Under the Tongue by Yvonne Vera

Vera’s stock in trade is using a very poetical language to show women’s issues in Zimbabwe. Sometimes that works but sometimes, as in this book, it is frankly tiresome. She has a very important story to tell here but banging away in her poetical, impressionistic style throughout the book makes the book difficult to read. I like a poetical style when done well and when it enhances the story but not, as here, when it obscures the story. You just want to say to her Get on with the damn story. And while I am on about annoyances, jumping chronologically can also be a useful plot device but, as here, it can also be really annoying.

Enough of my complaints. As said, Vera has an important story to tell. There are three main, closely connected themes. The first is the main plot line. Zhizha is a young girl when her father, returning from fighting for independence in the late 1970s