Love, David

by Dianne Case, Dan Andreasen (Illustrator)

Anna watches as her older brother upsets the family by involving himself in illegal activities to escape from the poverty of his home life in South Africa.

Genres: School, Love

128 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Boitshepo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I last read it when I was in Grade 8 for English Literature, and I remember crying through most of it and being totally in love with David, the fourteen-year-old brother to six-year-old Anna, Anna who spends her days looking after their baby sister while the mother goes to work for the "Merrem" and their father does odd garden jobs and washes cars to try scrape together a living for the life in a one-room tin shack in a yard shared by many other families in the The Kamp, a poor undeveloped area in the Western Cape.

I think I have since developed a thicker skin for it, maybe as a result of having 'seen life'. Only almost cried twice whereas that first time I wept uncontrollably throughout, even when I was rereading the book.

For 12-15 year olds though, I think it's a hit of a book. Though I do think le nna there were things that I might have interpreted milder as a thirteen-year-old. I say that I experienced racism and racial inequality fully just after I turned 11, even in its subtle forms. And I understood, even though at the time I did not know there was a name for it.
So I think it's a case of me not remembering how I felt about these glaring excerpts:

"Mamsie does not like him to work for some of these weekend people because she says it does not pay. Many people don't give him money - instead they give him a bottle of wine. I don't see anything wrong with that because Dadda likes wine and in any case Mamsie always complains that he spends too much money on wine."

"One evening Dadda caught me squeezing Baby's bommels. He shouted some unrepeatable things at me and gave me a clout over the ear. It was my own fault."

"Ever since I can remember, Mamsie has worked for the same madam, or family, as she sometimes says. The only time she was home was the week that Baby was born. That was when David stopped going to school. He had to stay home to look after Baby. He washed her nappies, bathed her, prepared her bottles and took her to the clinic for her injections.
...

It's a really great book to co-read with a daughter/niece/son/nephew. And even just for oneself and it sadly still rings true of black suffering 31years after publication.

[Carolyn West · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely book for young adults and adults alike. Set during Apartheid times in the Cape Flats, the novel give s glimpse into the real struggles of living and growing up in this environment. Narrated from the younger sister's perspective, it give an interesting take on life and the struggles with which her brother, in particular, has to deal.

[Mbali Nkosi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't remember the whole story since I read this book when I was 11 years old, but I know I really loved it and it's the book that got me hooked on reading.

[Innocent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how the story unfolds

[Mahiya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to read love David
It is not letting me read love david

[Cosmos Machabe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book

[Rebecca Dludlu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book 18 years ago I am still need it

[Jenine Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this amazing book in the 6th grade when I was in school. The details in the book are extraordinary, it blown my mind when I first read it.

[Kgomotso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like to read the book

[Mabathoana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dont know how to open the bookd

[Bruce Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the story

[Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

Family

[Noxolo Mpondo]

I love this book because it is very sweet

[Kg · Rating 5 out of 5]

love it