As my first real collection of short stories, I really enjoyed this book.

As a White person, I will never totally understand what people go through when moving to another country in order to pursue a better life for themselves, the struggles that they face when they arrive there and then continue to face once they are trying to settle and get comfortable in the United States.

The writing of the stories was very well done and fast paced which meant it was easy to follow along with however the stories are all fairly sad in nature as you would imagine them to be with the premise of this book, some do end in a hopeful outlook however. All the stories of the same nature but different enough that it keeps you hooked.

I enjoyed this book and look forward to Munashe Kaseke's next book!

Thankyou to NetGalley and Mukana Press for this ARC in return for an honest review.

A compellation of powerful stories that not only dive into hard topics, but bring light to those who struggle through immigration.

I loved reading each stories. These are strong women who came to America looking for hope, but what they received was less than perfect. There was struggle and tears, pain, love. So many emotions to process that I felt drained by the end. As I immerse myself into a culture I know nothing about, I feel respect for women across the world who spend everyday trying to make a change.

This was a wonderful read. The characters brought to life by their struggles. At times the dry writing style was a little much for me, but I think the stories spoke for themselves.

Surprising and refreshing collection of short stories - my favorite was "Unseen." The writing style was unique - it will linger with the reader for days to come.

I requested this ARC because the title caught my attention and while wholly different than what I normally read (not really a short stories person), these stories caught and held my attention. Both similar and different to one another, they tell the stories of different women who have left their familial homes.in Zimbabwe to come to America. Each story stands alone but together they weave a bigger story of what it is like to start anew. I felt that each story has it's own voice and told it's own truths. They were honest, raw and inspiring. They looked education, work, family obligations, money and more. Overall, I think the author did a fantastic job giving voice in each story she told.

This is a great collection of short stories. They share a common overall plot: single female comes to America from Zimbabwe to stake out a professional career but gets stymied by having to support family/husband/etc back home. The fish-out-of-water scenarios are all cleverly constructed, and given the similarity to the author's own experience, ring very true. She manages to highlight the many misconceptions Americans -- particularly white Americans -- have about people with her background. One of the stories she mentions how she came from a major urban area and not "a National Geographic village" and the child of two professionals. Even with the similar POV the stories aren't repetitive and are fresh and interesting situations. Highly recommended.

Take 15 women who’ve immigrated to the United States from Zimbabwe and observe the way 15 lives look nothing alike. And then the subtle ways their experiences are similar.

These short stories cover a lot of territory. The protagonists are all women who’ve immigrated to the United States from Zimbabwe, most of them mix with the education system in some way. And yet, as tempting as it is to assume their experiences will all be roughly the same, they are all so very different. A single mother raising a 14 year old daughter. A mail order bride? (Implied but not stated.) A perpetual student. A soon-to-be widow. So many others. If you enjoy reading in order to see how other people experience life, add this to your shelf.

While each protagonist’s situation is unique, as a whole, they share common threads of experience. Not fitting in. Family expectations. The US visa and immigration system. Weird and insensitive shit people say to them. The meeting of two cultures. Isolation and loneliness. A feeling of never being quite enough for anyone. There is constant tension in these stories, which is to say, the pages practically turn themselves.

That being said, there isn’t a lot of happiness here. In most of the stories, the main characters are primarily interacting with people who are hurting them in some way. And I totally respect the choice to focus on these stories, I can see how they serve a purpose, but it also almost implies by omission that a happy life cannot exist for these women. I don't think that was the intent, and I still enjoyed and appreciated the stories.

Overall, an enjoyable collection of short stories.

Interesting read on the immigrant experience in America. A bit of a heavy read at times but all in all interesting

