If You Keep Digging tackles real life issues

“Imagine the only person you’ve known your whole life hating you for something you have no control over,” (from Growing Caterpillars, which explores the intricate relationship between sexuality, race and traditional values) – that’s just one of the profound phrases contained in Keletso Mopai’s collection of short stories titled If You Keep Digging. In it, Keletso tackles real-life issues and tragedies through interlinked tales by exploring themes such as mental illness, racism, abuse, poverty, sexuality and identity, to name a few. 

In her opening, she struck me as someone inspired by Tsitsi Dangarembga. In ‘Madness’ the character’s feeling of relief towards her brother’s death reminds me of Tambudzai’s apathy towards her brother’s death in Nervous Conditions.

“I was not sorry when my brother died,” said by Tambudzai in Nervous Conditions and “I’m not ashamed to say I’m relieved my brother is dead,” said by Dikeledi here in If You Keep Digging are words that are startlingly memorable.

The stories of Dikeledi (in Madness) and Nicolas (in Monkeys) are the ones she uses as her opening chapters particularly because I sense she wants to grab the reader from the get-go and it works. Because they are written in first-person, you get a sense of who the characters are, and the complexities they face in their lives.   

If You Keep Digging is a collection of short stories. And what I love about a collection is that you find what works for you. Pieces like ‘Skinned’ a story about forbidden love and differences is one that sticks out, and ‘Becoming a God’ is a story about a dysfunctional family, abuse and magic. 

These pieces resonated with me as a fallible human being. I will always think of ‘Becoming a God,’ the fantastical hybrid short piece combining folklore and paramount social themes. The twelve-story collection has beautiful metaphors and it is quite interesting how the writer interlocks stories. That felt fresh. 

Some pieces have something awesome and working for them; while others are just not fully developed. Having said that, I felt the collection was safe. Certain pieces felt redundant. Some moments I felt force-fed to feel, obliged to recognize societal themes. That makes it safe and boxed. The collection as a whole had a strong writer’s voice than characters living in their own world.

So if you’re looking for an easy collection of short stories – that aren’t particularly deep – this is a good book for you. The writing is pretty good, and there is a wide selection of themes addressed in the various short stories.

I particularly liked ‘Skinned’ and ‘Growing Caterpillars’ – especially the themes of albinism and homosexuality in the stories.

Mostly female voice anchoring

Mopai made the deliberate decision to use female voices anchoring these stories. There’s always a young girl or young woman interrogating the themes that are layered across the book. It is so because black women for the longest time have been prejudiced and never been given a voice, and she digs them up and gives them a voice.

The Setting

The backdrop and setting Mopai has chosen for most of these stories is Limpopo. And she makes me want to thank her for this because when we read writers from Bulawayo or Abuja, they become deliberate about sharing stories anchored by their people. Mopai does this well as there is a lot of reference to Limpopo. The setting inspires the stories. The story Becoming A God shows itself as inspired by the Rain Queens hence it is set in Balobedu.  
The storytelling is not contrived which is what I like. It doesn’t try too hard. The narrator can be imagined to be whoever the reader chooses them to be. Which is why writing, reading and storytelling is such a personal experience. We, as readers have to feel you. Almost reach out for you through the pages. And we are able to do just that with Mopai. Overall If You Keep Digging is a book you can read and appreciate for what it is. Looking forward to Mopai’s work. Her voice is strong.