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Soweto, Under the Apricot Tree, by Niq Mhlongo

Soweto, Under the Apricot Tree, by Niq Mhlongo

Regular price R 330.00 ZAR
Regular price Sale price R 330.00 ZAR
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“This apricot tree has multiple souls that fill me with wonder every morning and enchant me by afternoon. This tree has bitter-sweet memories, just like the fruit it bears.”

 

If the apricot trees of Soweto could talk, what stories would they tell? This short story collection provides an imaginative answer. Imbued with a vivid sense of place, it captures the vibrancy of the township and surrounds. Told with satirical flair, life and death are intertwined in these tales where funerals and the ancestors feature strongly; where cemeteries are places to show off your new car and catch up on the latest gossip.

Populating these stories is a politician mesmerised by his mistress’s manicure, zama-zamas running businesses underground, a sangoma with a remedy for theft, soccer fans ready to mete out a bloody justice, a private dancer in love and many other intriguing characters.

Take your seat under the apricot tree and be enthralled by tales that are both entertaining and thought-provoking.

2018

208 pages

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Customer Reviews

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M
Musa Gift Masombuka
A good read.

I think the book is well written, no doubt about that. However, in most of the times I felt like I have read this somewhere. In most stories I was not kept over the edge to flip to the next page, almost halfway through a story I could predict the end, and the predictions came out just right. I felt as though I am reading stories by a beginner writer, except that this one here is very good at wordplay. Some scenes were too fictional to be relatable.

Of course there were those stories which kept me on the edge, flipping the next page in curiosity. Out of 11 they were 5.

•My Father's Eyes
•Avalon
•Nailed
•Whistle-blowers and vuvuzelas
•Every Dog Has its Day.

Apart from anything else, it has been an enjoyable read.

Colourful cubes that hold books at outdoor street library in Soweto

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