We are not guests, we are Asians of African origin...
What's the last audiobook you listened to? I'm a relatively recent convert to audiobooks, and usually prefer to listen to biographies or memoirs in this form...however from time to time I will try a fiction read and this time it was We Are All Birds of Uganda by debut author Hafsa Zayyan.
Winner of the inaugural #Merky Books New Writers' Prize, Hafsa Zayyan is a London-based writer and dispute resolution lawyer.
I read an article about the novel and author prior to listening to the book, and was very interested in how she brought her own experiences into the story - she noted 80% of the racism in the book is based on personal experience - which when you listen / read it makes it sadder and all the more shocking.
Exploring the weighty themes of familial responsibilities, racism, exile, migration and identity, it is a distressing but very well-written novel. Through the dual perspective narratives, and timelines of Sameer, and his grandfather Hasan, the story exposes layers of racial prejudice and ideals, capturing tensions in 1960s Uganda, but also offering a commentary on the social issues and identity struggles that are still pervasive in today's society.
Sameer is a high-flying London-based lawyer, struggling to make any decision about his own life, failing to address micro and macroaggressions he is constantly faced with in the workplace, or be honest with his family about his desire to break away from their expectations and make his own way. His naivety is so frustrating at times, and I'm not sure if we are supposed to like him as a character, but it is really interesting to follow his journey and interactions along the way.
His bigoted and awful grandfather Hasan however was much harder to listen to. His narrative was interesting as it illustrated his life growing up in Uganda. I loved that this was told in the epistolary form through letters addressed to his late wife Shabnum, showing his experiences as a young boy, in their time together and also when he and the family were forced to leave Uganda. Though fictional, I found this narrative and the novel as a whole, provided a really engaging insight into the history, life and attitudes in Uganda. Covering a 20-year time span, it provided a thought provoking parallel to modern-day London and society. It definitely piqued my curiosity about Uganda's history.
This would have been 5 ⭐️ read for me if it had not been for the ending - which is left slightly open to interpretation. Without spoiling anything, I'm choosing to believe the less pleasant, purely as I think it would make sense in the context of the rest of the story and support my feelings about the character involved.
Overall this was a truly captivating listen, and a very impressive debut. I recommend it and definitely look forward to more of Hafsa Zayyan's novels.
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SYNOPSIS
1960𝘴 𝘜𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢. 𝘏𝘢𝘴𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵.
𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵-𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯. 𝘚𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘳, 𝘢 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨, 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩-𝘧𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘺𝘦𝘳, 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴. 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥𝘺, 𝘚𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸.
𝘔𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺, 𝘞𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘜𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪-𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦.
𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘏𝘢𝘧𝘴𝘢 𝘡𝘢𝘺𝘺𝘢𝘯, 𝘤𝘰-𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 #𝘔𝘦𝘳𝘬𝘺 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘞𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴’ 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺.
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