MixedThe Stinging Fly (IRE)What to say about a novel that is humorous, charming, excellently written, and yet, at the turning of its final page, inspires you to merely shrug and think, Well, that was alright, that was a novel? What to write about a new work that does not entirely excite or thrill, from one of the most exciting and thrilling writers of the last ten, twenty years? ... I wish I had gotcha answers to the above. But I don’t. I feel bewildered by this novel because even now, having scoured through it twice with numerous insightful ticks in the margins, it is as if I haven’t read it. ... reading this novel felt a lot like watching a humdrum nil-nil between two Premier League teams. Yes, there were flashes of enviable quality because there were twenty-two top level professional players on the pitch, yes there was running around and lush green grass and some sturdy defending to admire, but can you remember anything substantial from those ninety minutes, anything worthwhile, and what freak cares about a well-oiled defence? ... Zambra is the rare thing: a writer who writes incessantly and tenderly about writers and writing and books but is not annoying. Adjectives I would use to describe Zambra’s work include: sly, inventive, cheeky, mischievous, funny, intelligent, contemporary. He gets away with sentences that no one else can ... And he is capable of leaving you weepy and introspective about nostalgia—rather than simply tickled by the piling up of time or the fact that nobody uses an iPod or that your living room is no longer home to the blocky desktop computer that made sounds like the ones you once thought robots would make. He is irreverent yet always makes you care. His prose is casual and devastatingly precise and riddled with off-centre similes that feel completely right. Many of these undoubted strengths are evident in Chilean Poet—bar perhaps the usual degree of inventiveness ... The novel is really funny. Zambra is witty and the comedy is never directed at characters: it arises naturally from them and their peculiarities. Additionally, the central family dynamic is so believable and heartfelt ... Line by line, reading Zambra is a supreme pleasure. His sentences are just great: the prose is supple, and his tone is laidback yet underpinned by real emotional intelligence and plain old boring intelligence. He can make complex situations and feelings read very simply and succinctly ... But despite these joys, so much of this book left me feeling miffed, or, like a father, earnestly disappointed. Zambra’s usual inventiveness, his rascal-like trickery, is present here, mostly through its omniscient narrator: an all-seeing but not all-powerful Author who intermittently butts in to break the fourth wall and add their own guesses and suggestions, muddling with the reader’s expectation of fiction as a solid form ... I wish the omniscient narration was more consistent, and I wish it was made to feel more important to the novel as a whole ... Zambra’s engagement with politics doesn’t amount to much beyond a few stray lines, some references to free third-level education, and, most prominently, a side character in the final section who is hired to help Gonzalo move house ... It’s as if Zambra wasn’t too interested in the idea of closely tracking a political upheaval, or that he lost interest in it halfway ... ’d wager many readers will love it. But I think you should be harsh on the work of a writer, an artist, if you believe they are great, and know they can do better.
Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
RaveThe Irish Times\"But unlike so many donnish generational novels, Kintu is an entertaining, engrossing, and, crucially, intimate read. It is an epic that doesn’t ignore character for scope. Rather, Kintu is a novel that thrives on its compassionate investigation of the individual within the boundaries of an epic, within the boundaries of a nation’s rapidly changing identity ... Makumbi, a natural storyteller, is skilful at subverting our expectations of characters, and each book is propelled by a teasing sense of mystery. The prose is smoky crisp, and the book’s setting, be it the barren landscape of o Lwera or the bustling market in Nakaseke Town, is vividly conjured. It is also, helpfully, a funny book ... Some sections of the novel are less engaging than others. Sintu’s story, while initially steeped in intrigue through the ghostly sister, never generates the same energy as the other characters. The book’s ending also feels mild. In comparison to the gruelling build-up, certain strands conclude far too squeakily clean. However, these are minor quibbles, and for a debut novelist to be able to tackle a country’s history with such an unflinching and confident gaze is, frankly, astonishing.\
