine
    5.0 out of 5 stars Coup de cœur !
    Reviewed in France on May 22, 2015
    Une œuvre réaliste, poignante, servie par une belle plume qui manie l'humour et le tragique avec la même verve et rend son personnage principal terriblement attachant.