Author Lilian Masitera’s latest novel Saskam Express is a marvel to read.
BY SILENCE CHARUMBIRA
Based on the retirement life of Laina Shana, a widowed beautiful mathematics teacher, the book sifts rigorously through poignant issues that many can relate to.
Having applied for early retirement before the dollarisation era, Laina struggles to survive as she waits for her severence payouts. Coupled with the loss of her husband and children in a car accident, the woman appears to be ageing faster than normal bending to her unending troubles.
Her ill fortunes and the chaotic economic situation after the 2008 era relegate her to utter poverty.
The novel explores various social vices like sex tourism and voyeurism that have become normal in people’s lives owing to desperation.
A teacher herself, the author’s fingerprints are all over the story. She has unique techniques of conveying character and atmosphere.
Laina gets solace in her niece Laina Jnr who on her own has numerous aspirations that are interestingly premised on realism.
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The writer starkly differentiates fantasies from reality with an unmistakable voice of reason through Munya, Laina Jnr’s co-worker whose wisdom is maintained from the onset to the end of the story.
While Laina Jnr is a woman in her 20s often overtaken by aspirations of a desired life, Munya is a hard working husband who lives within his means.
The writer’s voice is often heard commenting on an array of issues bedevilling Laina Jnr in her love life through him.
It is the diversity of characters and experiences surrounding the protagonist that make the reading lively while the similarity in the portrayal of events that occurred in the novel and how they happened in real life makes the novel worth reading.
Her diction intentionally thinly veils her attack on chauvinism before the final chapters reveals her voice in proclaiming equality as the end to problems in families.
According to Masitera there is a lot that she wrote about herself in the novel.
“There are quite a lot of things that are biographical and also other people’s experiences. I went into early retirement and tried to get back into the system because it was not liveable. I wanted to go back but it was an uphill task,” she said.
She said she portrayed her own toil going to the bank countless times to no avail resulting in her starting private mathematics tutorials.
In the novel, Laina visits her rural home Masvingo looking for inspiration which apparently is Masitera’s rural home.
She has unique techniques of conveying character atmosphere which is one of her most powerful tools.
Masitera was born in Masvingo and went to Silveira Mission before enrolling at Mont Casino for her secondary education.
She then went to University of Zambia where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Education in 1983.
Her passion for the arts saw her participating at the International Society of Poets in Washington DC in 1997.
She later went to University of Zambia where she graduated with a Bachelor in Arts (Education) in 1983.
