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May 05, 2008

Kara rated it:

Kara Murphy
Ms Houseman
World Lit
5/5/08

Mark Mathabane
Kaffir Boy
New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007
354 pp. $15.00
978-0-684-84828-0

“Let us not rest until we are free to live in dignity in the land of our birth.”(Mark Mathabane) Mark Mathabane dedicates this quote in his autobiography (Kaffir Boy) to the people in South Africa for the struggle and fight for freedom. The autobiography shows the cruel punishment black South Africans suffe More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Sep 30, 2008

Liz rated it:

Wow-this is an eye opening book. Mark Mathabane writes of his life as a Black boy in South Africa during Apartheid. I had no idea what went on during that era (and sadly some of what went on then, is probably still happening now). i found this book listed on a list of books that people want to ban...which means that I should probably read them. After reading it, I'm not sure why anyone would want to ban it. I think everyone should read it. It is HISTORY and a reality that perhaps we don't want More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 04, 2011

Devika rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Sep 29, 2010

Katy rated it:

I first read this book in college, when it was assigned reading for a History of Africa course I was taking. Before this book I had a very basic understanding of apartheid in South Africa, but I really had no concept of what it was like for blacks living in that system. Reading this book was seriously an eye-opening experience. First published in 1986 before apartheid was ended, it became a best seller in the US. I tend to see this book as similar to books like Narrative of the Life of Frederick More...

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Feb 21, 2010

Lindsey rated it:

I read this with one of my 9th graders who had already read "Cry, the Beloved Country", and we both really liked it. It complemented class discussions about CTBC well because it discusses many of the same places, specifically the Johannesburg ghetto of Alexandra, but this book is set 30 years later than Paton's and it's nonfiction. Written before apartheid ended, this book was clearly trying to make a wider audience aware of the brutal conditions that existed for blacks in South Afri More...

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Dec 20, 2009

Marcy rated it:

From the very start of this amazingly well told memoir, Mark describes vivid descriptions of himself as a small boy, lying awake in the darkness on a piece of cardboard, "afraid to sleep lest nightmares of black people in a pool of blood would plague him." Mark's despair, anger, and hopelessness rise to the top as he describes his family's poverty and raids of black policemen led by white policemen in the ghetto of apartheid South Africa. As a very young child, Mark watches his naked More...

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Apr 21, 2009

Samhuang21 rated it:

Kaffir is a bad word that whites call to the blacks in the South Africa. This is a true story of what happen in the apartheid. I really enjoy reading this book because I interesting in what happen to the black people. At that time, they were in the apartheid.
In the story, Mark Mathabane is one of the blacks live in the cruel streets of South Africa. Whites tread very bad to the blacks. They don’t even let the black people goes near the whites. White people don't care about blacks at all. T More...

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Apr 15, 2009

Max rated it:

Kaffir Boy was a memoir about a South African kid who witnessed several genuine horrors of the possible chaos in the world due to Apartheid. This book is not an autobiography due to the fact this book is about a memory at Johannesburg. Unless you really enjoyed learning about the Apartheid at school and about poverty and white people, and passes, and colonies, you will not enjoy this book.
The main character of this book is named Johannes, but I'm going to call him Mark because it's eas More...

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Apr 12, 2011

Betsy rated it:

I read this book when I was 18, and I wouldn't suggest it to anyone younger than that. This book deals with some extremely heavy issues like racism, slavery and apartheid South Africa. I remember feeling really out of the loop because when I read this book I had no idea that South Africa had a period of apartheid. I guess the book is controversial for its description of child prostitution and rape, so I can understand why it has been banned in some schools. I think this book is for a mature audi More...

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Jan 13, 2011

Anita rated it:

Recently I read a couple of books about stories involving black young males struggling to survive in South Africa in this century. Within these stories remained a common theme;deep-rooted bitterness.I was intrigued and wanted to try and understand when and how these feelings arose for such men.

I'd heard of apartheid but do many of us in the western world actually understand the term and the real affects it had on innocent lives? I would expect not many. 'Kaffir Boy' provided me with More...

