Glory

Glory is NoViolet Bulawayo's fictional representation of post-Mugabe Zimbabwe. She borrows from George Orwell’s Animal Farm, cleverly showing how the dictatorial Old Horse is overthrown by his supposedly most loyal animals. As soon as the Old Horse has been removed from power, the animals are more than hopeful that things will begin to look up for them. That they too will experience a Jidada for all. Unfortunately, that is not the case. It seems that the Old Horse had long checked out of life. Further, the animals that take over, the army, are not any better. Later in the novel, you have some animals saying life was better during the Old Horse’s regime but really it wasn’t.

In the novel, we also revisit the past, learning of how Jidada came to be, the sacrifices that many animals made, the hope that drove many animals to return to their motherland, Jidada, and the disillusionment that followed.  We have a moment’s reflection on the role of the West but there is no dwelling on that because the animals of Jidada must face their demons head-on.

I feel that political satire can be enjoyable, and I enjoyed reading/listening to this book. But I am from Uganda [a potential Jidada in the making], and for the last several decades I have had the misfortune of watching one country after another go to the dogs. They crumble right before our eyes. We can laugh at the delusions of those who imagine they will rule forever, that God chose an eternal seat of leadership over the majority, whatever the cost, but it is also difficult to watch, because we have also witnessed the terror that follows such delusions. Libya. Congo. Zimbabwe. Uganda. It feels like it is everywhere. Some novels are written merely for enjoyment, but others are written as a message, and I think Glory is a letter to Africans [in fact, there is a lab jab in the ribs to Uganda in the book]. What we do with the contents of this letter is up to us.

Glory is worth reading. I admire the writer’s ability [craft] to produce this work, the courage to write it, and I dare say, the hope underlying it. Hope that Zimbabwe [Jidada in the book] will rise from its current ruins.