‘For Immigrants, For Women, For People Of Color’

SEND HER BACK AND OTHER STORIES

Written – by Munashe Kaseke
Narrated – by Chido Kunene
Source – NetGalley
Publisher – Mukana Press

‘Munashe Kaseke offers an awfully intimate, fresh telling of the immigrant experience of black African women in the United States. Equally awash with the joys of exploring a new world as well as a myriad of challenges, her complicated, and often tangled, female Zimbabwean protagonists navigate issues of identity, microaggressions, and sexism in vibrant, indelible settings.’

The Following Are My Favorites:

‘When Zimbabwe Fell For Wyoming’ – My Heart!

‘Send Her Back’

‘Return To The Land of Giant Suns’

‘The Collector Of Degrees’ – WOW, My Heart!

‘Tsoro’ – HaHaHaHa, Love This One, Love The Ending!

‘Unseen’ – Cringy!

‘Ghost Of My Mother’ – My Heart!

‘Noon’ – Whoa!

‘Torture In Minnesota’ – Living in California, I can’t even begin to imagine acclimating to the brutal Minnesota winters.

‘Globe-Trotter’

‘Not So Micro’

‘It’s So Much More Complicated When You Love Him’

‘The Zimbabwean Dream’ – My Heart!

‘An Ostrich Partnership’ – Love This One!

Highly Recommend!

Thank you, NetGalley and Mukana Press, for providing me with an audiobook of SEND HER BACK AND OTHER STORIES at the request of an honest review.

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.

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.

*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.

Send Her Back and Other Stories is a collection of short stories about female Zimbabwean immigrants to the U.S. The stories are heartbreaking, emotional, captivating, and inspiring. They vary in topic from addressing racism, marital problems, injustice and more. The author's note at the end explains that she wrote these stories to hopefully inspire empathy in the reader. I think she did a great job capturing the immigrant experience and struggles. Many of the stories are heavy.

Whether reading or listening, this book is excellent and beautiful to absorb all of these stories and the perspectives shown.

This collection is deep and thought-provoking as it sets around the experiences of Zimbabwean women in their own country and/or as immigrants in the US. I love that these stories were very well written. These stories were well written overall and I appreciated that even though the stories were different from different characters what connected them, for the most part, were their common experiences.

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.

I enjoyed the audiobook; the narration effectively drew me into the stories. I liked hearing about Shona culture and listening to the language/words sprinkled throughout the various tales. The pace and inflection was spot-on and kept me hooked, adding to my enjoyment of this short story collection.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Send Her Back and Other Stories by Munashe Kaseke is a unique, heart wrenching, and beautiful collection of stories that focus on the very different experiences of Zimbavwean women in the U.S. What I loved about this story was Munashe’s ability to show that even within one culture the experience of immigrating to the U.S. is never a monolith and how each of those variations can make a world of a difference on the experience you have as a woman here in the U.S.

As an immigrant myself, I appreciated being able to see myself in some aspect of the characters that Munashe presented but also loved the fact that I was able to be introduced to so many women whose experiences were very different from my own but still very much valid experiences of immigrant women.

The stories of love and heartbreak were particularly interesting to me. Many of them had various levels of depth, and Munashe’s stories allowed me to question things in my own life as an immigrant that I hadn’t dared to put into questions before and to see these questions and answers play out in a different character was quite cathartic.

I really loved this book and look forward to purchasing a physical copy of the book soon. However, as an audiobook there was a slight problem with the fact that the narrator did not make enough of a distinguishing difference between each story. Having a slight pause or changing tone when reading a new title of the story would have made it easier to pause and digest one story as its own before moving on to the next. Sometimes this made the stories confusing because they seemed to flow into each other but would be about a completely different topic. Other than this one small comment I did enjoy the narrator and appreciated the inclusion of Shona throughout the book. I was able to visualize the differences in each character based on the narrator’s intonations and the emotion shared at different points of the book.

This thought provoking collection of 16 stories was linked together by the experiences of 16 Zimbabwean women immigrants to the US. They came here at different ages and stages in their lives, some independently, some with families, some were raised here by immigrant parents...but all came with the hope for a better life.
The author frequently contrasted memories of Zimbabwe that the women held onto.
I found the stories to be gritty, authentic, and mostly heartbreaking. I switched between the audio and ebook just to get a better flavor of the stories. The narration was beautiful - even though the stories were not.
Most of the women were struggling financially, or spiritually drained by their hopes and the reality of their inability to break out of their restraints.
The author explained the issues that these immigrants have - and opened my eyed to hte attitudes that we Americans generally ascribe to outsiders. They are not African Americans - they have a very different cultural background and they do find jobs but they are so low paying that life/existence is a constant struggle. Although they diligently work at these jobs, they are careful to find jobs which do not require legal status/visas.
Some women came her with their families as dependents or on student visas - and as long as they stayed in the education system and aspired to higher levels of education, they could stay.
Even among a well educated Zimbabwean woman, her race stands out and instances of misogynistic thinking and prejudice, along with limited responsibility were a source of discouragement for her.
This book should be on every citizen's MUST READ list. I received an advance ebook and audiobook from NetGalley and the publisher and am leaving this review voluntarily.

I wanted to like Send Her Back More than I did. The author had a strong voice but both her voice and the stories got repetitive and were missing a cohesiveness. Each short story was told in different tenses and from new characters but the voices of many of the characters were very similar. Especially listening to this on audio if I wasn’t paying attention it could be hard to tell when a new chapter started. I think I would have enjoyed the collection more if the stories had felt more different from each other.

It was easy to forget these stories were works of fiction while you were reading. Some of the stories I really enjoyed and thought they were extremely powerful and some fell flat for me. As a white American I do think there is value in reading this.

