Julian a white Zimbabwean, who becomes one of the addicts, turns to substance abuse after his family loses their Mazowe family home, stolen under the guise of political retribution. His hopes for a family, wife, fatherhood, any claim to clean living, are dashed. Dejected and despondent, he remarks: “We white people in Africa have to repay what history had offered us. What can I say? What can I see?” And herein lies the problem, how do you repay for the past? Do you give up the life you have based on what those who previously lived did to others, with the same color skin, did before you? How can you pay for the actions of others, really? Is it fair to ask anyone to do that?’’ Harare Voices and Beyond is an enlightened piece of literature, significantly beyond what we are currently reading about race relations. Finally, a book comes in which all points of view are shared, where the question is presented, “What do we do to rehabilitate race relations?” Harare Voices and Beyondgets me to a point where I say to myself, “No one has the right to really judge another’s actions.”Because, when it comes right down to it, while Julian easily lends himself to judgement for hurting himself, his brother, still holding on to his dignity, is hurting others for his own profit. When you judge the two, it turns out not to be what it seemed. Harare Voices an Harare Voices and Beyond takes us on a journey through the dark recesses of the human psyche. This opens up the broader conversations surrounding addiction in Zimbabwe as many young people are recruited into drug rings early. Another ugly aspect of the drug trade is the way in which it tears apart families as addicts care less and less about the people around them as they chase the next high. Chatora capably describes Julian’s downward spiral into stealing from his family to feed his meth habit:

Where The Heart Isoffers a nuanced view of one family’s struggle to negotiate cold Britannia as they face dicey neighbourhoods, sketchy liaisons, and perennial ill-fate. Chatora’s diaspora is not the glorified El Dorado; it is an honest place of grit and survival. A stellar contribution.” As I think about that, I realise that perhaps, a big take away from this novel is the author’s ability (which may surprise Muponde) to skillfully showcase and dramatize to the reader that the land reform in Zimbabwe has its sharp and irreconcilable contradictions.There are many versions of the land reform story of Zimbabwe, depending on who is telling which part of the broad story, where… and who is listening! As I think about that, I realise that perhaps, a big take away from this novel is the author’s ability (which may surprise Muponde) to skillfully showcase and dramatize to the reader that the land reform in Zimbabwe has its sharp and irreconcilable contradictions. There are many versions of the land reform story of Zimbabwe, depending on who is telling which part of the broad story, where… and who is listening!

Navigating New Identities – A Review of Andrew Chatora’s “Diaspora Dreams”

Daring. Harare Voices & Beyond is full of intrigue and brutality. An unflinching portrait of broken families and a broken society.” The rating simply reflects technical shortcomings, but this will not be a barrier to many readers, so that needs to be clearly stated. Getting this story out is an admirable undertaking. When the worst comes, this family is caught up in a wave of loud misunderstandings amongst themselves and in the subsequent melee, the mother and one of the boys allegedly kill the younger of the boys by accident and in fear, they secretly bury his body in their home, until it is eventually discovered. This is a detective story with no detectives. It is more like Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing and Ngugi wa Thiongo’s A Grain of Wheat in that the guilty is always in your midst, helping you solve the crime but making sure the criminal is not easily found. In the end you appreciate both the crime and the cause of the crime. You see that the criminal is an ordinary man who is driven over the precipice by irreparable generational loss. This is a deft work of art.

Harare Voices and Beyond is an enlightened piece of literature, significantly beyond what we are currently reading about race relations. Finally, a book comes in which all points of view are shared, where the question is presented, “What do we do to rehabilitate race relations?" A white Zimbabwean family in post-independence Zimbabwe is turned upside down when a dark secret comes to light.Daring. Harare Voices and Beyond is full of intrigue and brutality. An unflinching portrait of broken families and a broken society. ─ Paida Chiwara Andrew Chatora presents a layered look on Zimbabwe's turbulent 2000s, from the perspective of the super-rich and/ or wildly corrupt to the disadvantaged and disenfranchised. Harare Voices and Beyond tells the stories of the predator, the prey and everyone else in-between.