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saturdayslaughter's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Police brutality and Violence
Moderate: Sexism
kammikim's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The challenges:
1. The unique style of narration is no doubt intentional and I think meant to represent oral traditions of storytelling, while also making a point about the repetitiveness of history, but the constantly repeating phrases and sentence structures did make for a sluggish or exasperating read at times. Some places it added power to the story, others it took away from the power and momentum in my opinion.
2. The violence in this book is necessary to the story, but it is truly difficult to get through. I ended some chapters sobbing and had to step away from the book for a month+ at a time to process and recover. It's a testament to Bulawayo's incredible command of emotion, empathy, and unflinching attention to the worst sides of humanity that it had such a visceral effect on me as a reader, but be aware that this is a really, really tough read.
Graphic: Torture, Colonisation, Child death, Animal death, Rape, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, Violence, Sexual violence, War, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Grief, and Genocide
orlagal's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia
michaelsbirthday's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I can understand why this book is divisive. It’s got a slow, boring start (a) and the writing style might not be for everyone (b). But I really think that Bulawayo’s writing is where this book is triumphant. It’s written as a zoomorphic fable or a fairy tale - a parable for us to take heed from - and it’s also a direct allegory for Zimbabwe’s very recent history - real, actual history. It has the devices you’d expect from a fable - repetition, allegory, generalisation - and the excruciating detail of historic events. I can see why some people say the animal gimmick doesn’t work, but I think, perhaps, that that in itself is something worth investigating. Can we reduce real, human events to a satirical generalisation? Isn’t it horrifying that in some ways, we can universalise these events - because Zimbabwe is far from the only place this has happened and happens? The rhythm/prosody/metre (I don’t know the right word) of the text is mesmerising. I personally loved the repetition; it contributed to the story-telling aspect, was emphatic, drew out semantic nuance and deconstructed political symbolism. I ate it up.
In terms of the plot, I do feel that the political set up at the start could have been cut by 100 pages. While the writing was interesting, the plot barely existed - or rather, it did, we were just told it from three different characters’ perspectives successively and the so the plot went nowhere for a very long time. I wish, conversely, that more time had been spent with Destiny and Simiso and their relationship.
Graphic: Violence, Torture, and Genocide
Moderate: Rape
pagesofash's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Colonisation, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, War, Police brutality, and Torture
Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault
plasticpansy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Animal death, Violence, War, and Torture
maxhimelhoch's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
It's incredibly funny both within and beyond satirical moments, but filled with the true lived in heart that is the political landscape of 2023. Something that, 10 years ago would've felt like farce, now hits too close to home. Not a word wasted trying to empathize or heal bad characters, all the love is saved for the good animals. The evils painted clearly as such. Laughed at as such.
Well done start to finish :)
Graphic: Violence
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
natrabbits's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.0
Graphic: Violence, War, Religious bigotry, Racism, Grief, Genocide, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Police brutality, Gun violence, Murder, Blood, Suicide, and Death
elle_g's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Glory describes the events surrounding the 2018 Zimbabwe election using animals rather than people; using animals provided distance for those close to the violence and made it accessible for those who didn't know this piece of history, while pulling back the veil every once in a while to remind you that these events happened to real people.
Literary, heartbreaking, & hopeful.
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Police brutality
Minor: Suicide and Rape
imlfox's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Genocide, Violence, and Police brutality