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Jun 13, 2011

Alison rated it:

This book is amazing in terms of the writing style and the truth that lies between history. It is an fascinating book of true events that happened in South Africa. Living in America, i don't really know much about the history of Africa. Until after i read this book, i realized that there is so much poverty going on in countries. The humiliations of human beings just shocks me and makes me wonder how this could be happening in the world. Thinking out of the box, this book actually teaches me a le More...

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Mar 28, 2009

Komal rated it:

This tells the story of a young boy in the slums of Soweto, whose dream is to become a tennis player in the backdrop of apartheid South Africa, but the book is more than just his dream, it's about the dream to end apartheid and the push and struggle for equality. I found the backdrop of the story more compelling because it really opened my eyes to what apartheid was like and the dehumanizing and cruelty many black South Africans faced. And yet despite of all the hardships and cruelty he and ma More...

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Jun 05, 2011

Mohamed rated it:

This was an amazing book. Johannes, the protagonist, along with his family and other Black South Africans, had to endure the many hardships that came with being a Black South African during the Apartheid. His family constantly struggled, and the father, a selfish, uncaring person, made matters worse. My favorite character was the mother. The mother wanted the children to get educated, and as a result, Johannes had the top marks in the class. The mother went through hell to feed her family and ev More...

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Jul 30, 2011

Garrett rated it:

There is no reason to forget the horrible atrocities of apartheid, and this book truly will open your eyes to a society that is indifferent to differences and creates second class citizens in their own homeland. If you do not know anything about the subject, this book will serve as a complete eye-opener and education on what the average young family had to go through in Africa in a painful history that did not happen very long ago. Killing gangs, youth prostitution, and lack of clean water, fo More...

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May 04, 2009

Kelly rated it:

I really enjoyed this biography of a boy growing up in South Africa and his dream of being a tennis player and moving to America. His father hates him going to school and hates him getting good grades from time to time he would have to drop out because his family didn't have the money and his father didn't think his son needed to go to school. His mother encouraged him. He also faced battles when he wanted to play tennis. He had a hard time finding someone willing to teach him how to play, becau More...

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Jun 03, 2010

Valarie rated it:

This book tried to be too many different things; documentary, ethnography, philosophy, and creative writing. Some writers can pull that off, but Mathabane's autobiography comes out disjointed and not cohesive. For those who didn't know anything about apartheid, this might be an "eye-opener," but for anyone educated on the history of South Africa, there are only a few interesting points to read. The third section takes a completely different turn and advocates violent means to ending ap More...

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Feb 26, 2010

Karen rated it:

I read this book with a 10th grade class during student-teaching. We discussed social injustice, global issues, and leadership, and had several activities that included a human timeline of South African history, a project having to do with the students creating their own passbook and reflecting on how it felt to have to use a passbook to get around the high school, and reading newspaper articles written by Mathabane. The students were engaged in the reading and the activities, though they starte More...

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Sep 12, 2010

Kerry rated it:

This is actually the second time I read this book. It was assigned in English class during high school (maybe sophomore year)? I really didn't remember a lot of it and at the time in high school didn't enjoy it. Since I have learned more about South Africa and apartheid, I thought I might appreciate this book more the second time around. I was right. The author writes about his life growing up in South Africa during apartheid in the 70s. He was the oldest of a poor black family. The poverty he More...

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Jun 30, 2009

Rachel rated it:

As the first account of the South African apartheid experience I had heard, this book certainly opened my eyes to that issue. It seems so obvious to us now the violations of human rights and the greed, selfishness, and arrogance of the white leaders at the time. I loved that Mark was able to overcome the huge obstacles and realize his ultimate dream of getting out of the slum and playing tennis in America. He also had a humble attitude of "how can WE fix this problem?" instead of an More...

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May 24, 2010

Andrew rated it:

I really like the book Kaffir Boy and i would suggest it to anyone with an interest of Politics and history of apartheid in South Africa. It takes us to the 1970's(I'm Guessing) to the time in history of South Africa where the whites had governmental rule. The whites practiced an awful segregational system call Apartheid. This kept blacks from going to any good schools, getting any good jobs, and making blacks living in poor slums called townships. Mark(The main character) and his family have to More...

