Shamiso by Brian Chikwava review – a globe-trotting coming-of-age story

Though audaciously told, this portrait of a young woman’s twisty journey from Zimbabwe to Brighton doesn’t quite hang togetherIn the opening chapters of Zimbabwean author Brian Chikwava’s follow-up to his 2009 debut Harare North, the eponymous teen protagonist is given a pendant by an elder of the family, the irrepressible Babamukuru Jimson.“A stone carving of Nyami Nyami, the River God, the spirit snake. My first instinct was fear that one day I would break it. It looked fragile, a needle of stone with Nyami Nyami’s serpentine body coiled up and gathered at the top, where instead of a snake’s head, a fierce fish’s head sprung out bearing sharp teeth. It was surprisingly heavy. I wore it straight away. A snake with a fish’s head. It was a strange form, as if all life forms were connected and fluid in their existence. No one had ever given me anything like this before.” Continue reading...

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