NoViolet Bulawayo Quotes

When somebody talks about home, you have to listen carefully so you know exactly which one the person is referring to.

When things fall apart, the children of the land scurry and scatter like birds escaping a burning sky.

I am starting to talk fast now, and I have to remember to slow down because when I get excited, I start to sound like myself and my American accent goes away.

[Jesus Christ] used to have blue eyes but I painted them brown like mine and everybody's, to make him normal.

Running and chanting, the word change in the air like it's something you can grab and put in your mouth and sink your teeth into.

Because we were not in our country, we could not use our own languages, and so when we spoke our voices came out bruised.

And they had nothing, except of course memories, their own, and those passed down by their mothers and mothers' mothers. A nation's memory.

this place doesn't look like my America

That's what you do in America: you smile at people you don't know and you smile at people you don't even like and you smile for no reason.

You want Change, today we'll show you Change!Here's your democracy, your human rights, eat it, eat eat eat!

[Jesus Christ] used to have blue eyes but I painted them brown like mine and everybody’s, to make him normal.

...and the women spread their ntsaroz and sit on one side, the men on the other, like they are two different rivers that are not supposed to meet.

I am careful not to look anyone in the face because I don't want them to see the shame in my eyes, and I also don't want to see the laughter in theirs.

And so the spirits just gazed at us with eyes milked dry of care.