We Are All Birds of Uganda

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It is the 1960s in Uganda and things are changing fast. Hasan is the owner of multiple businesses, things are going great but he continues to struggle with the death of his wife. Even married to his second wife and having numerous children, he still cannot shake the death of his first wife. Added to this the new regime is in power and his business and family life gets shaken to the core. The bee-eaters are a group of near passerine birds. Most species are found in Africa but others occur in southern Europe, Madagascar, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies, and usually elongated central tail feathers. All are colourful and have long downturned bills and pointed wings, which give them a swallow-like appearance when seen from afar. We follow two points of view; Sameer, a high-flying lawyer in London who despite having a successful career, chooses to quit and depart on a journey of self-discovery and purpose. Hasan's point of view is told entirely in epistolary form, as he lays bare his most inner thoughts, feelings and truths in letters to his deceased wife, Amira. If you don’t understand where you’ve come from, you’ll never really understand who you are or where you’re going. One of my favourite thing within the novel is the simplistic way in which Zayyan delineates Islaam. The gradual and tender process in which its tenets become woven into the threads of Sameer's being; offering itself as a spiritual haven.

We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan | Waterstones

Flamingos are gregarious wading birds, usually 3 to 5 feet (0.9 to 1.5m) tall, found in both the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. Flamingos filter-feed on shellfish and algae. Their oddly shaped beaks are specially adapted to separate mud and silt from the food they consume and, uniquely, are used upside-down.The BBC Radio 2 Book Club announced on 24 January that its new home is on the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show. We have an exclusive extract available for you to read. We also have some discussion questions for your group to use. We Are All Birds of Uganda There's some interesting and relevant material here but as a novel this feels over-ambitious and a bit clumsy, the result, perhaps, of trying to do too much in one book. Zayyan tells the stories of two men, one in contemporary London and the other in 1970s Kampala. Both experience racial attitudes that cause them to feel alienated and dislocated from those they love and the place they believed was home.

We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan | Goodreads

The story alternates between high flying lawyer Sameer's life in present-day London and successful businessman Hasan who is still deeply mourning the loss of his first wife though he's remarried in 1960s Uganda. Many novels have used a dual narrative to dynamically tell their stories, but this excellent debut does this in such an artful way that adds tremendous meaning to the story. At first the narratives seem quite disparate but gradually the familial connection is made clear and at one point the two protagonists physically cross over into each other's countries. There's a beautiful symmetry to how this occurs in the narrative. Also, this isn't only a geographical change but it transforms each character's understanding of the world, themselves and the gaps between generations. Something this story captures so meaningfully is generational conflict and the importance of establishing an understanding between the young and old despite having different values. Sameer is the British son of Ugandan Asians, expelled from their home country by Idi Amin. He is on his way to becoming a successful lawyer in London, but is under pressure from his family to return to Leicester to join the family business.

These small to medium-sized songbirds have soft fluffy plumage but are otherwise rather diverse. Members of the genus Illadopsis are found in forests, but some other genera are birds of scrublands. Characteristic features of parrots include a strong curved bill, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured. In size they range from 8cm (3.1in) to 1m (3.3ft) in length. Old World parrots are found from Africa east across south and southeast Asia and Oceania to Australia and New Zealand. In the Ugandan sections the author makes a distinction between Asian arrivals from India, and the more recent (Ugandan national debt driven) arrivals from China. Sameer is disparagingly called both muzungu (white person) and Muhindi (Indian). History Makers: Female Writers Dominate the 2023 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award Shortlist One story is a modern-day tale of Sameer facing tensions between his 'Asian' and 'British' identities, foregrounded through family expectations and racial politics in his workplace, until he travels to 'find himself'.