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Welcome to Our Hillbrow: A Novel of Postapartheid South Africa
A ride through the chaotic and hyper-real zone of Hillbrow (Johannesburg/South Africa).
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First published July 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
June 12, 2016
This is a very short novel, a novella really, only 124 pages. It is written as a narrative from a second person, to the main protagonist, who is already dead as the book is written.
Hillbrow is a very violent suburb of Johannesburg in South Africa, and the title of the book is very ironic, as there is definitely nothing welcoming there at all. Almost every character in the book dies at some point, by all kinds of different means. Suicide, murder, AIDS, witchcraft...you name it.
But is is till an interesting read and as it is very short, you can read it in an hour or two, so, as such, it is definitely worth your while.
Hillbrow is a very violent suburb of Johannesburg in South Africa, and the title of the book is very ironic, as there is definitely nothing welcoming there at all. Almost every character in the book dies at some point, by all kinds of different means. Suicide, murder, AIDS, witchcraft...you name it.
But is is till an interesting read and as it is very short, you can read it in an hour or two, so, as such, it is definitely worth your while.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 2, 2017
Wow, wow...! This book is just brilliant... Mpe, who died suddenly, leaving just this one novel and some poems, may have been a genius.
April 19, 2011
This was a really interesting book that I enjoyed a lot. It is very brief only containing 124 pages but the amount of substance that is fit into such a short book is extraordinary. It deals with topics such as xenophobia, racism, rumor, discrimination, poverty, AIDS, and crime all within its covers. Another thing that sets the book apart is the second person narration that talks not back to the reader but to the protagonist of the story who has already passed when the book begins. It chronicles the events leading to his death revealing the entire picture in starts and stops that jump around a bit but add to the allure. This is a great book to spend an afternoon reading. It is quick but also carries a lot of weight. I highly recommend it.
August 25, 2017
Benvenuti a Hillbrow è un romanzo basato sulla descrizione delle difficili condizioni di Hillbrow, un’area ghettizzata di Johannesburg, un tempo zona di soli bianchi, oggi luogo ibrido, meta degli immigrati dal resto dell’Africa, sovrappopolato, degradato, brulicante di vita ma anche segnato dalla morte e dalla violenza.
Usando diversi stili letterari come il realismo magico e il flusso di coscienza, l’autore descrive la vita della città dopo la fine dell’apartheid, affrontando temi come la xenofobia tra africani, l’AIDS, la droga e la prostituzione.
Fin dall’inizio del libro sappiamo che il giovane protagonista Refentše è morto, ma continua a essere l’interlocutore cui il narratore si rivolge. Buona parte del romanzo ricostruisce gli eventi della sua vita fino al suicidio, come fosse una cronaca di una morte annunciata, intrecciandoli con le storie di altri personaggi, anch’essi quasi tutti indirizzati al suicidio, alla tossicodipendenza, alla follia o alla malattia, ma destinati a ricongiungersi a lui in Paradiso.
Violenza, povertà, omofobia, droga, xenofobia, misoginia, superstizione, dilagare irrefrenabile di Aids, contrasto tra la tradizione dei villaggi e i nuovi stili di vita della metropoli costituiscono il quotidiano che provoca il costante disorientamento delle giovani generazioni rappresentate in questo romanzo.
Mpe si ribella alla realtà decadente della Hillbrow in cui vive soltanto sette anni prima di gettarsi all’età di 34 anni dal ventesimo piano del palazzo in cui abita, malato di AIDS.
È un romanzo duro, appassionato, visionario, difficile da leggere nonostante la sua brevità, in cui Mpe porta avanti la propria campagna contro gli stereotipi e i pregiudizi, di qualsiasi tipo essi siano.
Forse è proprio la presenza continua di violenze, stupri, suicidi, malattie a diminuire un po’ l’efficacia del messaggio contenuto nel romanzo, poiché queste violenze divengono parte di un mondo alienante che ad un certo punto immaginiamo lontano ed irreale.
Usando diversi stili letterari come il realismo magico e il flusso di coscienza, l’autore descrive la vita della città dopo la fine dell’apartheid, affrontando temi come la xenofobia tra africani, l’AIDS, la droga e la prostituzione.
Fin dall’inizio del libro sappiamo che il giovane protagonista Refentše è morto, ma continua a essere l’interlocutore cui il narratore si rivolge. Buona parte del romanzo ricostruisce gli eventi della sua vita fino al suicidio, come fosse una cronaca di una morte annunciata, intrecciandoli con le storie di altri personaggi, anch’essi quasi tutti indirizzati al suicidio, alla tossicodipendenza, alla follia o alla malattia, ma destinati a ricongiungersi a lui in Paradiso.
Violenza, povertà, omofobia, droga, xenofobia, misoginia, superstizione, dilagare irrefrenabile di Aids, contrasto tra la tradizione dei villaggi e i nuovi stili di vita della metropoli costituiscono il quotidiano che provoca il costante disorientamento delle giovani generazioni rappresentate in questo romanzo.
Mpe si ribella alla realtà decadente della Hillbrow in cui vive soltanto sette anni prima di gettarsi all’età di 34 anni dal ventesimo piano del palazzo in cui abita, malato di AIDS.
