Send Her Back and Other Stories

INFORMATION ABOUT THE PIECE:

Munashe Kaseke's Send Her Back and Other Stories is an emotionally intense and unique portrayal of the immigrant black woman's experience in the United States, full of both hardships and the thrills of discovering a whole new culture. Her complex, and often tangled, female Zimbabwean protagonists navigate questions of identity, microaggressions, and sexism in vivid and memorable surroundings, as well as a volatile US political context, with sumptuous candour. These are not just triumphant stories, but they're also distinguished by characters who've ascended to the pinnacle of their professions, seize the American dream, and traverse the globe with delight.

OPINION:

4.5/5 Stars

Keseke constructs stories with amazing detail, addressing themes of racism, microaggressions, politics, religion, and toxic relationships. In her story, Zimbabwe Fell For Wyoming, tells the tale of an interracial couple and shows how ignorant some of the white men are - he is being disgustingly offensive towards her, showing how unsettling the microaggressions can be. While in her story, Sen Her Back, she portrays the difficulties of having to go through hard times and get no support from your family back in your home country. Lastly, in her story, Return To The Land of Giant Suns, she beautifully captures the feeling of feeling like a stranger in your own country after returning home.

Memorable quotes include:
"Telling me I did not belong in my own country."
"Was he a jerk or simply American?"

In addition, the narrator spoke with passion and her voice morphed perfectly with every character to make them stand out.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
This is a composition of stories that not only black immigrant can relate to, as they speak about issues that all immigrant people who have moved away, live in poverty, or are in suffocating relationships can experience. They speak about issues that SHOULD be read and understood by everyone, to broaden one's understanding of the world and other cultures.

PERSONAL RATING:
★★★★☆ Overall
★★★★★ Narrator (Audiobook Version)
★★★★★ How Likely to Recommend

(This Novel was provided to my by NetGalley for free as an ARC with the promise of an honest review!)

Thank you to Mukana Press and NetGalley for allowing me to review the audiobook ARC of Send Her Back and Other Stories

WOW this cover was eye catching and profound. This book is a compilation of powerful stories that center around African women. This book not only dives into the hard topics but sheds like on how tough immigration is.

Each story was truly beautiful written and all were equally enjoyable.. These are strong women who came to America looking for hope, but what they received was less than perfect (sad to say that Im not shocked?). There was struggle, tears, pain, love - so many emotions to process - it was emotionally draining. These women deserve as good a chance as a US born citizen.

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.

I honestly loved it, I feel like it is such an important book to read or listen to in order to understand a little bit how life as an immigrant black woman in America truly is. Not only does this book focus on the topic of racism, it also touches sexism and violence against women. Truly an amazing book.

A eye-opening collection of stories that shows the true emotions, and journeys of immigrants. Tough to get through but the transparency and honesty needs to be told so I pushed through. I would definitely be recommending this book.

Blurb: In Send Her Back and other stories, Munashe Kaseke offers an awfully intimate, fresh telling of the immigrant Black woman experience in the United States, equally awash with a myriad of challenges as well as the joys of exploring a new world.

★★★★★

What a powerful book. I loved the differing perspectives in these stories. I really value the insight and perspectives from different cultures. "Was he a jerk or simply an American?" As an American, I'm screaming, "NOOOOOOO he's the one who's wrong!!!" but I can totally see where she would be confused. I empathize with these stories, and I get wanting to help your family in your county. But as a white woman, I don't have those same deeply engrained bonds and ties. My gut is to say, just cut them off. But in the next breath I'm aching for the bond of Dear Aunt Vimbai. I know you can't have it both ways. I am deeply grateful for this look into the lives and experiences of Immigrant Black Women in America. 

I loved the arc of this book. The author notes this at the end, but as she was writing, you can tell that she was able to find some peace in her writing. The characters and stories start out sad and hopeless, and at the end there is hope and happiness. I'm a sucker for a HEA (happily-ever-after). There are so many stories in here that I want to know more. I want them to have their own moments. Their own stand-alone books. But, I guess that's the point of short stories, to leave you wanting more. 

I so deeply want to dive into each chapter in this review and talk about it all. But this is a review and not book club, and I don't want to spoil the experience for others. But I highly recommend this book for others. 

Thank you Munashe Kaseke for sharing these stories with me and others. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC Audiobook to review. 

