Welcome to Litsy!

I thought this 128 pg novella was going to be a quick read. WRONG It took days as there is a lot to unpack in the story and the writing style is not one to blow thru. The themes include racism, tribalism, freedom, patriarchy, identity, isolation, love, friendship, ........ I was dismayed at the tragic short life of the author and I‘ll be rereading this and exploring her other work. Yowza, amazing book.

Yes, I did indeed learn a new vocabulary word today. 🤓

If I'd made a best of 2017 list, this would have been there.

Maru is the chief of a Botswanan village, who knows how to #playlikegod, controlling the lives of everyone around him, ensuring no-one gets their own way. Despite the title, it's not his story. This is the story of two strong women - Margaret, a young Masarwa who comes to the village to teach, & Dikelede, Maru's sister, who befriends her.

And it's SO good!

#NuYear @Cinfhen @TrishB

@RachelO @Kamisha After reading Rachel O and Kamisha's reviews I decided I needed to read this novella before leaving Botswana. It is a very lyrical book that approaches race relations through the story of 2 men and 2 women. We are treated to their inner thoughts, their outer actions, their human manipulations, their deep loves, their flares of hate and yet little actually happens. And yet the chains are broken. #readingaroundtheworld

Just finished this for the Botswana #readaroundtheworld and I'm not entirely sure what to say about it! It was a powerful novella about race, friendship, jealousy, class, so many different important themes. And the writing style was very unique, a bit hard to follow sometimes because the characters thought processes all sort of flow into each other, but interesting.

Such a strange book. I loved it.

❤️🌼💚🐐❤️

Her writing is something else. Beautiful ideas thrown with force & aimed precisely. The story of 2 men and 2 women is subtle - everything and nothing happens. There's a wit and humour running through it (WindscreenWiper 🐐!) And power relations of gender and race - the power of standing up & saying, no this is wrong. And the complexity of strong independent women, ultimately controlled by men.

... Over the years she had put a crease in her forehead to help her pretend anxiety for all the women who fell in love with her son.

I couldn't leave a photo challenge like that, so decided to sort the situation straight away - by starting another book!

45 pages in, and we have two very #independentwomen, and a main character who may well turn out that way. And from page 1, Bessie Head is eminently quotable.

Margaret, an orphaned Masarwa girl, was brought up by white missionaries. She starts her first teaching job, to Pete (the principal)'s disgust.

@Cinfhen #augustgrrrl