Tuesday, 6 February 2018

Review: The Lament of Hester Muponda by Petina Gappah


https://www.flickr.com/photos/das-blaue-sofa/30603050355/
The Lament of Hester Muponda by Petina Gappah
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a very poignant, quite short, story of a women's life which I fear is all too common. Hester Muponda looses 5 children one by one, then her grandchildren one by one, then her husband moves out and moves in with his mistress. Each time the gossips talk, her church people encourage her to have faith, but no one gives her any sympathy. She is surrounded by the "stench of grief". ***SPOILER ALERT *** Destitute, she starts to cook sadza, chicken stew and vegetables for the bus drivers who come to a cigarette and newspaper stall. There in a neighbourhood changed beyond recognition since Independence, she finally dies and the only people who "felt her absence were those drivers and conductors who missed firm but soft sadza and the chicken stew"

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