We Need New Names

NoViolet Bulawayo
3.75
23,068 ratings 2,860 reviews
A remarkable literary debut--shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize! The unflinching and powerful story of a young girl's journey out of Zimbabwe and to America. Darling is only ten years old, and yet she must navigate a fragile and violent world. In Zimbabwe, Darling and her friends steal guavas, try to get the baby out of young Chipo's belly, and grasp at memories of Before. Before their homes were destroyed by paramilitary policemen, before the school closed, before the fathers left for dangerous jobs abroad. But Darling has a chance to escape: she has an aunt in America. She travels to this new land in search of America's famous abundance only to find that her options as an immigrant are perilously few. NoViolet Bulawayo's debut calls to mind the great storytellers of displacement and arrival who have come before her--from Junot Diaz to Zadie Smith to J.M. Coetzee--while she tells a vivid, raw story all her own.
Genres: FictionAfricaZimbabweLiterary FictionContemporaryBook ClubNovelsHistorical FictionAfrican LiteratureComing Of Age
320 Pages

Community Reviews:

5 star
5026 (22%)
4 star
9501 (41%)
3 star
6608 (29%)
2 star
1511 (7%)
1 star
422 (2%)

Readers also enjoyed

Other books by NoViolet Bulawayo

Lists with this book

White Teeth
Life of Pi
Kindred
The Joy Luck Club
Interpreter of Maladies
Unaccustomed Earth
Immigrant Voices (fiction)
369 books239 voters