The incredible beat of my heart – Henali Kuit

Description

“The incredible beat of my heart is a provocative collection of short prose, varying in style from suburban-realist to surrealist. Kuit transmits the elusive strangeness of daily life in a deceptively matter-of-fact tone, spiked with bursts of rage, humour, and unmarked detours. Although most of the stories are no more than three pages long, this slim, 95-page volume is not a book I gobbled up in one sitting. Partly because I wanted to savour the choppy, discordant sentences, and their curious but satisfying endings. Partly because – in spite of the quirky humour – a feeling of bleakness, isolation and disconnection accumulates. […] I marvelled at how Kuit’s serrated gems are paradoxically stripped of and yet saturated with emotion. The musicality and rhythms of some lines stayed with me like song lyrics:

‘I carried your oxygen because you loved me. I’m not stupid. These are the facts. Our hearts in our suits, loving each other in the soundless liquid black of space. Two bowls of noodles twisting and squelching in warm bowls of blood.”’

– Jo-Ann Bekker, New Contrast

About the Author

From the Deep South Website:
“Henali Kuit writes short fiction in English and Afrikaans. Her work has appeared in New Contrast, Prufrock, Ons Klyntji, Botsotso and elsewhere. She was runner-up in Human & Rousseau’s 2012 Nuwe Stories prize.
The incredible beat of my heart is Kuit’s first story collection. Her translation of this book into Afrikaans was published a year later by Deep South as geruisloos, ongemerk.”