The Death of Rex Nhongo

New
Paperback
2016
$13.02

Sharp and blackly humorous, The Death of Rex Nhongo follows five marriages and one gun, which collide on the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe. When Patson finds a gun in his taxi, it gives a jolt to a marriage already balancing on the knife-edge of poverty. Shuttling disaffected British expats, avoiding intelligence officers and supporting deluded relatives from the country, Patson weaves a web through a city that can speak of only one thing: General Rex Nhongo, and the rumours surrounding his death. This is a portrait of marriage under pressure; of husband and wife in breakdown, breakup and breakthrough. Portraying racial pride or middle class guilt, government conspiracy or childhood compulsion, C. B. George never softens his grip on the uncomfortable truth.

Synopsis

Sharp and blackly humorous, The Death of Rex Nhongo follows five marriages and one gun, which collide on the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe. When Patson finds a gun in his taxi, it gives a jolt to a marriage already balancing on the knife-edge of poverty. Shuttling disaffected British expats, avoiding intelligence officers and supporting deluded relatives from the country, Patson weaves a web through a city that can speak of only one thing: General Rex Nhongo, and the rumours surrounding his death. This is a portrait of marriage under pressure; of husband and wife in breakdown, breakup and breakthrough. Portraying racial pride or middle class guilt, government conspiracy or childhood compulsion, C. B. George never softens his grip on the uncomfortable truth.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
Publisher: riverrun
Published: 30 Jun 2016
ISBN 10: 0857054295
ISBN 13: 9780857054296

Media Reviews

A brilliant piece of work, which takes a cleaver to Zimbabwe - splitting it wide open for all to see. Fascinating, enjoyable, compact and driving * Jesse Armstrong, writer, The Thick of It *
Muscular, confident . . . C . B. George's account of that strained relationship is horribly convincing . . . As the characters stumble into each others' trajectories, the author pulls off the feat of being both forensic and forgiving * Spectator *
This debut is well worth reading...George offers a range of keenly observed representations, from expatriate malaise to the sheer difficulty of poverty; his psychologies are subtle and wry, his honesties amuse as much as they wound and he displays a ventriloquist's talent for voices as various as the black American and white Zimbabwean * Literary Review *
Compelling . . . Political instability registers as a quiet quake beneath the feet of ordinary people, tilting them this way and that, as they attempt to navigate everyday matters of family, love and betrayal . . . Intimate and revealing * Guardian *
Book of the Year -- Louise Doughty * Observer *
I was fascinated by this novel. By its supple, subtle, multi-stranded narrative . . . Portraits are superbly achieved, and the text is studded with memorable observations . . . Acutely quotidian and superbly human . . . Terrific achievement -- Lee Child * New York Times Book Review *
A terrific novel - absolutely compelling and chilling. A wonderfully astute and forensic blend of fact and fiction, lies and truth -- William Boyd
This is a brilliantly unsettling book; its shrewd, measured, darkly atmospheric prose describes the societal, familial and psychological conditions that make it possible to find burnt corpses in fire-proof houses -- Helen Oyeyemi
Cleverly plotted, suspenseful . . . a deft commentary on the nuances of race and culture in a politically corrupt post-colonial society . . . As marriages break apart and re-form on the tides of survival in Zimbabwe, we can only speculate with horror as to which of these characters' lives will be destroyed by the presence of the gun. In this painfully resonant story we see the absurd fragility of our own humanity -- Ausma Zehanat Khan * Washington Post *

Author Bio

C. B. George has spent many years working throughout Southern Africa. He now lives in London.