What do readers think of House of Stone by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma? Write your own review.

I had a lot of difficulty reading this book. I wasn't able to follow the story line and frequently had to re-read the description on the back to remember what the point of the story was. It appeared to consistent of random stories about people and I was never really sure how this flowed.

I was intrigued by the description initially. I struggled to get through this book and am not even now clear on what it is about. This writing style just isn't for me and I hope others are able to enjoy this book more.

Narrator Zamani, an orphan himself, attempts to attach himself to a family (Abednigo and Agnes) with whom he boards and whose 17-year-old son has recently disappeared. His approach seems to be to collect the family history and adopt it as his own, so he becomes a surrogate son. He collects this history through all kinds of trickery and manipulation, playing on Abednigo's alcoholish, plying him with drugs, and emotionally manipulating Agnes, although I was never clear on why he felt the need to take this approach. Since the family story is tied to the downfall of Rhodesia and the rise of Zimbabwe, there's a good bit of historical (and unpleasant) information contained in those stories. The telling of them is scattered , not chronological, and confusing. There are extraneous characters and complicated flashbacks, including a strange emotional relationship between Zamani and his vision of Abednigo's first wife. I found reading this book to be a pretty unsatisfying experience, and although the general topic of the Rhodesia/Zimbabwe revolution is of interest to me, this is not the way I would chose to experience it.

I would have loved to learn more about Rhodesia and the political and cultural turmoil surrounding the country of Zimbabwe, but I found the mode of storytelling in this novel convoluted. I felt that the author obscured the issues, rather than clarifying them. I came to this novel with little understanding of the people or policies of Zimbabwe, and left the novel feeling I knew even less. The author’s style did not engage me, and I felt disappointed that I was missing an opportunity to learn more about the times and people.

I found House of Stone to be a stilted, confusing novel. It didn’t give me a sense of the culture and chaos of the birth of Zimbabwe. The novel focused on the narrator’s desire to be a beloved son and the lengths he goes to in order to achieve his goal. I never felt swept along in the story. I was hoping to connect with the author, but I never did.