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The 'Books of 2010' blog has an article about the appeal of Bryony Rheam's This September Sun to Zimbabweans in the diaspora. Extract below, for the full article look at http://booksof2010.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-september-sun-by-bryony-rheam.html .
"I realised a couple of years ago that Americans and me were kind of different, in that your average 30 year old American has seen versions of themselves and their lives in books, and in films and TV, thousands of times. In fact, they rarely see anything that isn't about some version of their life. Whereas, for a Zimbabwean, I can probably count on one hand (and maybe a half) the number of times I've seen me or someone like me. In fact, as a Zimbabwean in the diaspora, I can't think when I've ever seen me. Until I read THIS SEPTEMBER SUN.
Ms Rheam she was born in 1974, so is close in age to me, and thank god it wasn't a how-we-survived-the-war white person story, because like me she doesn't really remember the stupid war. But it's got a nice big dose of life since Independence, and then a nice big dose of the diaspora, London to be exact, and the classic what-am-I-doing-with-myself story line, that I am familiar with not from fiction but from the actual diasporic (is that the adjective for diaspora?) Zimbabweans I know. "
Ms Rheam she was born in 1974, so is close in age to me, and thank god it wasn't a how-we-survived-the-war white person story, because like me she doesn't really remember the stupid war. But it's got a nice big dose of life since Independence, and then a nice big dose of the diaspora, London to be exact, and the classic what-am-I-doing-with-myself story line, that I am familiar with not from fiction but from the actual diasporic (is that the adjective for diaspora?) Zimbabweans I know. "
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Intersting. I hope I get a copy of this book.
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