Drinking From Graveyard Wells by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu is a haunting collection of darkly magical and modern stories unearthed from Zimbabwean lore and pop culture. Some are visceral nightmare-inducing accounts of vengeful spirits, sinister magicks, and spiteful gods. Some are chilling observations on the banality and cruelty of human nature.
In these stories, Ndlovu critiques the corrupt political systems, defeatism, and economic impotence that undermine post-colonial cultures. She lays bare the insidious roots of patriarchy bent on stripping women of their basic human rights and agency. She calls out the unfairness and hypocrisy of society’s insistence that certain freedoms, including sexuality, must be taboo for women but not for men, and derides the sheer arrogance of men who hold women in contempt.
Ndlovu weaves emblems of popular culture, people, and urban tales into a tapestry of unsettling yet enthralling sense of unreal-realness that epitomizes the best afro-surrealism has to offer.
