Kaffir Boy (Super Sound Buys)

Rating:
Summary: struggles in hell
Review: Once in a blue moon one comes across a book that forces them to evealuate their life in relation to others. Kaffir Boy is one of those books. For the first time, the Western world gets a glimpse of the atrocities of apartheid in South Africa. Mr Mathabane's vivid account of his struggle to rise above the hatred and evil that circumscribed his life, is the voice of South Africa's majority fighting against the White minority. I recommend this book for anyone not only interested in human rights but in the price paid for the denial of those rights

Rating:
Summary: "Kaffir Boy" is a story of hope and deterimination
Review: "Kaffir Boy" is a poignant eye-opener to the horrible experiences of South African apartheid, and the incredible power of hope in the worst of circumstances, told through the sensitive eyes of Mark Mathabane. This true story needs to be read by everyone! I cannot stop thinking about Mark's experiences growing up, and that I was growing up in America at the same time, a child with no worries, feeling safe. It shocks me that I heard nothing of apartheid until I was 13 or 14 years old, in the early 1980's. I am thankful to have chanced upon this book- Mathabane's candid writing gives me a better understanding of apartheid and its atrocities. I admire the strength and encouragement he found in his family, especially his mother. Her confidence and determination to have her family rise above extreme hardships, and her belief in the power of education seemed to be a light shining through the darkness for her children. This book has moved me deeply, and inspires me to seek ways to help children in my city to empower themselves, as Mark's mother did. I hope people everywhere have "Kaffir Boy" at the top of their "Must Read" book lists.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling, incredibly sad, but a triumph of spirit
Review: This book hits you right between the eyes. Having read some other works about South Africa, including books by Alan Paton, one of the best known writers produced by that country, about apartheid and the struggles associated with it, I was eager to read Mark Mathabane's story. He writes in a no-nonsense, incredibly honest way about the disturbingly unbearable conditions of life in the ghetto where he grew up in South Africa in one of the country's more turbulent times, the years prior to the formal dismantling of the brutally oppressive system of apartheid. By giving almost day by day, year by year recounting of the impossible odds he and his family faced, we get a true sense of the struggles of every black in the country; we feel deeply his struggle to overcome the sense of shame and guilt fostered by the Afrikaners who perpetuate the system; and equally his relief in encountering a very few sympathetic (liberal, as he calls them) whites who do their best to help him overcome the enormous odds he faced. The hate that this man encountered on a daily basis was painful to read about. However, this man was exceptional. Exceptional in his giftings, in every sphere, emotionally, intellectually and physically (he was the first black South African to obtain a tennis scholarship to the US), and his talent and drive obviously opened many doors for him. A very poignant moment is at the very end as he leaves his family and friends behind, not quite overtly stating perhaps the obvious fact that the less talented and opportunistic would continue to struggle in South Africa under the life-sapping system. I read this book in 2004. It was published in 1986, and obviously much has happened in that country in the past 18 years. I will be interested to read his later works, and see how his being removed from the system, and indeed the system being removed from his country, impacted his thinking, writing and life. He was a much younger man when this story was written, with a passionate heart, and I wonder (hopefully) whether he encountered the level of freedom and liberty that he so eagerly saw awaiting him in America as this story concluded.