Becoming The Muse

Welcome To Anywhere Book Review

Welcome To Anywhere is a literary fiction with elements of historical fiction and psychological drama, written by Joe Ruzvidzo, a Zimbabwean writer and journalist currently based in Geneva, Switzerland, researching a PhD on reforming the international human rights system.

Ruzvidzo’s body of work, Welcome To Anywhere, is a journey that has been 10 years in the making, taking its first breath as “The Heist” part of his anthology Behind Enemy Lines and Other Stories published in 2017.  The story outline led to his being shortlisted for the 2023 Miles Morland Foundation Writing Scholarship.

Ruzvidzo’s second book will be released on the 3^rd of September 2025 and I had the opportunity to read an advance release for review.

Welcome To Anywhere

The fictional tale set in a post-independent Zimbabwean town known simply as Anywhere, follows Billy, a teenager who gets entangled in a web of events that started long before he was born. The almost idyllic town of Anywhere has secrets and unresolved trauma, fraying at its edges, from the cost of war, to the disillusionment of its aftermath.

The Good

Welcome To Anywhere is a profound and provocative read on the human condition, echoing sentiments relatable to those who have either experienced the vagaries of war or seen all that sacrifice amount to nought, especially on the backdrop of a small town where dreams die and gossip flourishes like a wildfire.

"...the stories of men who had left to fight and returned as legends - or not at all"

At its core, its a coming of age story blended into a fantastical historical fiction with a sprinkling of the supernatural, which juxtaposes a teen’s growing pains with the people’s identity, trauma, guilt and the price of survival in a world defined through consequences of the hard choices we make.

The gripping storytelling unfolds as that of an unreliable narrator which mirrors how chaotically we remember the past, consciously and unconsciously rewriting and remaking history to suit narratives, running through iterations of how learning a new fact, changes your perspective of what you thought you knew, till you all can do is let go and simply let the story spin you round and round to its dizzying conclusion…

The Bad

Its not an easy read, and not simply because of the subject matter, but the storytelling which carries you along a rollercoaster of a ride, as you try to piece together the plot that is revealed in a non-linear fashion.

"He no longer dreamed of freedom, of a better world. He just wanted to make it through the day."

Sometimes it comes across as repetitive, you keep going over certain sequences you have circled over and over before and save for the revelation of a new key detail of the grandiose narrative.

A reader without a prior geo-political and socio-economic appreciation of Zimbabwe, might miss out on some of subtle nuances explored in Welcome To Anywhere and while it provides an illuminating read, it offers neither an explanation nor a conclusion for one not in the know.

"...revolution doesn’t care about age. It only cares about what you’re willing to do. And he was willing to do anything."

For someone more familiar with the context, the timeline of the book has a chaotic feel, blending more recent developments with older occurrences into a tale that cant seem decide if its set in the late 90s or early 80s given how events spanning decades unpack as if hardly anytime has passed, making it hard to keep track of the passage of time. But then memory does that, I still feel like the 90s are 10 years ago.

The Ugly

I prefer to read escapist fantasy. Welcome To Anywhere is a dark tale, tackling the ravages of war, its aftermath, and the uncomfortable part of our history, which to date we are still to come to terms with, despite endless commissions that have served nothing beyond enraging and trivialising a collective trauma which festers still…

"He wasn’t a freedom fighter anymore. For him, the revolution was over. He was just a wanted man, trying to survive in a world without a place for men like him."

Perhaps because I read this book during a long weekend courtesy of our Heroes Day public holiday and questioning what our heroes would make of the world they risked everything for, this book came across as a rather heavy read on the complexities of legacy, identity and the impact of war on people and communities.

"Was this the price of freedom? To be violated, to lose, and to mourn, regardless of who held power?"

Final Thoughts

Welcome To Anywhere is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the complexities that defines Zimbabweans packaged as a tale of an adolescent’s trials and tribulations in the face adversity…