Zeleza (born 1955) was born in Zimbabwe of Malawian parents; Zeleza grew up and went to school (through college) in Malawi. He earned graduate degrees in the UK and Canada and has spent virtually all of his professional career in Canada and the US. This work addresses corruption, class, and related issues in an unnamed post-colonial African state (that bears a striking resemblance to Malawi). I have read so many novels about this topic that it is—quite rightly—almost a genre in itself. Sadly, this isn’t in the top tier of such works. The story revolves around a strike told through the eyes of a middle-class journalist and a poverty-stricken worker. Zeleza notes, among other things, their very different perspectives and considerations. Though he clearly feels a deep sympathy for his subject and his characters, the book ultimately felt too formulaic and derivative. ( )

I wavered between three and four stars for this book. The theme and characters were intriguing, but the narrative style was uneven. Especially at the end of the book, Zeleza seemed to be trying to sum everything up as quickly as possible and totally destroyed the structure and pace of the narrative. Some characters seemed to change to radically within the story without enough narrative illustration of how the change happened. But the story of survival and disillusionment under a corrupt regime kept my interest, and I would recommend the book for those interested in exploring political corruption in Africa. ( )

Malawi.

This very tense and informative novel provides a brief but vivid entree to the unfortunately typical post-colonial stresses and government corruption so crushing to the people of many newly-independent states. The narrative has some stylistic issues, with jumps in point of view and over to minor characters, which are not only jarring but diffuse the tension in a way that detracts from the story. ( )