Stephanie Jane recenzis The Mourning Bird de Mubanga Kalimamukwento
Such a sad tale
4 steloj
The Mourning Bird is such a sad novel about the disintegration of a family following its patriarch's early death. From being a promising student from a reasonably affluent household, eldest daughter Chimuka finds herself rapidly descending into poverty after her father's family scavenge everything they can from her home at the end of his funeral - leaving his wife and three children behind in empty rooms. As the story progresses, we discover that Chimuka's childhood perception of a happy home wasn't exactly its reality. I appreciated Kalimamukwento's portrayal of Chimuka's increasing emotional maturity from child to young woman. It's as if the worse her predicament became, the more she grew up, yet she still remained an irritatingly passive character for me. I understand that, realistically, children and young women in her situation wouldn't have had a lot in the way of choices and personal autonomy, but I so wanted her …
The Mourning Bird is such a sad novel about the disintegration of a family following its patriarch's early death. From being a promising student from a reasonably affluent household, eldest daughter Chimuka finds herself rapidly descending into poverty after her father's family scavenge everything they can from her home at the end of his funeral - leaving his wife and three children behind in empty rooms. As the story progresses, we discover that Chimuka's childhood perception of a happy home wasn't exactly its reality. I appreciated Kalimamukwento's portrayal of Chimuka's increasing emotional maturity from child to young woman. It's as if the worse her predicament became, the more she grew up, yet she still remained an irritatingly passive character for me. I understand that, realistically, children and young women in her situation wouldn't have had a lot in the way of choices and personal autonomy, but I so wanted her to at least try to change things rather than always letting someone else take the lead.
Kalimamukwento manages to incorporate a range of interconnected social issues into The Mourning Bird, impressively without ever making it feel as though she is hectoring her readers about them. The terrible effects of Zambia's AIDS epidemic are at the root of Chimuka's orphaning, with glue, drugs and prostitution becoming almost inevitable as she slides down the social scale. Kalimamukwento's sympathetic understanding comes across very well so I was always rooting for Chimuka to find some inspiration to turn her life around before it really was too late for her.
The beautiful prose throughout The Mourning Bird made this novel a pleasure to read, even while its subject matter is so dark and distressing. It is a strong coming of age tale which has a lot to say about the people, especially the children, left behind at this turbulent time in Zambia's history.