Nadine in California's Reviews > Glory

Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo
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I've never been in this situation before - giving a rave review to a book I DNF'ed by page 50. The failure is all mine - I can only handle satire in small doses, no matter how delicious the dose. Instead of reading further, I dipped into many pages at random and found delights on every one. The language is wickedly exuberant, the characters/animals perfect pitch avatars for their real-life counterparts.

Take for example "Dr. Sweet Mother", the younger donkey-wife of the aged horse Father of the Nation, who glories in her ability to whip crowds into a frenzy of patriotism. In one scene she is watching a video of one of her speeches:
"....she shines, flies, soars, leaps, waltzes, sashays, swims, pirouettes, glides, twerks, somersaults - she can pull whatever move, do anything, you name it - only coming short of raising the dead in her mother tongue."....."The applause at the end of her delivery rings right in her heart all over again, and she increases the volume, feels the sound hit her bones, whip and stir the blood before lifting the intestines, the pancreas, the liver - tholukuthi generally all the innards, and, almost levitating now, flags her tail, raises both her front hooves, pumps them hard and cheers along with her admiring on-screen audience."
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Reading Progress

Finished Reading
January 19, 2022 – Shelved

Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)

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message 1: by Jan (new) - rated it 5 stars

Jan Wickedly exuberant is a great description for it.


Nadine in California Jan wrote: "Wickedly exuberant is a great description for it."

I'm going to try it on audio - I hate giving up on language like that!


Nathan Maharaj Audio is a good call. Chipo Chung's performance really lifts it up, and you get a sense of how "tholokuthi!" is supposed to sound interjected into everything.


Brooks Goddard I agree—great satire but not great a novel.


message 5: by Sammi (new)

Sammi 100% agree with your sentiments on this one Nadine. A brilliant piece that somehow I just couldn't make myself finish.


Nadine in California Sammi wrote: "100% agree with your sentiments on this one Nadine. A brilliant piece that somehow I just couldn't make myself finish."

At least we can shower it with praise, so some guilt assuaged ;)


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