Glory by Noviolet Bulawayo

Riffing off Animal Farm, this novel is a political satire set in a fictional post colonial African state 'Jidada... with a da and another da' and follows political machinations and personal struggles to maintain power versus those seeking freedom and democracy in a state populated by animals of all kinds.  When we join the story, the revolutionary government and its president, the Old Horse, is almost literally in its dog days, ruling over the worn out and poverty stricken country with an iron fist, enabled by the dog militia.  It could describe a number of regimes, but is particularly referencing the overthrow of Mugabe in 2017.  Mugabe is represented by Old Horse and his young wife is Marvellous the donkey.  The old guard is overthrown by a younger horse, the vice president Tuvius Delight Shasha and we follow the rising of hope of 'free fair & credible elections' and the brutal crushing of those hopes through the eyes of Destiny, a young goat who moves back to the country with a sense of optimism after the downfall of Old Horse.   I didn't know much about the politics of the overthrow, and actually it isn't that important to understand what is going on here, with references to 'Make Jidada Great Again', 'I can't breathe' and and the easily recognisable uses and abuses of power and divide to rule tactics that happen the world over.   

It's quite a long book and I found it quite hard to get into, with a distinctive poetic style and bitter, black, ironic humour, but after about the first third of the book I properly engaged and grew to love it by the end.  The characteristics attached to the animal nature of the different characters added some useful dimensions that saved lots of words, and although at the start I found it a bit of a distancing device, in the end I really cared about what happened to them.  The pages of lists of ridiculous ministries and officials, the hallmarks of corrupt states raised a proper laugh from me, but then the lists of ways in which stoic citizens have to try to live, was recognisable and anger-making.  It is genuinely funny and I think unique in the recognition of the role of social media in modern politics, with Twitter and the internet brought to life really effectively as the 'Other Country' with a mix of radical debate and information, misinformation and downright nonsense running parallel to the 'Country Country' that is the physical place.  

What this does show is that democracy is precious and fragile and needs to be fought for.   It was a hard read in many places, but an important and moving one and I'm really glad I stuck with it.  Recommended.