Member Reviews

I really enjoyed this collection of stories. They were very important and powerful. I would recommend this to all readers.

Was this review helpful?

Unfortunately, I ended up not being able to finish the book. I made it about 25% through and I found myself getting lost in the stories and not connecting with any of the stories enough to stay interested and push forward. I'd like to try again but probably farther in the future

Was this review helpful?

While I can certainly empathize and appreciate with the point the author was trying to make, I feel like this book will actually stoke racism rather than fight it. As a woman from an immigrant family, I can tell you that these stories are not black and white only. Racism exists from ALL cultures, including ones that immigrate. My family nearly had a heart attack when my mother married a white man. While I think these stories need to be told, they need to do so from a perspective of encouraging people to love as human beings first. Not to stereotype and ignore the fact that this happens on all sides.

Was this review helpful?

To the history and stories passed through generations current and passed certain things while always be difficult to process. A strapping storytelling of feminism and race. As every story, essays and experiences showed a contrasting events that was expressed all from about the Zimbabwean women hardships by having the important conversation of women within society, the life of racism, sexism, the basic life of wanting to fit in as a person of color, wanting to experience equality in the home, work place, and in the country.

My one feedback on such a difficult being to read and being processed by a white reader. I wish there was a word vocabulary/Shona translation page as some reads are not able to be found online.

Was this review helpful?

This book of Essays covers experiences that the author, Munashe Kaseke, experienced during he life. Unrelenting racism and sexism were normal for her and also lack of recognition Struggling to stay in America while trying to earn a degree, a student visa is what helped her to stay and fight.

Reading this immigrant experience from this perspective and in short story format was truly eye opening. A woman from Zimbabwe trying to make it in American with fight after fight. This novel had sixteen stories written as essays and they were all linked in one way or another. POVs change from first person to third person, but remained interesting throughout.

Many thanks to Makuna Press and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Was this review helpful?

First of all, after reading these stories, the cover adds so much to the content; these stories include women from all economic and educational backgrounds, including professionals. While reading, I could picture these women telling me their stories as if the events and situations actually happened.

These stories are emotionally raw and honest reveals of the experiences of being an immigrant to the United States. Each story gave me new insight and placed me right with the point of view characters. This book showed me discriminations that I never considered before reading it. I laughed, cried, gasped, and became angry at the situations these women faced.

I'm impressed that this is a debut book and think this author's writing is rich in detail, bringing in all the senses and emotions in natural ways. I've never traveled to/in Africa, but this novelist gave me tremendous insights into the culture, peoples, and food. Each story is so different, revealing the depth of writing talent. The characters are so well developed that they could star in their own stand alone novels.

Was this review helpful?

An intriguing look at the lives of immigrant black women in the Us. I liked how the author captured not only the hardships but the joy as well.

Was this review helpful?

I received this Arc from Netgalley. Thank you for the chance to read this book early. My review is honest and 100% my own thoughts about the book.

I really enjoyed Munashe Kaseke’s writing. I loved that she was able to sweep me away into the stories and open my eyes. These stories are about black women who are experiencing a wide range of ups no downs being and immigrant. I loved that she was writing stories not only of having to navigate the US political system. But more positive aspects like achieving their dreams, being able to scale the professional ladder, being able to travel the world, and having a chaseable American dream.

I enjoyed that each of the stories are nice little bite size stories. Highly enjoyed each morsel

Was this review helpful?

Munashe Kaseke's debut novel is superbly written. It is a quick read that includes brief accounts about various immigration experiences for Zimbabwean women. Stories about the various difficulties faced by women from Zimbabwe who relocate to the US are illuminating. I was unaware of all the options for immigration to the United States and the requirements. I can't wait to see if she writes more since it's a fantastic novel.

Was this review helpful?

This was a powerful anthology that really makes us see how difficult immigrants have it in the USA, specially women from Zimbabwe.

We see different stories from a variety of women, but they all have that thing in common.

Not all the stories are cute and we don't have a happy ever after assured for every story, but that's part of what makes it so real and it gives us an insight on how hard immigrant women have it.

From cultural differences to the fear of being deported, ungrateful families that believe you are a magical ATM just because you made it in the US, to the unfair migration system. This anthology covers almost everything up and it's so real it makes you cry in frustration.

It also gives us a great insight for intersectional feminism, since all women have different experiences and not everything applies the same to all of us, even when we are part of a minority as well.

I highly recommend this book to everyone that wants to get an insight for immigrants on their side, and for people that wants to understand more about to intersectional feminism.

Was this review helpful?

𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗯𝘆 𝗠𝘂𝗻𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗸𝗲 is a collection of vignettes told from the eyes of immigrant African women in America. There are a few happy stories, but most are very tragic.

Their tales tell of struggle with poverty, difficult relationships, navigating parenthood, or facing ignorance and prejudice. There are those who return home (to Zimbabwe) and face reverse bias. Some of the experiences are mutual to the BIPOC perspective, such as being treated as an oddity in a sea of white faces (The Globe-trotter). Most of them recounted adversity is unique to the women portrayed.

There is the physician who has lived in America for over fifteen years, but still gets offers for “a restaurant job, don’t worry about documentation” (Not So Subtleties). The eye opening conundrum of staying in America on a student VISA and ending up over-educated but perpetually unemployable (The Collector of Degrees). Or, the heartbreak of working to send money home to Zimbabwe and finally receiving a medical school acceptance in the US, only to face deportation due to lack of documentation (Send Her Back).

I found that I couldn’t read the whole book at once, with each vignette so full of emotion and meaning, but taking time with it was easy due to the natural partitions.

Was this review helpful?

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* I was given the free audiobook version of this book for an honest review so i will admit if there is any artwork in this book i sadly missed out on it but i think artwork would really make this book to an entirely different level! That being said, the audiobook was really awesome and i would recommend it to anyone.

This was a really great book for me. Would have been such a helpful book for me as a child, growing up in a weird racist world. This is certainly a book i would reread, recommend and buy for myself, I'd also buy this for a child if i had one because this was just such a great, important read. I find it a bit harder to write reviews of books like this because I don't think most of the people i would recommend it to would feel the same way as me reading it as they just didn't deal with the same things, they should absolutely still read it though.

Was this review helpful?

A collection of sixteen thought-provoking stories, I thoroughly enjoyed reading each story that represents the struggles and the experiences of immigrants in the US. The author addressed some difficult and relevant issues, relevant to immigrants and women specifically.
Some stories I enjoyed more than others but overall a good collection.

Thanks to NetGalley for this free arc in exchange for an honest review

Was this review helpful?

I sadly could not get into this book! The man in the first short story grinded my gears so much. I think part of this was intentional, but the casual racism made me too unsettled to continue. And the writing style was different than what I usually read and I wasn’t enjoying it.

Was this review helpful?

I really enjoyed this stories and the perspective that is given from each one. Such beauty and a lot to love and learn.

Was this review helpful?

A variety of short stories featuring black women who are immigrants to the United states. Each one tells a powerful and emotional tale of struggles, feelings and challenges. I have a hard time picking out a couple of favorites, because I enjoyed each and every one of the stories. They were engaging and thought provoking, and I can't wait to see what the author comes up with next

Was this review helpful?

These are stories about the complexities of being a Black African woman in the United States, about the challenges (and sometimes also joys) of being balanced between two countries (Zimbabwe and America). There's a nice variety in the stories, and they definitely add to the growing collection of immigrant narratives.

Was this review helpful?

Send Her Back and Other Stories is an informative, entertaining, insightful, honest and interesting collection of short stories that expertly reveal to the reader the struggles faced by many in this country, specifically black, immigrant women. What I truly love about this collection is that it shows the unique beauty in all of us, regardless of where we come from and our individual circumstances, while also showing the many obstacles faced and shared by women. Send Her Back touches on the desire to love and be loved, the cries for respect, and the need for women to have a voice in the push towards an equal society; it shows that while we are all so very different from each other, we all hope for and strive towards the same things.

Was this review helpful?

Send Her Back
I would like to thank NetGalley and Munashe Kaseke for a advanced readers copy of this book.

The book is an amalgamation of sixteen short stories which are set around the perspective of Zimbabwean women both in their own country and immigrants of USA. The stories are pretty straightforward leaving the reader in a turmoil of emotions mainly anger to either the main character or their situation.

Few of my favourite stories are NOT SO MICRO, where a person is defined by their skin colour. UNSEEN where the main character draws attention by acting out so she can have equal rights as her brothers. THE COLLECTOR OF DEGREES relating to the struggles of an overseas student.

In her book Munashe explores some hard hitting subjects like displacement, identity, misogyny, racism and a sense of being belonged. All the stories were very touching and thought provoking. They weren’t all happy endings or sad ending but they were realistic and you could resonate with these stories, either the characters or the situations they were in.

I really enjoyed reading these short stories, I loved Munashe writing style how she created unique situations for each character. Eagerly waiting for the authors next book.

Was this review helpful?

Insights into others' experiences can help to create a kinder world. Reading allows me to meet new people and see new places, broadening my own experience. Thanks for the education.

Was this review helpful?