Rating: 5 out of 5
I had my eye on this book for a while before I took it up. This happened amidst the glowing recommendations that have been conglomerating upon this work, and I wish I had done so sooner. What I found to be the most compelling aspect of this book was the way Mr Noah interweaved the threads of life in RSA, an inherently sad and despicable topic, with the joys and sadnesses of his own childhood.
This is not a dry narrative — instead, the author’s wit is the perfect accompaniment for someone to gain a better understanding of what apartheid meant for its citizens. Perhaps I should go so far as to say that for me, this sort of a narrative — both playful and deadly serious — was the only way to get a better understanding of the system. The value of looking back through the eyes of someone who both suffered and gained (though in far different measures) is incalculable.
There is plenty that is spectacular here — both philosophical insights as well as stories that abound in hilarity. Because of this, I bought laughed and pondered in my reading of this book, and I think that there is plenty here to both lighten one’s day but also to improve one’s perception of the world.
