‘Recitatif is cunning in its ability to expose us’—Masiyaleti Mbewe reflects on Toni Morrison’s only short story
To respect this text is to revisit it: Masiyaleti Mbewe reviews the new standalone edition of Toni Morrison’s Recitatif. RecitatifToni…
Category: Reviews
‘Time moves as slowly as it likes and then faster than you can make sense of’—Wairimũ Murĩithi reviews Okwiri Oduor’s debut novel, Things They Lost
Entering a world the author has long been building, Wairimũ Murĩithi reviews Things They Lost, the debut novel from 2014…
Tales from Mombasa—Carey Baraka speaks to Khadija Abdalla Bajaber about her award-winning debut novel, The House of Rust
Carey Baraka reviews The House of Rust, the latest tale from Mombasa, land of fables, and chats to its author,…
‘Thank goodness, this book offers no lessons and neither soothes nor comforts’—Michael Gardiner reviews Jane Fox’s Letters to Lionel
Michael Gardiner reviews Letters to Lionel, a series of letters written to the late poet, novelist and teacher Lionel Abrahams…
‘No reprieve from the myriad invisible cuts inflicted by a society hostile to the colour of their skin’—Shayera Dark reviews Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkerström’s In Every Mirror She’s Black
Shayera Dark reviews In Every Mirror She’s Black by Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkerström. In Every Mirror She’s BlackLọlá Ákínmádé ÅkerströmHead of Zeus,…
‘Startlingly good’—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Misfits: A Personal Manifesto by Michaela Coel, creator and star of the hit TV show I May Destroy You
Michaela Coel’s Misfits blends an effervescent sense of social realism with a beguiling clarity, writes Wamuwi Mbao. Misfits: A Personal…
‘This is the voice of contemporary South African fiction’—Joanne Ruth Davis reviews Mphuthumi Ntabeni’s new novel The Wanderers
Mphuthumi Ntabeni’s The Wanderers is a novel that indicates a storyteller in love with the art of telling tales, writes…
Even for women brave enough to reclaim their lives, external forces stand ready to keep them confined—Shayera Dark reviews Ukamaka Olisakwe’s Ogadinma: Or, Everything Will Be All Right
Shayera Dark reviews Ogadinma: Or, Everything Will Be All Right by Ukamaka Olisakwe. Ogadinma: Or, Everything Will Be All RightUkamaka…
‘A compellingly affecting hero figure for the remaking of the human’—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Sorrowland, the new novel by Rivers Solomon
Rivers Solomon’s Sorrowland rearranges the furniture of the hardening genre of novels resolved to deal with North America’s history of…
‘To photograph Switzerland is to rephotograph it’—Sindi-Leigh McBride reviews Fernweh, Teju Cole’s latest photobook
Fernweh, Teju Cole’s latest photobook, feels like a palliative moment amid the uncertainty, loss and raw grief of the pandemic,…
‘Exploring the recesses of loss with elegance’—Thulani Angoma-Mzini contemplates the 2021 Caine Prize shortlist
Meron Hadero was recently awarded the 2021 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, becoming the first Ethiopian author to claim…
Three bombs and a miracle—Simon van Schalkwyk reviews Klara and the Sun, the new novel by Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun contemplates the erasure of the imagined boundary between human authenticity and the artifice of…
Private prayer and public power—Athambile Masola reviews Mothers of the Nation: Manyano Women in South Africa by Lihle Ngcobozi
Lihle Ngcobozi’s Mothers of the Nation reveals the social complexity and political depth of the Manyano Women’s movement, writes Athambile…
A work of fiction that calls to us to rethink Palestine’s ‘normal’—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Against The Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa
Wamuwi Mbao reviews Susan Abulhawa’s Against The Loveless World, winner of the Palestine Book Award. Against The Loveless WorldSusan AbulhawaBloomsbury…
‘What does it do to you to be the subject of someone else’s imaginative impoverishment?’—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Claudia Rankine’s new book Just Us
Claudia Rankine’s Just Us is perhaps the most profound meditation on race and violence to emerge in the first two…
‘Aggressively, almost wantonly unreadable’—Richard Poplak reviews Jordan B Peterson’s new book Beyond Order: 12 More Rules For Life
While 12 Rules for Life was a snapshot of an intellectual moment, however paltry, Beyond Order is the literary equivalent…
Hiding in Plain Sight: Cold War Interventions into African Literature—Bhakti Shringarpure reviews Monica Popescu’s At Penpoint: African Literatures, Postcolonial Studies, and the Cold War
Monica Popescu’s At Penpoint: African Literatures, Postcolonial Studies, and the Cold War is a steadfast engagement with the cultural Cold…
To move about in an unkind world under the mark of racial blackness—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Scatterlings, the debut novel by Rešoketšwe Manenzhe
Wamuwi Mbao reviews Rešoketšwe Manenzhe’s novel Scatterlings, winner of the 2020 Dinaane Debut Fiction Award. ScatterlingsRešoketšwe ManenzheJacana Media, 2020 There…
African literature should be free to remain ‘a question to itself’—Lebohang Mojapelo reviews The Rise of the African Novel by Mukoma Wa Ngugi
In The Rise of the African Novel, Mukoma Wa Ngugi traces the way African literature has been a space to…
A Cape tragedy—Stephen Langtry reviews Martin Plaut’s new book Dr Abdullah Abdurahman: South Africa’s First Elected Black Politician
Whether we have learnt from the story of Dr Abdullah Abdurahman remains to be seen, writes Stephen Langtry. Martin Plaut’s…
