Week thirty-three of Lite Reads comes to a close as we finish the selection Murders Fell From Our Wombs by Tlotlo Tsamaase. During the week, there have been questions as food for thought on social media as people had the chance to read it and think about it. Before I announce the next Lite Reads selection (April 7), I will be sharing my own thoughts here. Spoilers ahead for those who haven’t finished reading the story yet, and trigger warnings ahead for discussion of violence against women.
Murders Fell From Our Wombs by Tlotlo Tsamaase tells the story of a young woman (named Game) in a rural village in Botswana whose period brings on prophetic dreams of the women in her community being murdered. Each night of her period, a woman is murdered by a man within her community, and she dreams it in vivid detail, including the agonising pain the women feel as they are being harmed. She even witnesses her estranged father murder her mother. Eventually, she is able to change the story from within her dreams, but only by flipping the script and having the women of her community murder the men instead. This flip means she sees her own beloved sister (named Same) become a murderer, and she flees her cursed village forever to escape the many pains it has brought.
Game dreams of these horrific events each night of her period, but during her waking hours, she is often exposed to stories of violence against women. Every type of horror, thriller, slasher, mystery features a woman being harmed, and she struggles to reconcile the constant real-world pain with the constant fictional pain. Her sister, Same, studies film and often speaks of the ways women are harmed in fictional media, and even speaks of flipping the script, of turning those violent tropes on their heads. I think it makes for an interesting take on the ways real-world violence and fictional violence can mirror each other, especially in such toxic ways. Game finds it hard to deal with all those portrayals of violence when she knows that her period will bring her all of the real-world violence, and like anyone who has been exposed to those types of experiences, she struggles emotionally to deal with the ways these experiences reflect one another. She struggles to deal with the notion of real trauma as entertainment, which I think is a struggle for many who have experienced trauma.
The title of Murders Fell From Our Wombs is haunting, disturbing, beautiful, and wholly appropriate. The way Game views her menstruation-induced nightmares as her way of giving birth to death reflects societal and cultural views of women as harbingers of doom. The uterus is often viewed in our own world as being sort of unholy, and historically as being the root of madness in those who possess one. As this story bluntly puts it, “evil waits in the uterus like the night cranes before dawn.” I think this story is an amplified version of real cultural and societal views of women and of uteruses around the world and throughout history. Even Game sees her own story as her mother giving birth to her life, and herself giving birth to her mother’s death. It’s a notion that feels painfully real, the kind of thing most of us wish we could change about the world around us.
I think much of the story is also very reflective of real-world reproductive health issues. Many people experience traumatic periods, and while obviously dreaming of murders isn’t a standard part of that trauma, the intense bleeding and extreme pain that Game feels is very true to life. She lives in a small village where it is difficult to get the care she needs, but it isn’t uncommon to struggle to get care for extreme pain associated with menstruation. I think this is truly reflective of a real-life struggle for many people around the world.
It’s interesting to see how the story features the village itself as a type of villain, a curse that brings out the traumas of society in full force. It’s also interesting to see how Game herself becomes a form of villain as she tries to flip the script to save the women from violence and death. The resentment her sister feels at having become a murderer is painful but and shocking but also not unexpected or unbelievable. It just goes to show that as long as violence as part of society and culture, there is no escaping that violence, only changing who plays what role.
Overall, I think Murders Fell From Our Wombs by Tlotlo Tsamaase is fascinating both on a surface level and to read deeper into. It is dark and violent, but emotional and strangely relatable. It is also deeply reflective of society and culture as a whole. I think this is probably a new favourite of mine. I certainly intend to read more from Tlotlo Tsamaase, and I recommend Murders Fell From Our Wombs to anyone in the headspace to read a story so centred in violence.
I hope everyone who participated by reading the story and following along on social media enjoyed the story. If you have more thoughts to add, please feel free to comment on this post, or anywhere on The Feminist Bibliothecary’s social media. Week thirty-four begins later today (there is normally a day between the two, but this review is going up a day later than usual), April 7, with a brand new short story selection!
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