Meike's Reviews > Glory
Glory
by
by
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Now Nominated for the underwhelming Women's Prize for Fiction 2023
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2022
Zimbabwean Animal Farm: Bulawayo depicts the history of her home country as a fable / political satire. Here, the country is called Jidada, but numerous links to historical figures and events (like the Gukurahundi and Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana, e.g.) show that it is indeed a version of Zimbabwe, a country that was under British colonial rule - and when it finally gained independence in 1980, was ruled by Robert Mugabe.
The ruler of Jidada is an Old Horse, whose health and power are in decline. His spouse is an extravagant donkey named Dr. Sweet Mother (fun fact: Mugabe's first wife Sally was known as "Amai", meaning mother; his second wife was known as "Gucci Grace" because of her extravagant lifestyle). She enters a power struggle with the VP, who is - you guessed it - a younger horse named Tuvy. With help of the dogs (= the military), Tuvy stages a coup d'état, becomes the new leader and announces that now, everything will be better - but of course, he is also a horse, just a different one. That's pretty much what happened in Zimbabwe: Mugabe wanted Grace to take over, he was ousted by the military and his VP Emmerson Mnangagwa took control. Mnangagwa is still ruling Zimbabwe.
Religion and magic (the priest is a pig) as tools of power and control play a major role, as well as propaganda as the dubious art of framing political issues in ideological ("comrades") and spiritual ("hallelujah!") terms - one of the central words is, as the title suggests, "glory", which in the novel is a concept individuals strife for and that is ascribed to incarnations of the state and its society according to personal preference and advantage.
By telling the story as a beast fable, Bulawayo gives it a level of meaning that goes beyond Zimbabwe and aims to say something about African postcolonial politics in general. But the genre has limitations, which is why fables or parables are usually not 400 pages long: They are usually shorter tales with a message that is delivered in a rather in-your-face way - and this obvious messaging is also present here, as the animals are not nuanced characters but blatantly represent positions and characteristics - and that goes on for 400 pages, way longer than necessary. As the book is told by a "we" that represents the people of Jidada, Bulawayo does pull off a narrative feat, but from a logical standpoint, it does the book no good: Tyrants are upheld by parts of a society, either through complicity or silence, and some scenes in the text even show that; there is no monolithic "we" in authoritarian regimes (or any society), this device mainly serves to reduce complexity in an already not very complex tale.
Granted: This reviewer is not the greatest fan of Animal Farm (sue me!), but at least it's short. "Glory" is very wordy, it just keeps hammering its point home and the animal characters are rendered as ciphers, they are no three-dimensional protagonists. I would have loved to read a well-written novel with interesting characters about postcolonial Zimbabwe and the aftermath of Mugabe.
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2022
Zimbabwean Animal Farm: Bulawayo depicts the history of her home country as a fable / political satire. Here, the country is called Jidada, but numerous links to historical figures and events (like the Gukurahundi and Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana, e.g.) show that it is indeed a version of Zimbabwe, a country that was under British colonial rule - and when it finally gained independence in 1980, was ruled by Robert Mugabe.
The ruler of Jidada is an Old Horse, whose health and power are in decline. His spouse is an extravagant donkey named Dr. Sweet Mother (fun fact: Mugabe's first wife Sally was known as "Amai", meaning mother; his second wife was known as "Gucci Grace" because of her extravagant lifestyle). She enters a power struggle with the VP, who is - you guessed it - a younger horse named Tuvy. With help of the dogs (= the military), Tuvy stages a coup d'état, becomes the new leader and announces that now, everything will be better - but of course, he is also a horse, just a different one. That's pretty much what happened in Zimbabwe: Mugabe wanted Grace to take over, he was ousted by the military and his VP Emmerson Mnangagwa took control. Mnangagwa is still ruling Zimbabwe.
Religion and magic (the priest is a pig) as tools of power and control play a major role, as well as propaganda as the dubious art of framing political issues in ideological ("comrades") and spiritual ("hallelujah!") terms - one of the central words is, as the title suggests, "glory", which in the novel is a concept individuals strife for and that is ascribed to incarnations of the state and its society according to personal preference and advantage.
By telling the story as a beast fable, Bulawayo gives it a level of meaning that goes beyond Zimbabwe and aims to say something about African postcolonial politics in general. But the genre has limitations, which is why fables or parables are usually not 400 pages long: They are usually shorter tales with a message that is delivered in a rather in-your-face way - and this obvious messaging is also present here, as the animals are not nuanced characters but blatantly represent positions and characteristics - and that goes on for 400 pages, way longer than necessary. As the book is told by a "we" that represents the people of Jidada, Bulawayo does pull off a narrative feat, but from a logical standpoint, it does the book no good: Tyrants are upheld by parts of a society, either through complicity or silence, and some scenes in the text even show that; there is no monolithic "we" in authoritarian regimes (or any society), this device mainly serves to reduce complexity in an already not very complex tale.
Granted: This reviewer is not the greatest fan of Animal Farm (sue me!), but at least it's short. "Glory" is very wordy, it just keeps hammering its point home and the animal characters are rendered as ciphers, they are no three-dimensional protagonists. I would have loved to read a well-written novel with interesting characters about postcolonial Zimbabwe and the aftermath of Mugabe.
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Reading Progress
August 14, 2022
–
Started Reading
August 14, 2022
– Shelved
August 14, 2022
– Shelved as:
zimbabwe
August 14, 2022
– Shelved as:
2022-booker
August 18, 2022
–
Finished Reading
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Linda
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Aug 19, 2022 01:19PM
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Thank you, Linda! I found this one very tedious indeed, but some of my friends here on GR totally loved it!
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After reading "Glory", "Animal Farm" will seem like Shakespeare! :-)