Overall: ★★★★★ 
Narration: ★★★★★

This book took my breath away. I listened to the audiobook version of the book. I took every opportunity to turn the audiobook on so I could listen more. Every story was so well written and drew the reader in with authentic experiences. I teach ESL and I think so many of my students could relate to the stories of other immigrants and children of immigrants.

Send Her Back and Other Stories (Paperback)
by Munashe Kaseke
The audible edition helps with pronunciation and meaning.

"When Zimbabwe fell for Wyoming"
"The difficulty of relationships between immigrants and Americans. The early overwhelming attraction of differences, and beautiful cultural differences. Leading to problems of not completely comprehend cultures and Ideology."

"Send her back..
Coming as an tourist, she is caught a decade later because of new immigration laws. Despite her work in retirement homes she has no way to prove her legal status, she has to prove she's a victim of discrimination in her home town to stay. He husband only wants the money sent home."

"Return to the land of Giant suns
Expected to gift every one in the immediate and extended family. Siblings expect larger gifts than affordable. And regrets not spending enough of in expensive gifts for extended family. She finds the world of home in the last 5 years has changed. The recession has affected everything. Although she finds home beautiful in food, in sunsets, in the people she finds she is not the same."

Tsoro
The story of a young woman building her life in America, she is set against the political, and business world. She will use all her ability to overcome the prejudice and sexist ideas of the business world.

Unseen
The story of a young girl and her family that see the world as it is in Africa. The need to be recognize despite being a girl.

"Collector of degrees
The family came over on student dependence. When Dacca comes it only takes care of those that let things laps. She has to continue getting one degree after another because she could not get sponsored, the debts continue and no end in sight."

"Ghost of my mother
The remarkable problems that immigrants face in the American culture. From differences in culture, and perception. Their young children are divided between cultures, many of the them are lost in those differences. The families problems are nearly unsurmountable. They have problems with childhood raising differences, and cultural perceptions."

Noon
The story of the struggle of a young wife looking at the death bed of her elderly husband. She is childless because of his choice, his family believes its your fault, she has to find love, understanding, and freedom before he dies. The abuses of the family, the abuses of her husband are the only thing that saves her.

Torture in Minnesota
The story of the differences Zimbabwe and Minnesota from food the to the environment. Wanting to not continue the misconceptions between Africa, and America. The need to get an education causes many problems for her personally.

Globe trotter
Misconceptions of cultures, and personal expectations make vacations harder for immigrants. They are requested by the people in these countries, expecting that they are willing to work anywhere. Or that they can be used for personal profit or gain.

Imported husband
"Imported husband
The commemorative remembered past does not translate to her American life. She had s job and degree. He was left behind, it questioned his man hood. He just divided them more as he tries to recouped what he imagined he lost."

"Not so micro
The supposition of Americans for Africans not understanding the distance and cultural traditions. Personal choices and problems with miscommunication make it harder."



"It's complicated when you love him

The difference between two lovers he was white opinionated, curiosity heightens their attraction.
Knowing the stories of their life's."


"Dear aunt Vimbai
The story of a young girl in Zimbabwe.. hiding her maturation.. all girls boarding school.. the boys back home.. the problems of being a girl in a patrilineal society."


The Zimbabwean Dream
The problems of being an immigrant is the people back home, they think that your life is easy, everyone taking advantage, thinking that gold lines the streets, and life is easy. Sometimes the agreements of compulsion cause more then surmountable problems. You need to buy your family land, pay for house to be built, send siblings, and their children to school. It builds and builds until an individual can not tolerate the next requisition. There suicide rate for immigrants increases as these expectations pile on over the continued subjugation of rules and laws and prejudice the countries they work or live in.

an Ostrich Partnership
The ideal is that two people focus on the family, building their lives around nurturing the child. Many look at the lives of animals to improve their expectations. Ostrich males care for their young at night , and feed the mother during the day an ideal. But it causes problems as expectations, extended family and everyone else has ideas.

This work is a collection of short stories revolving around female protagonists from Zimbabwe; some are immigrants to America, some still live in Zimbabwe. The stories explore issues of displacement, identity, misogynism, racism, and belonging.

These stories were well written overall, and they were all easily digestible. I enjoyed the protagonists who were quite varied in their motivations and development, and the secondary characters also felt alive in a way that added depth to the work. Despite the differences in the protagonists’ stories, they were all connected by common wants and experiences (some positive, many not).

