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We Need New Names

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We Need New Names

By: NoViolet Bulawayo
Narrated by: Robin Miles
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About this listen

Longlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize

‘To play the country-game, we have to choose a country. Everybody wants to be the USA and Britain and Canada and Australia and Switzerland and them. Nobody wants to be rags of countries like Congo, like Somalia, like Iraq, like Sudan, like Haiti and not even this one we live in – who wants to be a terrible place of hunger and things falling apart?’

Darling and her friends live in a shanty called Paradise, which of course is no such thing. It isn’t all bad, though. There’s mischief and adventure, games of Find bin Laden, stealing guavas, singing Lady Gaga at the tops of their voices. They dream of the paradises of America, Dubai, Europe, where Madonna and Barack Obama and David Beckham live. For Darling, that dream will come true. But, like the thousands of people all over the world trying to forge new lives far from home, Darling finds this new paradise brings its own set of challenges – for her and also for those she’s left behind.

©2013 NoViolet Bulawayo (P)2013 Random House AudioGo Contemporary Fiction Genre Fiction Africa

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Critic reviews

"Darling is 10 when we first meet her, and the voice Ms. Bulawayo has fashioned for her is utterly distinctive — by turns unsparing and lyrical, unsentimental and poetic, spiky and meditative... stunning novel... remarkably talented author" ( New York Times)
"Bulawayo’s novel is not just a stunning piece of literary craftsmanship but also a novel that helps elucidate today’s world" ( Daily Telegraph)
"We Need New Names is full of life -- you can almost feel the sun on your arms and hear the birds in the trees -- and Bulawayo is certainly one to watch" ( Stylist)
"original, witty and devastating" ( People Magazine)
All stars
Most relevant  
An enjoyable listen...giving an insight into the lives of migrant communities and what it Jean's to leave your home country and never be able to return.

Interesting

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Good story but slow at times. I wish she’d gone a bit further in telling the stories of the characters and sharing more of their experiences. Overall it was engaging ...the narrator was good, though some of the Ndebele pronunciations were off lol. Would love to read a follow up /continuation of Darlings story...

Good but slow at times

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Took me a bit of time to get used to the narration and the story but if you stick with it, it’s overall an enjoyable listen

Good

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Okay. Needed editing in America. Loved the beginning the innocence of childhood v loss of self in America. Raised issues about lives of immigrants.

Pan africanism

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and really really beautifully read. a (painful) pleasure from start to finish. very good on being between cultures, on a par with the woman warrior

excellent book

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Absolutely loved every sentence of this intriguing story book. As a fellow Zimbabwean living in the diaspora, I related at so many levels. Thanks Noviolet.

100% captivating

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Would you try another book written by NoViolet Bulawayo or narrated by Robin Miles?

No Violet Bulawayo is a fair writer. I don't see anything particularly special about this book. I am a South African reader and stories in this style abound.

I think it's a real shame the producers didn't bother to find a Zimbabwean narrator. Robin Miles sounds half Carribean. The accent is 70% correct, but the pronunciation of the 'a' sound is poor (e.g. laugh is pronounced lorf instead of 'lef') and o is totally incorrect. (e.g. pronounces come as "com" whereas it is pronounced almost the same way as in southern UK English). There must be hundreds of thousands of well educated Zimbabweans looking for work... Why didn't the author read it herself? This aspect of the audiobook totally ruined it for me, as I kept waiting for the next error in pronunciation.

Would you be willing to try another one of Robin Miles’s performances?

Not one where she assumes an African accent!

Did We Need New Names inspire you to do anything?

Nope.

Poor Narration: Zimbabwean/Carribean accent?

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Loved reading the book. Decided to buy the audible but was surprisingly disappointed by the reader. No effort whatsover in getting the local names/words right. Would be brilliant if read by someone who understand Ndebele/Zulu. The story itself absolutely beautiful and riveting. Very funny. Reminded me growing up in the city of Bulawayo. The names-well, Awesome

A book about home

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It's a shame, perhaps I read too much into it but I felt the change in accent that irritated other listeners was symbolic of the protagonists assimilation into US culture.
I loved the use of language in this book and I will buy the print version to go back to parts of it again. The humour in the face of adversity was so authentic. If you have an African background (and aren't a pedant about regional African accents) then I'd highly recommend this, particularly if you have emigrated and hanker for a different perspective to that around you now.
I thought it was utterly brilliant and it left me wanting more...

Utterly brilliant

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This is by far the best performance of an audiobook I have ever seen. the story is slightly long but bearable. definitely recommend.

absolutely amazing performance and good story

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