We Are All Birds of Uganda

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The helmetshrikes are similar in build to the shrikes, but tend to be colourful species with distinctive crests or other head ornaments, from which they get their name. The parts of the book set in Uganda were the strong point for me. Set around Nakasero Hill and Kololo, the manner in which the family arrived in Uganda from India in 1904 gives a great feel for the way in which the Asian population became an integral part of central Buganda in the twentieth century.

We Are All Birds of Uganda: Will Gompertz reviews Hafsa - BBC

Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. 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. I loved the fact the author chose an inconclusive ending for the novel. It somehow felt appropriate in a novel that raises complex questions to leave us with one that is not resolved. Sameer sees that his future comes to lie in Uganda. But the question is whether the country feels the same or do feelings of animosity towards ‘outsiders’ run too deep? An impressive and powerful way to end a thought-provoking, immersive novel. We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan: Footnotes The jacanas are a group of waders found throughout the tropics. They are identifiable by their huge feet and claws which enable them to walk on floating vegetation in the shallow lakes that are their preferred habitat. The grandfather's chapters were a wasted opportunity. They gave us information about Uganda and the 1970s expulsion of Asians but this information could have been imparted differently. Later on, Sameer comes across his grandfather's letters and learns more about Ugandan history, so why not insert here those facts that appeared in the grandfather's chapters? He certainly did not necessitate so many chapters! I never believed in his voice, and couldn't really visualize him or his relationship with the other characters. His letters were there only for us to be able to learn more about Uganda, which I appreciate but as I said I think this information could have been presented to us in a different way. I understand that family sagas have to have two timelines, but here one of the timelines was limited by its format (that of a letter to a dead person). Also, the grandfather seems to recount a few months and at times years in the span of one letter...which didn't really make sense. Does he write a letter to his dead wife every couple of years? Filling her in with all that happened since his last letter? And why would he give her information she would have already known?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. This is a list of the bird species recorded in Uganda. The avifauna of Uganda included a total of 1088 confirmed species as of February 2023. Of them, one is endemic, and three have been introduced by humans. Three additional species are hypothetical as defined below and are not included in the counts. Unless otherwise noted, the list is that of Avibase. The storyline is both contemporary and historical, we follow a split-narrative approach, following Sameer in the modern day, a hot-shot lawyer living in London, eager to escape his family in Leicester, along with Hasan, in 1960s Uganda, writing to his deceased first wife, recounting the political situation in Uganda as Idi Amin takes control of the country. Hafsa Zayyan explores culture, politics, race and religion in a way that I've never read before - intelligently, poetically, and explores both Asian and Ugandan responses to the Second Republic of Uganda. The second chapter of the novel is in the form of a letter, written in 1945, by Hasan Saeed to his first wife. Hasan is Sameer’s grandfather and his letters provide the reader with an insight into the lives of the Asians who lived in Uganda at that time. We read of success and friendship, but also of how persecution, and the policies of Idi Amin led to the expulsion of many Asians in the 1970s.

We Are All Birds of Uganda - Hafsa Zayyan - Google Books We Are All Birds of Uganda - Hafsa Zayyan - Google Books

The debut novel from Hafsa Zayyan is a narrative of two halves. It follows Sameer, a young high-flying lawyer living in present day London who is struggling to decide about his future. He comes to realise he feels adrift and unachored from his family and his history. His narrative is interspersed with letters written by his grandfather Hasan in 1960s Uganda. Hasan's letters detail the conflict and struggles he faced as the country he called his home came to reject him under the upheaval of Idi Amin's rule. The family Pandionidae contains only one species, the osprey. The osprey is a medium-large raptor which is a specialist fish-eater with a worldwide distribution. Pelicans are large water birds with a distinctive pouch under their beak. They have webbed feet with four toes. On the whole this was a success for me. I was concerned towards the end that Zayyan had tied up all the loose ends and was going for a rather conventional ending. Thankfully she didn’t and the last couple of sentences created uncertainty.

About Hafsa Zayyan

Heliornithidae is a small family of tropical birds with webbed lobes on their feet similar to those of grebes and coots. The monarch flycatchers are small to medium-sized insectivorous passerines which hunt by flycatching. The book was selected with the help of a panel of library staff from across the UK. Our readers loved We Are All Birds of Uganda – here are some of their comments: A Pepsi advert at Entebbe airport declares : “welcome to the Pearl of Africa”- the colonial legacy, and Churchill’s turn of phrase doesn’t fade away completely. 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.

We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayan - BookerTalk We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayan - BookerTalk

If you do not have Ugandan citizenship, and you do not have British citizenship, then you are a stateless person, as I found myself to be. To become stateless is to be expelled not ,only from Uganda but from anywhere on Earth. I imagined myself as Armstrong, floating in outer space, untethered.This species and two others, all of different genera, were formerly placed in family Promeropidae, the sugarbirds, but were accorded their own family in 2017. [1] From historical tales to modern life dramas, laugh-out-loud love stories to fiendishly twisting thrillers – whatever your taste in novels, we have some perfect new voices to catch up on. 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.

We Are All Birds of Uganda - LoveReading We Are All Birds of Uganda - LoveReading

UGANDA. Hasan is struggling to run his family business following the sudden death of his wife. Just as he begins to see a way forward, a new regime seizes power, and a wave of rising prejudice threatens to sweep away everything he has built. 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. Then Sameer decides to go to Uganda, the country his uncle reminisces so much about and meets Maryam, the granddaughter of Hasan's native Ugandan employee and a romance ensues! Often eye-opening and heart-wrenching, always elegant and absorbing, Hafsa Zayyan’s We Are All Birds of Ugandais an outstanding debut that crosses continents, cultures and generations. Remarkable in its exploration of identity, family bonds, racism, colourism and the phenomenon of twice migration through characters who’ve moved from South Asia, to East Africa, to Europe, I read Sameer’s story in one sitting, utterly engrossed by his awakening from a state of unrest to finding new purpose as he redefines the nature of success. We Are All Birds of Uganda” by Hafsa Zayyan is a wonderful novel, rich in historical and cultural detail and human emotion.Following Amin’s coup in Feb 1971, he introduces the “Common Man’s Charter”(147) which brings trade licensing rules that clobbers Asian businesses. Amin says he is just a caretaker, but this turns out to be far from the truth. The novel tells the story of Sameer, a young London lawyer with prospects and the possibility of a lucrative move to Singapore. It also tells the story of his grandparents as they have to leave Uganda. That part of the novel is epistolary with letters from Hassan’s grandfather to his deceased first wife. The chapters alternate between the two and the switch of styles does work. The first part of We Are All Birds of Uganda is a somewhat familiar tale of conflict between desire for independence and the burden of responsibility to one’s family. It’s when we get deeper into the Ugandan experience — via Hasan’s letters and then Sameer’s visit — that the book takes off. Those letters are at times a bit of an info dump but they also contain the emotional heart of the novel. Here is a man who is grieving for his dead wife and for his country, feeling displaced and dejected and yearning for nothing but to be reunited with them both. The novel continues with chapters charting Sameer’s struggles and decisions in the present day, interspersed with letters from Hasan to his first wife. I loved how the plot took on a further dimension when Sameer decided to visit Uganda. 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.