The author addressed some difficult and relevant issues in this work, relevant to immigrants and women specifically. While these didn’t necessarily make for happy stories, they were realistic and relatable. I also enjoyed the author’s writing style – it was straightforward and simple without being overly so, which made it all the more suited for tackling some of these tough issues. I listened to the audiobook version of this work, and I loved the narrator. She has a lovely voice and excels at bringing the characters’ stories to life.

I highly recommend this work and think that it will grant some meaningful insight into the female immigrant’s experience in America.

I received a complimentary copy of this work through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This title will be published on July 25, 2022.

This was an emotional roller coaster. Some stories were hopeful, most were heartbreaking. This intimate look into the immigrant experience, particularly from Zimbabwe makes it impossible to not feel things. The women in these stories faced hardships that most American born citizens could never imagine but need to. Among all the hardships, I also saw empowerment and strength. Even in the stories that didn't end well. It's difficult to describe my feelings about this book. I certainly didn't "like" it, but think it is a must read.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! It was so wonderfully written, but heartbreaking for the most part. Although it is fiction, it seems to me to show the true experience of an immigrant. I listened to the audio book and really liked it. The narrators voice and pacing were perfect for me. Even with an accent, she was easily understandable. I would recommend Send Her Back to anyone! I'll definitely keep Munashe Kaseke on my list of authors to keep an eye out for new works!

This was a powerful collection of short-stories about the Zimbabwe diaspora.

Prior to reading this, I didn't know much about Zimbabwean culture or the extent of what many Zimbabwean immigrants experience after coming to the US. This collection was very eye-opening and educating.

There's such a variety of emotions and tones throughout this collection, capturing many unique experiences and the complex emotions that come with them. Many of the stories were quite difficult to read, but I think it's important for people to read stories like these to better understand what others may be going through.

Let me begin by saying that I really enjoyed the way this book managed to reflect so many different migration experiences and difficulties, through different short stories, all featuring Zimbabwean women perspectives and the hardships of living as an immigrant in the USA.
It was really interesting to read about the cultural shock and learn about the Zimbabwean culture, about characters that were flawed and with different opinions and social backgrounds. I loved the narration, and I specially enjoyed how every story featured at least some phrases in shona.
I would definitely recommend it, mainly because I felt like this book helped me grow, shifted my view of the world, and taught me about a culture I didn't know and about some of the drawbacks of living as an African immigrant in the United States.
I really enjoyed how every short story managed to show incredible plot and character development, and the way this book showed how so many different people can share hardships and also be so different and have completely different experiences, because life is like that too.
The idea of portraying realistic stories and discuss political issues in a fiction book is so interesting and not many books manage to do that while keeping the reader interested in the plot, but Send her back and other stories really did just that.

The narrator is fabulous to listen to and has a lovely melodic voice.

This book is a series of short stories that the author wrote in response to her emotions being an African immigrant in the US during the Trump administration and the racial tensions in the US during that time.

The stories in this book are at times beautiful, heartbreaking, and infuriating. You feel for every female character featured in these stories. It really highlights the day to day struggles of being a black female immigrant in the US. The amount of fear and struggle some people experience daily. Every woman can relate to these stories in some way but hopefully reading these stories will allow a new layer of either empathy or validity to who is reading it.

My only complaint is that the stories are such a brief snippet in the characters lives that I want more. I want to know how their stories end. The characters are so beautifully and richly written that I want to know what else happens. Do things get better? Do they get worse? What else does life bring them?

This book contains a collection of short stories about young women from Zimbabwe. Several themes are explored, including: discrimination, racism, immigration and sexism. The book is well written and weaves together many different stories in a very seamless way. The author handles difficult issues with the perfect mix of straightforward descriptions and careful sensitivity. I would definitely recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. The audiobook version is also great!

I really enjoyed this book. The author at the end explains how she came with the idea after members of Congress where told that they needed to be sent back.
It shows very well how some of these women felt being women was such a burden, it was heartbreaking to read that the fact to be getting your period was something to hide because it would change your life and not in a good way.
How they would face racism and the feeling of being other, even after years and years in this country, to be thought less just because of your skin color without any regards of your achievements and education.
I hope people will step out of their confort zone and give this book a chance.

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

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.

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.

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.