The archive has been rigged—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Patric Tariq Mellet’s The Lie of 1652, uncovering the debased half-truths installed as national narrative
In The Lie of 1652, Patric Tariq Mellet fills in the ‘before’ that was of little interest to those invested…
A triumph of a novel—Itumeleng Molefi reviews Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s The First Woman
The First Woman can be read as Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s answer to people who like to defend patriarchal power by…
Tracing the rich tapestry of Black British life—Adekeye Adebajo reviews Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation by Colin Grant
Colin Grant’s Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation is an important and valuable text that has captured the voices that…
An oddly moving piece of fiction—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Burnt Sugar, Avni Doshi’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel
Wamuwi Mbao reviews Avni Doshi’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel Burnt Sugar. Burnt SugarAvni DoshiPenguin, 2020 The rather selfish belief that one’s…
To overthrow Europatriarchy, logic and emotion must work in tandem—Shayera Dark reviews Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone by Minna Salami
Europatriarchy takes centre stage in Minna Salami’s elegant book of essays Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone, writes…
‘Poetry where the heavy and the light are held in tension’—Rustum Kozain reviews Fiona Zerbst’s new collection, In Praise of Hotel Rooms
Rustum Kozain reviews In Praise of Hotel Rooms, the fifth collection of poetry by Fiona Zerbst, calling it ‘a fine…
Embodying the resurgence in Black surrealism—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Nudibranch by 2020 Caine Prize winner Irenosen Okojie
Wamuwi Mbao reviews Irenosen Okojie’s Nudibranch, the ‘immersively deranged’ collection containing her 2020 Caine Prize-winning story. Nudibranch Irenosen OkojieLittle, Brown,…
[Temporary Sojourner] The Beast in the Village—Efemia Chela reviews Confessions of a Lioness by Mia Couto, finding uncanny echoes of the coronavirus lockdown
The JRB Francophone and Contributing Editor Efemia Chela travels to Mozambique with Mia Couto’s novel Confessions of a Lioness. Confessions…
‘A tour de force of scholarship’—Arja Salafranca reviews The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers by Mark Gevisser
Arja Salafranca reviews Mark Gevisser’s new book The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers. The Pink Line: Journeys…
Of fear and motherly love—Rofhiwa Maneta reviews Imani Perry’s memoir Breathe: A Letter to My Sons
Imani Perry’s Breathe is a memoir committed to the radical hope that sees Black boys as more than problems to…
Philosophy in Africa, or Africa in Philosophy? Mary Carman reviews Debating African Philosophy: Perspectives on Identity, Decolonial Ethics and Comparative Philosophy
Mary Carman reviews Debating African Philosophy, a new collection of essays that originated during student protests and demands for the…
JM Coetzee’s ‘late style’—Angelo Fick reviews The Death of Jesus, the ‘masterful, spare and beautiful’ final book of the Jesus trilogy
There are no easy answers in JM Coetzee’s new novel The Death of Jesus, but the exploration is part of…
Writing Athlone—Gabeba Baderoon’s latest poetry collection The History of Intimacy maps the small hurts of apartheid, writes Toni Giselle Stuart
Toni Giselle Stuart reviews Gabeba Baderoon’s poetry collection The History of Intimacy, which won the 2019 University of Johannesburg Main…
Poetry of social obliteration and intimacy—Vonani Bila reviews KwaNobuhle Overcast, the new collection by award-winning poet Ayanda Billie
Vonani Bila considers KwaNobuhle Overcast, the latest book of poetry from Ayanda Billie, who won a South African Literary Award…
Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor’s weight of whispers—Carey Baraka considers Dust, The Dragonfly Sea and a novelist’s mission to retell the ‘vile things’ of history
The Kenyan novel is not dead, writes Carey Baraka, as long as Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor keeps writing. 1. On June…
A powerful contribution towards the creation of a vitally needed counter-narrative of England—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Manchester Happened by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s new book Manchester Happened reflects the here-and-there double consciousness of living between Uganda and England, writes Wamuwi…
Contemplating South Africa’s coalition of traumas through the idea of lost language—Khanya Mtshali reviews Phumlani Pikoli’s Born Freeloaders
In Born Freeloaders, Phumlani Pikoli seeks to provide a meditation on how empire is constructed through language. But the language…
[The JRB Daily] Top 10 of 2019—A look back at our most popular articles of the year
This December marked the The JRB’s thirty-second issue, the final issue of our third volume. With the new year—but not…
A depth charge aimed at the submerged wreckage of slavery—Wamuwi Mbao reviews The Water Dancer, the debut novel by acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates
Between Baldwin, the world and the Old South—Wamuwi Mbao reviews The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The Water DancerTa-Nehisi CoatesHamish…
Board the Eastern Main Line and go to work in Hell—Richard Poplak reviews The Night Trains, Charles van Onselen’s finest book yet
Richard Poplak reviews The Night Trains by Charles van Onselen, a book grounded in the hard work of scouring the…