This book is extremely thoughtful and I can’t deny the value in these stories even though overall this book was not my favorite. This book was a 3.5 for me.

Send Her Back and Other Stories by Munashe Kaseke is an interesting look into the lives of immigrant women both in the United States and in their own countries. Each of the stories in this book are from the woman's perspective and tell their stories of hope, struggle, sacrifice, success, and failure.

I enjoyed the open, honest writing style and the no-holds truth these women faced in their everyday lives. The author addressed difficult issues relevant to immigrant women. Each story was unique and interesting in its own way. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to expand their horizons.

I listened to the audio of this book. The narrator was engaging and authentic. I enjoyed listening to it.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book, in audio-book form, via Netgalley.

4.5 Stars

Munashe Kaseke's compilation of short stories depicting the tales of American immigrants, provides an authentic, emotional, look in to a difficult process. While fiction, the stories have an authenticity to them that make them very compelling. There is a full range of emotions found inside the pages that range from heart-breaking to heart-warming. Kaseke provides a unique perspective in to a lived experience.

Send Her Back and Other Stories is a remarkably thoughtful and humbling collection of short stories centering around protagonists with a connection to Zimbabwe. Documentation statuses, police run-ins, work authorizations, cold weather, the loss of family connections, the pain of watching Americans travel to and enjoy Zimbabwe, the land of your ancestors when you cannot afford to are only some of the challenges Munashe Kaseke's characters endure.

I was really moved by the story The Collector of Degrees. The protagonist, like her father, is stuck in an endless cycle of life as a life-long student to keep her immigration statuses.. Torn between the risk of losing her status or collecting useless masters and PhDs she cannot put to use just to remain in the United States, she tries to avoid becoming bitter towards those around her.

These stories are each captivating and I found myself forgetting they were works of fiction. I highly recommend taking the time to read this, better yet, read it with a friend. I couldn't helping wishing I had someone to discuss each story with as I read it.

Thank you Net Galley for the chance to read an advanced copy of this enlightening work of art.

Send Her Back is a series of stories of Zimbabwean woman and their experiences as immigrants in America, as well as the differences between US and Zimbabwean culture. I really enjoyed some of the stories, especially the ones that detailed the difficulties they faced, as they are being stopped by police, as they struggle to get immigrant status, as they are noticed due to their deep color. It was painful to read some of these stories and recognize the awful way immigrants are treated, or how bad the immigration system is. I also remembered the disgust I felt when the former POTUS called countries in Africa, S*hole countries. His absolute bigotry was highlighted and written about very well in this book.
I also enjoyed when the author highlighted all the things she loved about her home country, the foods, the endless sunshine, even the mosquitos were a source of her absorbing the entire experience.
I believe that by reading other people's experiences and essays are a good way to help in understanding the plights of others.
I also had the opportunity to listen to this book on audio, and I enjoyed the narration of the book. The narrator's voice was clear, distinct, and lyrical. Thanks to NetGalley for the audio, and to BookishFirst for the print copy!

This book is an eye-opening collection of female immigrant stories. This is a short story collection published by a small independent publisher, written by an immigrant. Munashe Keseke has first-hand experience with a lot of the themes in these stories. As uncomfortable as it makes me feel to read this as a white woman, I can't even imagine how awful it would be to actually experience what happens in these short stories. It's...disgusting. And this book needs to be written. It needs to be read. By people of all races. By people of all genders. We need to see the other side and sit with it, sit with the feelings it brings up. I struggle with why people think that any color of skin is superior to another. It makes no sense to me. We all have the same things inside, the same amount of body parts, who cares what we're packaged in? It just seems so strange but it's real and too many people believe they're better than others solely based on skin color. WHY?! Read this book! Read other books that make you uncomfortable. Ask questions. FIND ANSWERS YOURSELF. It's not up to Black people or any other POC to educate YOU on racism. Do your own work. But these stories aren't just about racism and prejudice. They're also about struggling to find your footing, finding your place, which is something I think most can relate to.

This was a great collection of short stories told from the perspective of immigrants who manage to make it to the “land of dreams”. I don’t think people realize how hard these people work, what they actually endure to make their dreams come true! Beautifully written debut.

Send Her Back and Other Stories is the debut book by Menashe Kaseke. I admire her taking this ugly phrase, chanted by the crowd at a Trump event held in 2019 in reference to US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and claiming it as the title of this collection of 16 interconnected short stories.

From the author's note: "In this collection, you will meet Black immigrant women in varying circumstances. Some stories will fill you with joy, make you laugh, and cheer in triumph. Others might make you hurt and cry. I’m proud of the work I put into crafting this collection and I hope it moves you to empathize with those different from you. For immigrants, for women, for people of color, I hope you feel seen in this collection."

Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Ms. Kaseke migrated to the US alone at age 19 to pursue higher education. These stories feel very personal and are likely influenced by her experiences as well as those of family and friends. The stories are windows to life in the US completely different than mine, showing the challenges of identity, microaggressions, and sexism faced by Black woman immigrants. I felt many mixed emotions while listening to this audiobook with outstanding narration performed by Chido Kunene.

Thank you to Mukana Press and NetGalley for the ALC of the audiobook. I'll be thinking about these stories and the truths they tell for quite some time.

This book is incredible. I would recommend this book to all readers as the writer provides a deep and emotional view into the lives of women of color in America. There are realistic depictions of the hurdles and boundaries women of color must fight in order to succeed, or even just subsist. For example, the intricate issues of the types of visas available to immigrants is something many Americans may not be familiar with.

This book would be excellent reading for the everyday reader, but also in the college classroom.

This was interesting not something I typically read but good I’m glad I did I was enjoyable and different and a blast