I saw this book on my twitter timeline and I
knew I had to get it. It’s the first
thing I purchased when I got paid and it was delivered 2 days later at my
house. In 4 hours I was done with it. Beautifully written, real and in touch is
what I’d describe this small gem.
The novel is based on a young woman called
Masechaba who travels back and forth in time during her uprising to tell both a
story of a changing South Africa and a teenage girl. Masechaba lives with both
her parents and her older brother, Tshiamo who, a little later, commits suicide
(I swear, I don’t go out looking for books that talk about suicide. They just
jump in front of me *Cues MiWay Ad*)
The title of the book is a double word play on
Masechaba’s very heavy period and a time where South Africa was experiencing
xenophobia, which resulted in a painful period in our history. This book is
Masechaba’s journal where she communicates to God about the happenings of her
life. In the book, we see how, as she grows older and goes through bad
experiences, grapples with the idea of God and religion. “And besides, Jesus
wouldn’t get it. Jesus never failed at anything. He never did a thing wrong.
That’s the fundamental difference. Having to live with failure will always set
us apart from the Son of God. Having to live with the shame of not being
better, not being courageous, not being great”
Growing up, Masechaba was a timid and reserved
child due to the scarring that came with a heavy period she experienced. It was
literally an overflow that needed her to wear 2 panties, 2 pads and a tampon
and this would go on longer than the maximum 8 days of a cycle. One can imagine
how that affects the upbringing of a young girl who’s desire is to be normal
like other kids and do normal things like sleepovers and sports and wear
anything she wants, without the shame of a bloodbath. This unfortunate
imbalance makes Masechaba cave in and find refugee in her only friend, her
brother Tshiamo. He seemed to be the only one who understood her because
Masechaba’s mother is a typical black mother who believes in witchcraft and
that Masechaba can’t do any form of surgery to heal her because she might ruin
her chances of being a mom one day.
Tshiamo is into arts and he’s not the most
affectionate person and that gets to Masechaba because she loves being hugged
by her brother and doing everything with him. A few pages in the book, Tshiamo
hung himself on a tree and a safe part of the world that Masechaba knew seized
to exist. She grows to become very angry at her brother for ‘taking the easy
way out’ and not being strong enough to face whatever he was going through. He
didn’t write a note so now one knows why he did what he did.
Masechaba’s grieving process is captured
throughout the book. She goes on a period of 2 years where she keeps on emailing
Tshiamo and updating him on everything she experiences. She has accepted that
her brother has passed away but this is how she chooses to deal with the loss.
Masechaba goes on study medicine and is now a
qualified Dr, you must read to find out why she chose that profession, very
interesting. Her periods have subsidided and she doesn’t experience anymore
pain but she can’t seem to get out of the routine of dark clothing and a pile
of pads just in case the sleeping monster awakens.
Masechaba is now a Dr who has moved out of home
and now lives with her only friend, Nyasha. Nyasha is a medical officer from
Congo whose view of the current South Africa is so robust it, oftentimes, becomes
overbearing to a quiet Masechaba. Nyasha is very pretty with beautiful brown
eyes and dreadlocks. She complains about pretty much everything and hates every
living white person in the world. She doesn’t understand black women wearing
weaves (a young Hugh Masekela) because she feels they are being too
westernised. “Now I must keep these dreadlocks, even though they wear my head
down, even though I’ve grown tired of them, because one of us, some of us, must
have pride” – Yep, that’s Nyasha and her lotfullness(don’t google this word, it
doesn’t exist).
Chaba’s mother doesn’t like Nyasha, in fact she
detests all African brothers and sisters because like every other xenophobic
person on this earth, she thinks they are here to steal our jobs and use their
magic to take our talents and money… so funny!
At some point, later in the book, Xenophobia
gets too bad that people are being hurt and some killed. This period of pain
causes a drift between Nyasha and Chaba because Nyasha believes Chaba is like
every other south Africa who sits quiet and does nothing while the white man
continues to divide the black man. With Nyasha, every wrong thing is as a
result of a white man’s existence on our beautiful earth.
Chaba who currently hates everything about her
life and her job decides to do something about the xenophobic attacks and
starts a pertition that goes viral and becomes somewhat of a success until she
becomes a victim of correctional gang rape from 3 south African men who are
teaching her a lesson from ‘protecting makwere-kwere’.
She goes into a heavy depression where she stops working and her heavy
period comes back again. She goes through therapy which doesn’t seem to help
her because she doesn’t really belive in it.
Later she realises she’s pregnant and will
never know who the real father is because of what those 3 bastards did to her.
Because its too late in the pregnancy, she decides to keep the baby and
surprisingly, she becomes the best thing that’s ever happened to her. She calls
her daughter Mpho “…Because that’s what she is, because its not her fault,
because she doesn’t deserve to have this stain on her future, because I refuse
to allow anyone to tell her, or me, otherwise. She’s my Mpho, my gift”
This book deserves a part 2 or some sort of
continuation I think. I enjoyed it and would really recommend it. I hope you
enjoyed the review and thank you for reading the blog.
