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BOOKS: Dark sins of the past torment in 'The Yearning'

Friday April 24 2020
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'The Yearning' by Mohale Mashigo. It was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary award in 2018 and won the 2016 University of Johannesburg’s Debut Prize for South African Writing in English. PHOTO | TEA

By KARI MUTU

No matter how old and dark the lies, the truth will always find the light. This is the premise of The Yearning, the first novel by South African author Mohale Mashigo.

In it she tells a tale of grief, intense longing and the tenacity of the human spirit.

The main character, Marubini Khumalo, is a young marketing executive at one of the top wine companies in present day South Africa. She has a good life in Cape Town, where she lives in an apartment by the sea with her French, Moroccan boyfriend.

Life is going great until Rubi, as everyone calls her, starts experiencing strange incidents. She hears voices in her head, shadows lurk in the corners of her house, and she is experiences seizures. She starts to question her sanity and is afraid to fall sleep because of frequent nightmares.

After an unnerving bathroom incident, which leaves her with a slashed wrist, Rubi’s family think she is trying to commit suicide. Therapy sessions don’t reveal anything and the incidents continue happening at home or at work, culminating in blackouts. The blackouts reveal deeply hidden suffering and incomprehensible yearnings.

With little lead-in, The Yearning flashes back and forth between the present and past as old secrets hold the answers to present troubles.

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Rubi narrates how she grew up in a loving family in Soweto, but her father, Jabulani, was plagued by a bewildering illness, which no doctor or hospital could cure.

Jabulani like his mother found his calling as a Sangoma (traditional healer) and it brought him physical healing but also an unbearable.

While still a child, Rubi’s father and beloved grandfather both died within a short space of time. Her happy childhood was marred by this unexpected loss followed by separation when her mother sent her away to live with her grandmother. Her young adult life was characterised by frequent weeping and loneliness.

“The Yearning never stops until we embrace everything that brought us here,” writes Mashigo as she gently peels away at layers of grief and uncovers hidden memories.

Piece by piece she weaves together the unclear story behind the deaths in the family and the dark apparition terrorising Rubi. The horrifying truth is revealed at a cousin’s wedding in her hometown of Soweto.

As the story progresses, African spirituality, the ancestors and the supernatural take a centre stage. Mashigo presents traditional beliefs and their role in deciphering personal turmoil even in the age of clinical psychology.

Written in an easy to read style with a slow pace, the twists and turns of the story come as a pleasant surprise. The use of local words add to the book’s cultural authenticity. The characters are relatable and the relationship between young Rubi and her parents and grandparents is heart-warming.

But the narrative also has some dissatisfying elements. Characters and events appear with hopeful build up but then fizzle out of the story. The ending also feels abrupt.

There are aspects that could have benefitted from more development such as how Rubi’s younger brother Simphiwe developed a talent for drawing prophetic images.

In the prologue Mashigo talks about writing teen fanfiction with a friend where each person penned alternating chapters and in the book’s acknowledgments she mentions a writing partner. This might explain the occasionally disjointed flow of the storyline.

This is a believable tale that bravely explores the darker sins of society and unresolved trauma.

Mashigo, 37, has made a name for herself as a musician and with this first book she shows great potential as a novelist.

The Yearning was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary award in 2018 and won the 2016 University of Johannesburg’s Debut Prize for South African Writing in English.

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