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What separates the great writers from the run-of-the-mill lot? For me, it usually comes down to creativity and imagination.
There are literary craftsman who know how to produce mind-blowing works that remain stuck in our memories long after we have finished flipping the pages.
And then there are writers who clearly are chasing the wrong career, writing forgettable and tedious works that discourage you from opening the next page.
There is another category.
There are instances where great imagination and brilliant story-lines are let down by poor narration. Such is the case with Wallace Bob Maduve’s “Pfavira Ngoma Husiku Hurefu”.
The Chinhengo family is at the centre of the story, which moves from the daily routine of a well-knit household to the operations of thieves who seem to have supernatural powers.
Two brothers, Japi and Majaya, inherit their father’s donkeys after his death and during the funeral, the animals run off into the wild.
While on the hunt for the donkeys, Japi discovers the place where a gang of thieves hide their loot. He — rather foolishly — helps himself to some of the goods.
He tells his brother about the loot, and Majaya too visits the hiding place to also grab a share. Unfortunately, the thieves surprise Majaya while he is helping himself and they kill him.
What makes it a difficult read is that the settings are jumbled, you don’t get a sense of the period in which the story is set, and events seem disjointed.
It is a good story, but it would have been even better with more attention to technical aspects of story telling. That is not all.
The editing was poor, with several spelling mistakes popping up in the text.
Online Reporter