A good book, particularly in the fiction category, is one that has the ability to transport you to a different world or better yet it transports you across time. When you're lost in the words so much so that time simply drifts by, then a novel has been written well. Weeping Tomato, Samantha Runbidzai Vazhure's latest novel is one such book.
Carrying a title that speaks to the tears of nature or the heartbreak of a soul, the novel weaves a web that captures both sentiments. Beginning with a prologue - set in 2090 - that paints an ancient future where long forgotten indigenous spiritual systems are now one with AI, the novel returns to the present to tell the story of Zorodzai, a Shona woman residing in the UK, married with 3 kids and approaching the twilight of her professional career.
The Mutirikwi valley is littered with iridescent precious stones, the shit of cyborg lions. Mhondo-bots are bionic animals programmed by Dzim-AI to consume anything vile and improper. Dzim-AI takes instruction only from the voice of Mwari , heard when a ratified SaNgoma beats the sacred drum, Ngoma Inoti Ngundu!
Zorodzai ignites an online affair with Adam, a Zimbabwean man based in South Africa, and this rollercoaster of a relationship is at the heart of Weeping Tomato. While there's an underlying current of spirituality and destiny to this love tale, the theme of the Zimbabwean and to larger extent African diaspora experience is what rises to the surface. As Zorodzai discovers emotions that had long gone dormant in her, Adam has demons he continuously tries to exorcise with not the best of means.
In telling the story of how this relationship unfolds, Vazhure makes use of the writing technique that suits the moment. This sees Weeping Tomato drifting into poetry and prose but never losing it's momentum. In fact the changes in structure serve to make it even more engrossing. The more you read, the stronger the desire is to find out what happens next.
HONEY
Having wandered deep dark forests, where
fallen leaves lie still with hints of sweet decay
Where shadows weave trees and
light spills onto gentle-flowing streams
With endless hoping for true love to take root
amid the embrace of life and death
I catch the whiff of new honey, with
flavours and tones so intense, to heal my ailing heart
Oh honey shall I start a fire to chase the bees away so I can make you mine?
Two different worlds are constantly colliding as Zorodzai and Adam try to make things work. Sobriety versus alcoholism, optimism against pessimism, middle class ideas versus ideologies born out of poverty. A part of you can't help but root for the couple, well until to a certain point. Right at the love story's end, Vazhure's pulls the rug from right under the reader, and the story takes a shift to a different astral plane of existence.
We are confronted with spirits indigenous to Zimbabwe, and a God that seeks to heal the world through their work. Our indigenous religious beliefs are validated and presented through a new lens that says they more than deserve their place in our world. As that story of healing, and the ancient future that comes with it comes to an end, Vazhure hits us with another twist.
In some regard Weeping Tomato is almost like film director, Christopher Nolan's Inception. There is a story within a story and the brilliance of Vazhure's writing shines in each. This makes Weeping Tomato is a must read novel for any fan of fiction, and even those who are not.
Greedysouth rating: 7.7/10
Title: Weeping Tomato
Authors: Samantha Rumbidzai Vazhure
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Carnelian Heart Publishing
Weeping Tomato is available across all major book selling platforms and locally from Book Fantastics.
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