The Sunday Mail
ANDREW MOYO
AS a book enthusiast, during the National Arts Merit Awards (Nama) held last month I was closely following the literary categories and there was one winner who caught my attention.
After the announcement of Cynthia Marangwanda as the winner in the Outstanding First Creative Published Work with her novella, “Shards”, curiosity took over and I decided to grab a copy, just to get a glimpse of what the “upcoming outstanding talent” had to offer.
Having come across some of her poems, I never doubted her abilities as a wordsmith but what I saw from the first page to the last in “Shards” is nothing short of amazing.
The stream of consciousness narrative swallowed me from the comfort of my couch and put me into the mind, thoughts and memories of the protagonist.
Shards explores the life of a 23-year-old girl from a wealthy family who struggles with a calling from ancestral spirits, drug abuse, rebellion, society’s judgmental attitude, misinterpretation, religion and modern beliefs.
Marangwanda put her prose on display as she burrowed into modern society’s ignorant attitude towards African traditional spiritual realms, opting to put their faith in Christianity and modern Western medical procedures.
She tackled the parallels between Shona spirituality and Christian theology as well as those between the martyrdom deaths of the messianic figures of Nehanda Nyakasikana and Jesus Christ.
The author brought out the alienation and disillusionment of a generation caught between the past and the present, a lost generation desperately seeking an identity as well as the purpose of their existence.
With most of the author’s previous work entrenched in Harare’s vibrant urban culture scene, it is no surprise that most of the city’s distinctive features and habits are given a breath of life in this book.
“The kombi eventually stops at a place that is supposed to be a bus rank but in fact is a war zone,” goes one line in which I began to see images of the chaotic scenes that have become the norm at Harare’s bus ranks.
The protagonist narrates walking into a dusty yard housing a melancholy block of flats located in the outskirts of the CBD, at which an assortment of under-dressed females (commercial sex workers) stand near the entrance, waiting for business to come calling.
With the author’s exceptional descriptive skills, use of imagery and other literary spices, the ambience of a typical city drug den engulfed me at one point.
“The dimness inside is hellish. An image of Dante’s Inferno explodes inside my thoughts. I shiver and nearly whisper the Lord’s Prayer, desperate snatches of voice seeping through the dejected walls and I momentarily feel as if I am moving through a mausoleum awakening from its slumber. As we move further into the interior, the dizzying stench of stale urine reaches out and greets us enthusiastically,” went on the narrator, bringing to life vivid images of what she encountered during a drug-purchasing endeavour.
The book also delves into violent clashes that usually occur between rebellious elements of society and law enforcement officers.
Marangwanda theatrically describes one such scenario: “We don’t wait to find out what exactly we are demonstrating for or against. We automatically propel ourselves out of the car with the force of oncoming asteroids and hurl ourselves into the thick of it. I can feel the weight of my body slamming into objects, humans, air, nothing, and everything. Crashing-shattering-breaking-crunching sounds reverberate all round and my nostrils inhale the perfume of teargas.”
Indeed, “Shards” is a magnetic novella, which I only managed to put down after I flipped the last page.
Many aspects of Zimbabwean urban youth culture from the arts scene to hangout spots have been incorporated in this tale.
The book, however, is not a simple read and will need a reasonable amount of brainpower to really grasp the plot.
It’s easy for the reader to get lost within this literary jungle with all the twists and turns, as the narrator goes back and forth between thoughts and reality.
“Shards” is certainly a great piece of work – no wonder why Nama adjudicators made the decision they made.
