The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales: Short Stories

I’m embarrassed to have taken so long to read her. I have long known her enormous reputation but have somehow unaccountably never read her work. It won’t be long until I pick up another: she richly deserves her reputation. This collection of stories takes place in Botswana, the country that Head (born in South Africa) used most often for her settings. Head’s own biography is fascinating; I urge you to investigate it. But these stories: it is tempting to say that they all deal with the position of women in society, with the abuses and the injustices they suffer. And there is much of that. But the stories are much richer, more rounded, and fuller. They relate in simple straightforward prose the lives of rural women (and men) as they show more live under the cumulative oppressions of patriarchy, poverty and colonialism. Her protagonists can seem surprisingly meek and yet underestimating their power is always foolish; their belief in themselves is little short of awe-inspiring. These stories address issues prompted by colonialism, by traditional and Christian spirituality, and deal with the tension inevitable between group and individual identity. She is a powerful writer and most of her protagonists are nothing less than a primal force. show less

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An excellent collection of short stories set in Botswana shortly after independence, mostly about women affected by the changes in a colonised and modernising (but pre-AIDS) society: Christianity, traditional religion, education and especially marriage rites and expectations all get critical attention from Head in a set of sharp vignettes, of which the most memorable is perhaps the title piece, about a woman who murders her husband. It is a more gritty, sexy and brutal Botswana than is to be found in the works of Alexander McCall Smith, and feels more realistic too.

I've been reading a lot about Africa in general and Botswana in particular this year, and the evidence for how much I've learned is that this short story collection was nicely illuminated by my previous explorations. It would have been enjoyable even without the background knowledge, but the stories, which tell tales about peoples lives in their villages (not folktales, as might be inferred), just lit up. Head is a strong writer who doesn't pull any punches. Her narratives are frank about the status of women, sexuality, violence, politics, religion, superstition, and jealousy. Fortunately, much of her oeuvre is available in Heinemann's African authors collection.

It’s taken me a couple of years to read this book. I keep it in the car and now and then I just stop somewhere and read one of the stories. It has been a real pleasure to have Ms. Head’s company and I am going to have to dig up another of her books soon. I enjoyed every story and the last two were very special indeed -- one striking between the eyes and the other lying softly on the heart.

Wonderful writer. Very simple, very clean. A fine collection by a wonderful writer.