Verdict: stick?
To be honest, we’re not 100% sure whether this is really a stick, because much of the review is just a summary of James Kilgore’s book. But we get the feeling that the read left Teldah Mawarire – who takes some interesting stabs at matching up some of the author’s fictional characters with their real-life independence struggle counterparts – unsatisfied:
This is probably the most outstanding quote in James Kilgore’s first novel and will speak much to those familiar with how Zimbabwe’s history has been twisted, erased and given different meanings to serve desired ends. The definition of what a hero or heroine is easily springs to mind. Is it distinguished by courage, selfless service to others or reserved for those who historically aligned themselves only to a certain ideology to their graves?
Whilst being supposedly detective fictional work, it is woven with historical and present truths, both in quantity and emotional extent. It’s hard to pass this novel as entirely a work of fiction. Though the characters are mainly make-believe, Kilgore leaves no ambiguity with Robert Mugabe, using his name as such. There is also the Elias Tichasara character who draws so heavily on the real-life man, the late Josiah Tongogara. Like the latter, Tichasara perished in a mysterious accident days before the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement. It is impossible to think Kilgore meant anyone else.
Written during a six-and-a-half year incarceration in a Californian prison, sceptics may think twice concerning the author and truths. Kilgore lived in Zimbabwe (1982-1991) as a fugitive as he would later do in South Africa under the false name Dr John Pape. A respected academic at the University of Cape Town, the law caught up with him in 2002.
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