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Aug 23, 2011

Aisha Haynes rated it:

Too often, we assume that we already know the ugly history of a nation. Only when it is told through personal terms, does it begin to take on a personal meaning. Johannes/Mark's story is vivid and feels very real. Although, I knew the story of apartheid in South Africa, never had I heard all the details through a first person perspective. It is a lengthy story and at times I marvel at the kind spirit that seems to shine through. When he became preachy, I found myself rolling my eyes, empathizing More...

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Nov 27, 2010

Jo rated it:

Everyone in the world needs to read this book. It's one of those. An absolute necessity. You can't go on living in this world without this information. You need it to better understand the cruelties and dangers of our world and to perhaps try to prevent such draconian monstrosities in the future.

Already, this is one of the best books I've ever read. It's amazing the kinds of things oppressors--i.e. white people--generally come up with to oppress colored folk. I mean it really is rat More...

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Mar 28, 2011

Ian rated it:

This book is about a boy named Johannes who grows up in Apartheid-era South Africa and eventually escapes it by playing tennis and getting a scholarship to America for it. However, his journey of escaping is a very long and tumultous one. This book was AMAZING. The author was so in depth about everything that happened that it really painted a great picture of your head of what was happening, and it stuck in your head for a long time to come. It made me realize just how bad life in Apartheid Sout More...

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Jun 11, 2011

Ervis rated it:

This book is just WOW. While reading this book I changed a lot. Reading this book changed at how i look at people now and how i express myself. This is about a black boy Johannes who lives in africa during the apartheid. All the blacks had to carry around a passbook and they had to pay a lot of taxes to the white people. Johannes has to live without his mother and father from time to time because when th epolice comes to raid them, they have to leave because they dont want to be caught by the po More...

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Nov 11, 2010

Denise rated it:

As a fellow south African who's both parents we apart of the struggle I took pride in reading this book, it just went to show how much the back bone of south African had to go through. Cause what was great about it was that the author didn't get into the politics he told u his story as a child that grew up in the townships the people who's stories are over looked. He writes with such truth and creative captions that it sets this book on fire. I read this book and was amazed at how much one perso More...

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Oct 17, 2010

Casey rated it:

We had to read this book in my social studies class when we were studying aparthied. When i first started I knew it wasnt going to be my thing; i just wasn't interested. I started off with a lower expectation of this book than i should have. However, i ended up really enjoying (not really the right word but it will just have to do for now). It showed me what apartheid really was and how it truely affected people. Mark Mathabane opened up a world to which i was closed off to before reading this. More...

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Oct 26, 2010

Pow rated it:

I have learned a lot from this book like how it was for young blacks and how hard it was for them to get things they wanted like simple things. They can't even get a birth certificate. I sometimes wish that i could have been there to maybe experience it a little bit. i don't want to go through all the pain and suffering that they did, but it would've been awesome t be there to understand more. I'd compare this author to a person who has personal experiences in this time period and how they would More...

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Aug 26, 2009

Nicole rated it:

This book was engrossing and amazing. Mark Methabane is straightforward and honest in his look at Apartheid South Africa. He was so honest in his assessments of his own people, the white Afrikaners, and whites in general that it was astounding and refreshing. He tears down barriers between race again and again, exposing his own preconceived notions as well as the preconceived notions that ruled an entire country. Subject material is harsh and difficult at times but that is only because Meth More...

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Apr 07, 2009

Jared rated it:

kaffir boy is the story of a boy johannes growing up in apartheid torn south africa this horrifying story tells the memoir of mark mathabane who escaped the ghetto of Alexandra through education. Black people in africa in this time were segregated and lived in horid conditions and mark manages to escape out of it with just a litle help from some understanding white people and with some talents got a scholarship to attend university in america and made himself a better life. I weould recommend More...

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Oct 22, 2009

Abraham rated it:

Unforgettable portrayal of life in the townships of Johannesburg set against the backdrop of the ANC's emerging struggle against apartheid in the 60's and 70's. A personal story of unbelievable transcendence out of the miserable conditions that existed under the apartheid regime - which is shown to be a cruel and utterly ineffective system of social order. The first hand perspective and political commentary make this not only a great book but a historical document.

Frightening, but More...

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