Title: The Theory of Flight
Author: Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
Synopsis: As Imogen Zula Nyoni, aka Genie, lies in a coma in hospital after a long illness, her family and friends struggle to come to terms with her impending death.
Genie has gifts that transcend time and space, and this is her story. It is also the story of her forebears – Baines Tikiti, who, because of his wanderlust, changed his name and ended up walking into the Indian Ocean; his son, Livingstone Stanley Tikiti, who, during the war, took as his nom de guerre Golide Gumede and who became obsessed with flight; and Golide’s wife, Elizabeth Nyoni, a country-and-western singer self-styled after Dolly Parton, blonde wig and all.
With the lightest of touches, and with an overlay of magical-realist beauty, this novel sketches, through the lives of a few families and the fate of a single patch of ground, decades of national history – from colonial occupation to the freedom struggle, to the devastation wrought by the sojas, the hi virus, and The Man Himself. By turns mysterious and magical, but always honest, The Theory of Flight dwells not on what was lost and what went wrong in a nation’s history, but on the personal triumphs and why they matter. (Amazon.com)
My Thoughts: The Theory of Flight has an undeniable magic realism quality to it without having much magic actually happen within its pages.
I like the interconnectedness of the various characters, though on that note there are a lot of characters; about six of them are introduced on the first page alone, so I had moments where it was tough to keep up; luckily there is a list of characters listed before the prologue, and I did have to go back and look at it a few times until I got into the groove.
Apart from that, there are a lot of big issues such as liberation, and HIV; the book takes place throughout different years in an unnamed African country (possibly Zimbabwe?), and is meant to center around Imogen Zula Nyoni – known as Genie – and the people who shaped her life. This is done really beautifully, but because of there being so many characters I didn’t really find myself connecting with Genie. The back of the book says that Genie is “a woman with gifts that transcend time and space” and in the pages we are told over and over how special she is, but we are not shown enough what makes her so special until much later on.
In some ways, the book takes its time unfolding, as things occur that are not explained until chapters later, but in a way that makes sense and feels organic.
I think the book’s true magic is in the interwoven storylines, the intimate look into the lives of the characters, learning more about each through the eyes of others. It’s difficult to review this book without giving much away, but suffice it to say – despite my few qualms – it is a smart, unique read, beautifully told. Ndlovu’s “voice” is distinct and unforgettable, and I would gladly read more of her work.
Paperback Propensity 