We Need New Names

A Novel

By: NoViolet Bulawayo

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Finalist for the Booker Prize: the "deeply felt and fiercely written" story of a young girl's journey out of Zimbabwe and to America (New York Times Book Review), from the author of Glory.

Darling is only ten years old, and yet she must navigate a fragile and violent world. In Zimbabwe, Darling and her friends steal guavas, try to get the baby out of young Chipo's belly, and grasp at memories of Before. Before their homes were destroyed by paramilitary policemen, before the school closed, before the fathers left for dangerous jobs abroad.

But Darling has a chance to escape: she has an aunt in America. She travels to this new land in search of America's famous abundance only to find that her options as an immigrant are perilously few. NoViolet Bulawayo's debut calls to mind the great storytellers of displacement and arrival who have come before her—from Junot Diaz to Zadie Smith to J.M. Coetzee—while she tells a vivid, raw story all her own.

"Original, witty, and devastating."—People

©2013 NoViolet Kulawayo (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

Winner of the 2014 PEN / Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction

Winner of the 2014 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction

Shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize

Winner of the 2013 Etisalat Prize for Literature

Finalist for the 2013 Guardian First Book Award

One of the New York Times Notable Books of the Year for 2013

One of National Public Radio's Great Reads of 2013

"A deeply felt and fiercely written debut novel ... The voice Ms. Bulawayo has fashioned for [Darling] is utterly distinctive—by turns unsparing and lyrical, unsentimental and poetic, spiky and meditative."—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"Bulawayo describes all this in brilliant language, alive and confident, often funny, strong in its ability to make Darling's African life immediate ... She demonstrates a striking ability to capture the uneasiness that accompanies a newcomers arrival in America."—Uzodinma Iweala, The New York Times Book Review

"Bulawayo mixes imagination and reality, combining an intuitive attention to detail with startling, visceral imagery ... This book is a provocative, haunting debut from an author to watch."—Elle

I completely feel Darling. Arame

As an immigrant i feel like Darlene could be me. she saw it all, tell it all. This book is definitely a masterpiece

One of the best narrator performances I've heard

What does Robin Miles bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

"We Need New Names" is a lovely, engaging, and moving book at any rate. But Ms Miles's narration carries it to a completely new level of immersion and beauty. She provides a crisp, beautiful rendering of Darling's voice as a young girl with a childish inflection and a strong Zimbabwean accent, and transitions later in the book to a more teenaged inflection and self-consciously American accent. The voices she provides for other characters add flavor as well, such as the contrast between the voice of the American NGO workers' broad Californian dialect and the speech of Darlings' friends; or, the contrast between the adolescent Darling's carefully calibrated "proper English" and her school-friend's "Ebonics" (as the friend herself calls it in the book). The interaction of speech and voice and identity forms a central theme of "We Need New Names", and Ms Miles's narration breathes palpable life into this theme. Just magnificent work. I am off to search Audible for other books she has narrated.

the vivid descriptions of Africa and the transition to America

I liked the entire story and depth of characters while staying true to the realities of life.

Great immersion, but without resolution

Would you consider the audio edition of We Need New Names to be better than the print version?

The book does an excellent job of capturing what it may have felt like for a young child experiencing the epic social and cultural transformations depicted in the book. As this is a work of fiction, one might have expected some sort of parable, or a complete story arc to be drawn. As it stands, the story is a series of loosely coupled vignettes which are held together by the historic story of a nation in turmoil.

The evolution of language in both the book and the performance are well done, and one of the highlights of the book.

Takes me home

Quite uncanny how this book rung so true to my upbringing in Zim and my transformation in America. Such a great read.

Strong beginning and great narration

This book was described to me as telling the story of a young African girl’s immigration to the United States and her struggles to become an American. So I was a bit surprised when about one-half of the book was spent describing her childhood in Africa. As it turned out, this was by far the best part of the book. Perhaps because I myself was born and bred in the United States, I found her descriptions of everyday life in Africa much more interesting than those of life in America.

