Harare Review of Books

119 pages.

First published in 2020.

Finished reading on 19 Sept 2021.

Genre: Fiction.

Samuel has lived alone for a long time; one morning he finds the sea has brought someone to offer companionship and to threaten his solitude…
A young refugee washes up unconscious on the beach of a small island inhabited by no one but Samuel, an old lighthouse keeper. Unsettled, Samuel is soon swept up in memories of his former life on the mainland: a life that saw his country suffer under colonisers, then fight for independence, only to fall under the rule of a cruel dictator; and he recalls his own part in its history. In this new man’s presence he begins to consider, as he did in his youth, what is meant by land and to whom it should belong. To what lengths will a person go in order to ensure that what is theirs will not be taken from them?
A novel about guilt and fear, friendship and rejection; about the meaning of home.

A gripping, terrifying and unforgettable story. Elleke Boehmer

I bought this on Kindle in July or August, when I first heard about it — which was when it was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Also, the excellent interviews I read with the author, in New Frame and the Guardian, were really sad, and I knew I had to read Jennings. I picked it up (can you pick up a virtual book?) this weekend because it’s really short, and I’m in the middle of heavy, very long reads.

Well, ha! This book is relentlessly grim 😓 I haven’t seen Hotel Rwanda, but this book gives me the same feels. (I’m one of those sensitive types.) I couldn’t look away, but I didn’t want to keep looking, either.

“Like I said, it’s a mess over there, on the mainland. Don’t get me started on the roads. Like one giant pothole. Remember how good they were? Well, they had to be, right, what with all those military processions and convoys of Rolls Royces, huh? This president just flies everywhere. What does he care if the roads are shit?”

In fact, many people complained that they had less now than before. “It’s all very well and good to have the vote,” they would say, “but we can’t eat it, can we?” Nor could they eat the new flag, or the national anthem’s trumpets and flourish.

The Mainland in the book could stand in for many African countries which moved from independence to a dictatorship; it’s never really made clear. The Island as Samuel’s land is a very clever device, and as Samuel falls apart, the story becomes an examination of history, one man’s place in it, and how it tears him apart.

It took me a minute, but the cover is also very clever, and explains the title in a different way — I’ll leave that to you to decipher, because I had fun with it.

Because the story is staying with me, I am increasing my rating a little. I was really upset after reading it, because it is relentlessly violent, not a light read at all, and it’s never pleasant to read about someone’s breakdown; but, this is really well done, and in so few pages!

Rated: 8/10.