Glory

It opens as a satirical update to Animal Farm at an Independence Day celebration where the animals are decked out in jackets, hats and scarves despite the intense heat. It's Richard Scarry's first political rally in the nation of Jidada (with a -da and another -da) It seems the perfect way into absurd populist leaders and their cabal of influencers and opportunists.

Tholukuthi that while it can be incredibly funny as the American President is referred to as the “Tweeting Baboon of the United States” while the new Jidadan leader is revealed to be attracted to his Siri virtual assistant, the story still opened up a history I was not aware of. Bulawayo is exploring Zimbabwe's 2017 coup d'état that removed then president Robert Mugabe, as former First Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa took the nation's reins. Here the leaders are shown as aging horses surrounding by a blood thirsty canine military, but their story intertwined with the nation responding on social media sounded eerily familiar.

Even with the remove of anthropomorphized animals, the recounting of the Gukurahundi genocide is absolutely chilling. And the story of the goat Destiny returning to her home nation was incredibly powerful. I appreciated this intimate insight into a part of the world I was previously blind to, and the strange political ascendancy of one Tuvius Delight Shasha.

I'm going to be honest and say that I skim read the last 50% of this book. For the first 200 pages it was entertaining and satirical and funny - but it just got too repetitive and it's far too long. Maybe I wasn't in the right headspace for this one. She is a great writer though.

A wickedly sharp and vibrant satire that is without a doubt entrenched in conversation with Orwell's Animal Farm, while also managing to be very original.