Africa Reading Challenge - Mine Boy

Although I finished reading it some time ago – I have finally made time to review my first book in the Africa Reading Challenge…

Mine Boy
By Peter Abraham

Mine Boy is the story of Xuma, who comes from a village in the north to work the mines in an effort to find a better life. When he arrives in Johannesburg he is naïve, but quickly changes to adapt to the values of the underprivileged world in which he finds himself.

Leah, a tough woman who makes what money she can by selling illegal beer and avoiding capture by police, takes in Xuma and introduces him to the people who help him adjust to his new life. She is just one of many characters created by Abraham’s to show how people operate differently in that world.

Despite Xuma’s ability to adapt, he meets with obstacles and heartbreak at every turn, the woman he loves doesn’t return his affection as she wants the white person’s way of life. Someone close to Xuma dies. His job at the mine is threatened after an accident.

Through all of this Abraham is able to paint a picture of the resilience of the people who lived with constant discrimination during the apartheid regime.

Alright, I clearly suck at writing reviews so let me make a long story short. I really liked this book. To me, any good book is one I can’t put down because it pulls me in, I cry, laugh, and I am outraged. This book makes me feel all of it and despite it being fiction I come away feeling I have learned something. Therefore highly recommend it. And it’s a really short read – so you can’t go wrong.