Product Description

`This fantastically energetic debut offers a dark, funny vision of the underbelly of London populated by illegal immigrants

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61451 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Aminatta Forna, The Guardian
"In his narrator Chikwava has created an utterly compelling anti-hero, who exploits and manipulates everyone around him while retaining a superb grandiosity ... Chikwava's great skills are his humour and his ability to create a powerful and original voice."

Mary Fitzgerald, New Statesman, 26 March 2009.
"Chikwava's triumph comes from scrambling and reinventing tradition."

Esquire
'It's a wry delight'

Customer Reviews

Harare North
After the reviews I had read in the broadsheets' literary supplements, I was eagerly awaiting this novel. I am delighted to say that it did not disappoint. Brian Chikwava has created a story that aroused the most varying of emotions in me. It is such a tragic tale but delivered at times in the most comic of manners. I am surprised at the review below; as I thought that the style used by Chikwava was what enabled such a sad tale to be told, at times, with such humour and amusement. In my opinion it was this style that was able to give Harare North the balance of tragedy and comedy that really sets it apart and makes such a delight to read. The protagonist's voice is certainly distinctive, but in a way which reveals not only his being a foreigner in a foreign place but also a sense of simplicity and openness. Anyway, it was a novel that I thoroughly enjoyed and would highly recommend.

Disappointing Read
Harare North I waited for the publication of this novel with great excitement but was disappointed when I read it. First, it was very difficult to read the ungrammatical English the author insisted on using throughout the story. The story unfolds mostly in a stream of consciousness from the protagononist. If he was semi literate, as portrayed, then surely this internal dialogue would have been in Shona (translated into grammatical English by the author since the novel is in English)and not the painful ungrammatical English which noone in real life would use to think when they have their own first language to use to speak to themselves? This is so unrealistic it is quite annoying. Who is Brian writing for anyway because even in Zimbabwe, those who would buy this book are fluent in English and would find it difficult to read this one. Certainly, those learning to be fluent in English would regress after reading it! If he is writing for a non Zimbabwean audience elsewhere, then he has given the wrong impression of the competence of Zimbabweans in the diaspora to use English, in speech or thought, grammatically, which is a false impression as most Zimbabweans are very fluent in English, our national second language. Also, the experiences this Green Bomber goes through, in the diaspora, be they with locals or other Zimbabweans are mostly, if not wholly negative. Is this realistic? There are hardships when living as an illegal immigrant in London, but for most people the experiences are not all bad. There are decent Zimbabweans in London and not every local person is nasty and exploitative. An unrealistic portrayal of life in Harare North for Zimbabweans I must say!

Darkly comic
I loved this book! Sure, the idiosyncratic grammar takes a bit of getting used to, but it's worth persevering. The narrator is well drawn and has a really interesting voice. I was sorry when the book finished. It's very funny but also heart-rending. Highly recommended.