BURIED IN THE CHEST

Author: Lindani Mbunyuza-Memani

Publisher: Jacana Media

Reviewer: Hazel Makuzeni

As more women enter the South African literacy landscape, Lindani Mbunyuza-Memani (winner of the Diaane Debut Fiction Award, 2024) is another name to put on your literacy list for fresh talent. Her vivid novel revolves around Unathi, a young mesmerising woman born and raised in Moya.

A wind-battered village, Moya is a place where people planted their vegetables and raised animals for meat. “They practised bartering, exchanging this for that. They did this even after the white people arrived in the villages selling what the villagers had always harvested without planting, what came from nature’s bounty. Of course, the people had lived this way for ages before the white people disrupted their lives – and continued to do so even after they had been moved from rich land to this wind-blasted heath,” author.

Moya is also a place where mothers are missing. It’s a place inhabited by grandparents, their grandchildren and fathers. This is where Unathi’s longing for her absent mother simmer. Even though raised by a loving grandmother, Unathi’s questions about her mother’s character and whereabouts go unanswered. In fact, her enquiries are firmly shutdown by the very person she adores the most in the world – her grandmother. This leads to deep emotional turmoil. Matters become more convoluted when she has to confront not only cultural norms but also her sexuality, and the loss of loved ones at a very young age. This all takes place at a turbulent time when South Africa is transitioning from brutal oppression to democracy.

Buried in the Chest is full of love and emotion. It’s gripping – once I started reading the book, I couldn’t put it down. Even though it’s a tale, it is so relatable to South Africa’s embodiment. The author critically examines our historical injustices and how this plays out in generational trauma. The disintegration of family, loss of identity, and patriarchy are some of the intricacies confronted in the book.

Award-winning SA born author Lindani Mbunyuza-Memani is presently based in Illinois.