In Rotten Row Petina Gappah, who won the Guardian first book award in 2009 for her collection of stories An Elegy for Easterly, has produced a beautiful, sweeping collection that illuminates various aspects of contemporary Zimbabwean life. Rotten Row’s vitality comes from what it tells us about people: its keen perceptiveness, humour, and above all, tenderness. Gappah has a Nabokovian delight in the inherent absurdity of human behaviour. Photograph: AlamyThese sometimes premature denouements may be attributable to the collection’s stated theme, its relationship to law and justice. Gappah does extract engaging stylistic and narrative opportunities from the law.

Source: The Guardian November 19, 2016 07:00 UTC