What I did find utterly convincing was the way Bulawayo inhabited her child protagonist, and then later in the book, the teenager. The author has a very unique way of showing the thought processes going on in the heads of her characters, such as the child’s delight in playing simple games, her obsession with food, and her occasional defiance of adult authority. Each scene unfolds from the child’s point-of-view, more often than not revealing her incomplete understanding of what is going on in the larger world around her. This is incredibly effective in several scenes in the first part of the book when the protagonist and her friends either witness or (nearly) perpetrate incredible cruelty without actually understanding or being affected by it.

The author skips a few years in the protagonist’s life and presents her as a young teenager already living in America. The transition was awkward and left me wondering why there was little to no explanation of how the girl ended up living in Michigan. The descriptions of difficulties with the simplest things-like making oneself understood over the telephone, or answering misguided questions about one’s country—were well done and were undoubtedly drawn from real life. So, too, the short sections in which she deals with the angst of the exile, a fascinating combination of exhilarating triumph (look at me! I have a home of my own, children who are Americans!) and deep sadness (never being able to return home, watching one’s children ignore or belittle traditions from the homeland). There are also some telling critiques of American society, but overall this entire half of the book felt more preachy than enlightened. Long passages about teenaged girls’ obsession with clothes and porn seemed to serve little narrative purpose, and the ending was strangely difficult to understand.

So I am glad I read this but for a more compelling—and nonfiction—take on Africans in exile in America, I would highly recommend Rescuing Regina by Josephe Marie Flynn.

[I listened to this as an audio book read by Robin Miles. She did a fantastic job of doing all kinds of different accents, very nuanced, wonderful performance.]

Striking imagery, skillful narration - go for it!

I was introduced to NoViolet's work in a writing course and became an immediate fan. She is magical with description and mood. So very thankful for the relevance of the subject matter: immigrants' complicated and precarious position was brought to light with reality and compassion.
Robin Miles - freaking talented. One of the best narrators and perfect for bringing this book to life.

Utterly Wonderful!

I first heard of the book from a BBC weekend arts program, and I was immediately intrigued: the book sounded like just the sort of thing my mother would have loved (and read to us--a modern To Kill a Mockingbird, if you will). So, with Mom's spirit smiling at me from the passenger seat, I ordered the audiobook, and started in with Darling, Spo, Bastard, Stinna and Cheapo.

What a journey! What a story! What a rare, special, powerful glimpse of the complexities of life! So thought-provoking! So heartbreaking! So rich with detail!

The world needs more works like this one: more works that show us how similar we all are, regardless of home, country or station. More works to help us see that while so many of us have it so much better than they do in many parts of the world, the real tragedy is how poorly we treat those people who come to other countries to try to build better lives. Immigration reform? Absolutely needed! Clear, simple pathways to citizenship? Desperately needed.

Please do not come away from that last paragraph thinking that I'm talking about a preachy, highly political book! Oh, no! This book is amazing! It meets you where you are at n a way that most other books cannot approach. You will have a heaping helping of humor, wonderful descriptions, lush, well-constructed characters, primarily, along with ideas that may just make you want to help a neighbor.

That is worth infinitely more than the small price for the book!

Thank you, NoViolet!

Beautiful

Strikingly beautiful and sharp. This is one of those books that is not easily forgotten.

Country -- which one is home; what is a country?

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes child narrator reminded me of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird -- truth teller who is willing to really see what is around her. The reality and the metaphorical use of "country" is well developed. The Zimbabwe part with her friends seems better and less rushed than the US par but maybe that was because it was so new for me. So many perfect little sentences. Repetition used like a chant. The "names" are intriguingly important. The cataloging of details is perfect.

What did you like best about this story?

The games the kids play which carry throughout the novel.

What does Robin Miles bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

exquisite timing and diction -- her accent reminded me this was an African's story but was very clear and understandable. Changed later in the story to reflect the American characters.