Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter [Paperback]

J. Nozipo Maraire (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 1997

Written as a letter from a Zimbabwean mother to her daughter, a student at Harvard, J. Nozipo Maraire evokes the moving story of a mother reaching out to her daughter to share the lessons life has taught her and bring the two closer than ever before. Interweaving history and memories, disappointments and dreams, Zenzele tells the tales of Zimbabwe's struggle for independence and the men and women who shaped it: Zenzele's father, an outspoken activist lawyer; her aunt, a schoolteacher by day and secret guerrilla fighter by night; and her cousin, a maid and a spy.

Rich with insight, history, and philosophy, Zenzele is a powerful and compelling story that is both revolutionary and revelatory--the story of one life that poignantly speaks of all lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Maraire, a Harvard-educated native of Zimbabwe now living in the United States, has written a beautifully poignant first novel about what it means to be a woman in Africa. The novel is written in the form of a letter from a mother to her daughter, Zenzele, who is just beginning her studies at Harvard. The mother writes of her girlhood in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe's colonial name), the struggle for Zimbabwe's independence, and her hopes and fears for the next generation. She has watched villagers send the best of her generation to Europe or America for an education, with the hope that they would return with their newly learned skills to better the lives of their compatriots. Instead, she is saddened when they do not return home to live but come back only for visits, seeming to have lost all remnants of African culture. The mother offers her own stories in hopes that her daughter, while creating herself, will never forget whence she came. Highly recommended for women's studies collections and to general readers seeking an intimate view of another life.?Debbie Bogenschutz, Cincinnati Technical Coll.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

" Until we begin to put our pen to paper, we historically do not exist." This first novel by a Harvard-educated Zimbabwean writer takes the form of a dramatic monologue delivered in several epistolary reminiscences by an ailing Zimbabwean mother for the benefit of her daughter, who has gone off to study at Harvard. Mostly the monologue is a meditation on "what or who is the African woman," as observed by a member of an elder African generation that fought against colonialists for independence. But the passion of the book also comes from the urge to endow and complete written language with a sense of oral gravity and vividness. How to do this without betraying or compromising an oral culture? Elegiac stress lends power to the story, resulting in a humane antiminimalism that may owe some of its richness to the work of authenticating in writing a largely unwritten experience. Although Maraire yields at times to rhetorical overflow, she mainly imbues the novel with the complexities of the mother's rural life as it undergoes political transformation in the world of the city. Molly McQuade --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 194 pages
• Publisher: Delta (April 7, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385318227
• ISBN-13: 978-0385318228
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.4 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,498 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is my Story and she told it so well...., October 2, 2000

By 

Tione Chilambe "Titi" (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter (Paperback)

For me it was something I have always wanted to say or rather to be told.... its most of those unanswered questions by my mother and that conversation I still yearn to have with my mother.... its all things african i take pride in but cant necessarily express myself any better.... you just have to read this book to understand parts of me and millions of other women that have not been shared with dignity... certainly glad that someone has told the story for me..... Its a must have for every family library, the son and father tear jerker, the mother and daughter uncut umbilical cord..... As the boarders disappear and the whole world can be called home due to "globalization", you need books like this to take you back where you started from..... every immigrant young lady regardless of ethnicity can identify with this story every inch of the way.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!, June 28, 2000

By 

Michele (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter (Paperback)

How refreshing after a diet of Oprah's selections to read about a strong family who treat each other with respect. The warm, loving mother's voice as she shares the family's history with her daughter, transports us to the far off world of modern Zimbabwe. Through her matter-of-fact narrative we learn of the impact of colonialism and the revolution on very believable people. I recommend it highly.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Loving Mother, December 7, 1999

By 

Elizabeth Catley (Burlington, North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter (Paperback)

ZenZele is a powerful letter from a mother to her growing young daughter. ZenZele has gone off to the United States for school, and her mother is writing her with the best advice she could give on life. This books contains personal experiences and memories ZenZele's mother. This woman lived a very full and unique life. You can feel the love she has for her daughter by reading her words. ZenZele is a wonderful and moving book. Once you read it you will never be the same.