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A review by twellz
Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais
4.0
Hum if You Don’t Know the Words:
Apartheid. South Africa. This book is written from the perspective of a 9-year old girl named Robin, who lost both of her parents to violence. Crazy, flight attendant Aunt Edith takes Robin in but lacks parental instincts so she hires a caretaker, Beauty, whose daughter Nomsa went missing during the Soweto Uprising.
Things I liked:
*Suspense: This book keeps you on the edge of your seat. Although it is not a suspense novel, it did keep me very engaged.
*Real Life Connections: On 16 June 1976, an estimated 20,000 children from schools in the township of Soweto in Johannesburg, South Africa took to the streets to protest the introduction of Afrikaans as a language of instruction in local schools. Armoured police cars, later known as “hippos”, start moving into Soweto & the rally turned violent. Official figures put the death toll at 23 people killed, but other reports say it was at least 200. Most of the victims were under 23, and many shot in the back. The uprising marked the turning point in the fight to end Apartheid & the author of this book used this as the foundation of her story.
Quote I really liked:
“I didn’t know what to say in a world where people were hated and attacked for not being the right color, not speaking the right language, not worshipping the right god or not loving the right people; a world where hatred was the common language, and bricks, the only words.” (Ugh…even though this book was set in the 70’s…this crap is still so true today.)
*Beauty: She was my favorite character. She reminded me of the maid Aibileen in The Help.
Things that I Didn’t Like:
*Cat was Robin’s imaginary friend. I am sure there was some psychological reason why she is a part of the book, but it was annoying to me.
*Robin’s age. 9-10 years old is way too young for how she behaved in this book. It became unrealistic as the story kept going. Robin’s wisdom seemed far, far beyond her years & the author would have been better off making her a teenager.
Summary:
Overall, I really enjoyed the story. It is captivating, scary, and a sad reality of just how messed up the people on our planet are.
“It is no coincidence that the parts of the country given to the blacks for their homelands are the parts where nothing of value grows.” (When driving through Detroit, I can’t stop believing that this is where it all began. So sad.)
Apartheid. South Africa. This book is written from the perspective of a 9-year old girl named Robin, who lost both of her parents to violence. Crazy, flight attendant Aunt Edith takes Robin in but lacks parental instincts so she hires a caretaker, Beauty, whose daughter Nomsa went missing during the Soweto Uprising.
Things I liked:
*Suspense: This book keeps you on the edge of your seat. Although it is not a suspense novel, it did keep me very engaged.
*Real Life Connections: On 16 June 1976, an estimated 20,000 children from schools in the township of Soweto in Johannesburg, South Africa took to the streets to protest the introduction of Afrikaans as a language of instruction in local schools. Armoured police cars, later known as “hippos”, start moving into Soweto & the rally turned violent. Official figures put the death toll at 23 people killed, but other reports say it was at least 200. Most of the victims were under 23, and many shot in the back. The uprising marked the turning point in the fight to end Apartheid & the author of this book used this as the foundation of her story.
Quote I really liked:
“I didn’t know what to say in a world where people were hated and attacked for not being the right color, not speaking the right language, not worshipping the right god or not loving the right people; a world where hatred was the common language, and bricks, the only words.” (Ugh…even though this book was set in the 70’s…this crap is still so true today.)
*Beauty: She was my favorite character. She reminded me of the maid Aibileen in The Help.
Things that I Didn’t Like:
*Cat was Robin’s imaginary friend. I am sure there was some psychological reason why she is a part of the book, but it was annoying to me.
*Robin’s age. 9-10 years old is way too young for how she behaved in this book. It became unrealistic as the story kept going. Robin’s wisdom seemed far, far beyond her years & the author would have been better off making her a teenager.
Summary:
Overall, I really enjoyed the story. It is captivating, scary, and a sad reality of just how messed up the people on our planet are.
“It is no coincidence that the parts of the country given to the blacks for their homelands are the parts where nothing of value grows.” (When driving through Detroit, I can’t stop believing that this is where it all began. So sad.)