I was very excited to discover that I had won a copy of this new novel “Harare, Voices and Beyond” and eagerly awaited its arrival. However, once it arrived I immediately began reading and was so very disappointed. The beginning and introduction were good and engaging enough to keep me reading and when the writing started to disappoint me I remained hopeful it would get better. Sadly, the writing seemed to get progressively worse and almost childish to me. I could not find much to keep my interest for long and it became an obligation to force myself to return to the book. What could have been a riveting storyline was reduced to trite and boring observations. All in all it felt contrived and not cohesive. Honestly, as I found myself skimming parts and even skipping paragraphs because they were bland and many times redundant I just wanted to end the torture.