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Praise for We Are All Zimbabweans Now |
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“one of my three best reads of this year.”
Janet van Eeden, Natal Witness, 2009
“Written while Kilgore was in prison, this haunting debut limns an idealistic graduate student’s experiences in Zimbabwe just after Robert Mugabe’s rise to power. . . . Kilgore has crafted an absorbing read that truly immerses readers in early 1980s Zimbabwe.” Booklist “Kilgore’s devastating and quite funny portrait of the radical expatriates gathered in Harare is all the more effective because he was presumably one of them at the time. . . . (P)erhaps one can read Kilgore’s moving novel as his own attempt at redemption and reconciliation.” Los Angeles Review of Books
“Like all fiction that matters, this book is about a passage from innocence to knowledge, from illusion to gritty reality. But unlike the vast majority of novels today, the terrain in which the hero finds disillusionment and a kind of sad wisdom is not only that of personal relationships but of the wider political world. Too few writers have Kilgore’s wide-angle vision. This promising first book, vividly rooted in his own experience, leaves me eager to read more by him.” Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold’s Ghost
“A fascinating book . . . cleverly written, not overly sentimental and manages to capture the vibe of Zimbabwe in the early 1980s. Most Zimbabweans will recognise themselves in the novel; their mannerisms, their quirkiness and, well, their "Zimbabweanness" pour out from the pages...one of the most important books about Zimbabwe “
Percy Zvomuya, Weekly Mail and Guardian
“The book is fast-paced and funny, extolling two literary virtues often missing on the Left. It is a good read—the work of a great storyteller. But it is also an invaluable object lesson—the work of a committed activist.”
Frank B. Wilderson III, author of Incognegro, Winner of American Book Award, 2008
“A real life thriller written by someone with first hand experience of being a revolutionary.” Drum Magazine, Johannesburg
“Through exquisite storytelling, this novel captures the heroism involved in a people struggling for freedom from colonialism, especially the uncelebrated women; then there's the darker reality of nation building and abuse of power rooted in that very struggle.”
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra War.
“Powerful ...even if you’re not as passionate about Zimbabwe’s politics as Kilgore’s lead character and history buff Dabney is, it’s equally fulfilling to read his debut novel not as a historical drama, but as the brutally honest account of a man feeling like an outsider in a country fraught with contradictions.” Natalie Bosman, The Citizen
“An impressive debut and a first-rate politico-historical literary thriller, this book is informative, thought-provoking, well-written and, best of all, entertaining. “ Aubrey Paton, Sunday Times reviewer, posted to Library Thing
“A compelling story...the present prefigured in a recent past” Jeremy Cronin, former political prisoner |
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Reviews/Articles :
Click here to read interview article with the author in London Times.
Click here to read text of talk by James Kilgore at Univ. of Illinois.
Review by Percy Zvomuya in the Weekly Mail and Guardian
Review and Interview by Janet van Eeden, Litnet South Africa
Review by David Moore, Sunday Independent, Johannesburg
Interview with the author for Natalie Bosman of The Citizen, Johannesburg
Wonderfully insightful Article in Cape Town Magazine Noseweek by Rick DeSatge
Interview with Aubrey Paton of the Joburg Sunday Times
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