4.5 stars
Wow,better than i thought.
So i requested for this arc because of the cover and as my first arc, i seriously didn’t know what to expect but im glad this was my first to start with.im not the biggest fan of short stories but this one really made me wonder if I should start reading short stories.
I’ll be very honest,the front part of the story was too slow paced for my liking and while i loved most of the stories and characters,there were some parts i just wanted to skip but i knew it may be a crucial part to the character’s development(since the story is short,if i just skip maybe I’ll miss out on something important).
this story revolves around the lives of different black females in the states,struggling to survive and to be accepted by the community,the pressure they are under to do well in a foreign country,how many of them are either not welcomed at home or just have no way to go back anymore because everyone is waiting for them to do well.America,the land of dreams…also the place where the dreams of many people are crushed .as a person of colour,im fortunate im not a us citizen because I don’t have to undergo all of this shit just to work and earn money.but unfortunately,i still see all those racist remarks,casual or not everywhere…”freedom of speech”is the excuse people use to say whatever they want(including very mean comments)I seriously cannot imagine what the immigrants have to go though ?.This book seriously made me realise how severe racism is ??(mostly in the states cuz everyone’s just in love with the country and all that but don’t ever seem to notice this problem) And urm unfortunately ,how tough it is for someone that’s not white to cope with the life in that country as a minority.
by the way,I really enjoyed the writer’s style of writing like 95% of the time,it was pretty easy to understand her words,how simple the writing is and yet how complicated the issue she is writing about is,the contrast is seriously amazing.(and this is her debut novel !!I think I’m already looking forward to her next book)
maybe I’ll actually reread this title,it really gave me a much deeper understanding of the life of a poc in the states and yea I’m glad to have picked it up

Send Her Back and Other Stories is a collection of short stories addressing the particular experiences of Zimbabwean women immigrating to the United States. Each story is unique, yet connected, as we learn of the many challenges these women face from understanding racism in the U.S., to the expectations of the family left behind, to the anti-immigration activists protesting “send her back”, to the endless circle of an education visa.,

In “The Collector of Degrees” we learn of the difficulties a family faces when the father, who brought his family to the U.S. on his education visa, can't find work after earning his PhD. The mother can't work on the visa. In order to stay in the U.S. he must continue to be a student, obtaining one degree after another. In the title story, politics are woven into the story when a woman just accepted into a U.S. medical school, is horrified to see her own experiences aimed at an American Citizen when she sees a video of a white crowd chanting at this Congresswoman, “Send Her Back!“. In “Not So Subtleties” a Zimbabwean woman, educated in the U.S., struggles with Americans who are too lazy to learn the correct pronunciation of her name and try to give her to an unwanted nickname. She become frustrated with other people’s ignorant assumptions about anything on the continent of Africa and is insulted by their insulting assumptions that she must be an illegal immigrant, in need a job when, in fact, she is a successful Physician.

The stories are diverse, interesting and informative. I’ve always admired the strength of people who immigrant to a country with different languages and customs still, this book is a real wake-up call. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thank you to #NetGalley and #MukanaPress for this advanced copy of Send Her Back in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Publication Date: July 25, 2022

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Send Her Home and Other Stories by Munashe Kaseke captures the raw human experience that falls upon many immigrants in the United States, especially women. The fifteen stories included in this title highlights just how distinct each experience is for newcomers in a country, and the reader is often left with a deep pang in their chest while they grapple with the struggles and, sometimes, joys of creating a new life elsewhere. Kaseke does a superb job of creating stories that push back against comments too often thrown at immigrants, such as "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps," "If you work hard and are determined, you will get it," amongst others. In every single story, the reader understands more of what people sacrifice when they depart from their homeland to reside in another country.

In addition to the stories and characters told, this collection is harrowingly beautiful for the stylistic choices that Kaseke makes to draw the reader in deeper. Kaseke's decision to alternate the narrative voice from first, second, and third enlivens the book even more, and the narrative choices enhance the storytelling. In "The Collector of Degrees," as well as in "Torture in Minnesota," Kaseke uses second person to pull the reader in creating a "lived experience," and this heightens the story as it is not an experience that many have encountered nor understood until exposed from this angle. In other stories, such as "Not So Subtleties" and "Territorial," Kaseke beautifully interweaves the politics of the day with every day racist occurrences that white folks overlook or neglect to acknowledge. Supporting these narrative focuses and shifts was the decision to incorporate Shona and Zimbabwean expressions without a direct translation. This decision captured how the characters were feeling and provided an extra layer of authenticity that otherwise would seem forced.

Overall, Send Her Back and Other Stories was a well done collection that captures the questions we all ask ourselves whenever we set upon something new-- "Is this decision, this change, worth it and will it really benefit me in the long run?" It is that focus that binds the work together and it is one that kept me reading late in to the night.

This was a very important read. I found the writing to be pretty quick and easy which is good. As a white person, I will never fully understand what POC have to go through… This book did help me understand a little bit more, and realize just a smidge of what they go through. It was an important and powerful read.