È un romanzo duro, appassionato, visionario, difficile da leggere nonostante la sua brevità, in cui Mpe porta avanti la propria campagna contro gli stereotipi e i pregiudizi, di qualsiasi tipo essi siano.
Forse è proprio la presenza continua di violenze, stupri, suicidi, malattie a diminuire un po’ l’efficacia del messaggio contenuto nel romanzo, poiché queste violenze divengono parte di un mondo alienante che ad un certo punto immaginiamo lontano ed irreale.
July 20, 2013
And so, South African season kicks off. I've been meaning to read this since picking it up in Joburg a few years ago and getting suddenly 'back into' things South African on reading Mr Flanery's (okay, he's American) wonderful novel, 'Absolution' (which itself reminded me of the unique conditions and rawness of SA literature - which is why I find it so darn interesting).
Here's a short, lyrical little number set among Hillbrow migrants, but focusing as much on where they've migrated from. It takes us too to Oxford (in fact, there was something perhaps unintentionally touching about how 'Oxford' in this case meant 'Oxford Brookes'. NB I went to UCL).
I'm absolutely fascinated by what happened to Hillbrow (having gone through it in a taxi and been strongly advised to be terrified), so am very easy to please on this front. It's all there: crime, AIDS, xenophobia, drugs, suicide - but of course this is also a tale of love, betrayal and rural superstition.
A distinctive, street-inflected voice - often surprisingly funny (especially when we get sexual and head to the 'Southern regions' and things carnal). Linguistically and metaphorically pretty interesting too, to a UK reader (the idea, for example of 'the other bone of my heart').
So, touching and lyrical. Next up (or next-up-but-one): The Restless Supermarket (which I suspect might Do Good Hillbrow too).
Here's a short, lyrical little number set among Hillbrow migrants, but focusing as much on where they've migrated from. It takes us too to Oxford (in fact, there was something perhaps unintentionally touching about how 'Oxford' in this case meant 'Oxford Brookes'. NB I went to UCL).
I'm absolutely fascinated by what happened to Hillbrow (having gone through it in a taxi and been strongly advised to be terrified), so am very easy to please on this front. It's all there: crime, AIDS, xenophobia, drugs, suicide - but of course this is also a tale of love, betrayal and rural superstition.
A distinctive, street-inflected voice - often surprisingly funny (especially when we get sexual and head to the 'Southern regions' and things carnal). Linguistically and metaphorically pretty interesting too, to a UK reader (the idea, for example of 'the other bone of my heart').
So, touching and lyrical. Next up (or next-up-but-one): The Restless Supermarket (which I suspect might Do Good Hillbrow too).
November 19, 2018
This book tackles suicide, xenofobia, love, AIDS.. so beautifully. It's so real and heartbreaking but oh so beautifully written. I love how everybody ends in heaven no matter how they died.
Read
January 5, 2024This is an important book! There aren’t many books about Hillbrow . I think it captured the essence of Hillbrow so well. The themes it explored are heavy.
The book is 120+pages , but I didn’t really connect with the characters . There were so many suiciceds and deaths before the characters were fully developed. The characters lacked personality .
I really enjoyed the writing and what this book is doing.
The book is 120+pages , but I didn’t really connect with the characters . There were so many suiciceds and deaths before the characters were fully developed. The characters lacked personality .
I really enjoyed the writing and what this book is doing.
February 20, 2019
Suicidal ideation on a large scale? Did the author actually kill himself at 34 or was there a different cause of death?
I just couldn't really get fully into it. I didn't love the writing style. I don't know. I thought it would somehow be better..Have more to it.
I just couldn't really get fully into it. I didn't love the writing style. I don't know. I thought it would somehow be better..Have more to it.
March 21, 2018
Mpe was a literary painter of note. Saddening that he did not live long enough to write more novels. I enjoyed the style of his writing more than the story. The protagonist's omniscient voice puts the reader to a quizzical and introspective perspective.
March 4, 2024
Beautiful. Sad. Makes you think for sure.
September 13, 2022
Read in preparation for week 2 of my autumn module.
Written in third person, I think I initially struggled a little with to enjoy the narration of this story, yet the emotion was still beautifully portrayed. Themes of suicide, xenophobia and AIDS were woven through all the central characters and as such the third person narrative depicted the complexity of humanity. As the central characters have all died by the end of the novel, Heaven is described as an archive located in the memory of those who live, the purpose of which is continuing existence. I liked the idea that our lives are stories which continue on in the consciences of the living.
Written in third person, I think I initially struggled a little with to enjoy the narration of this story, yet the emotion was still beautifully portrayed. Themes of suicide, xenophobia and AIDS were woven through all the central characters and as such the third person narrative depicted the complexity of humanity. As the central characters have all died by the end of the novel, Heaven is described as an archive located in the memory of those who live, the purpose of which is continuing existence. I liked the idea that our lives are stories which continue on in the consciences of the living.
May 23, 2020
This book was busy at times and I felt like I needed a mind map of characters at some points but it was written extremely well none the less and I wouldn't change anything about it. I loved the characters and loved how the book seemed to be coming from a collective voice and predicted perspective. I think there's so much value in this book if you read into the words in addition to just reading it from face value. I took a more academic/literature deconstruction of this book. I enjoyed this read as it was initally something I wasn't super familiar with. The only thing I kind of got lost in was some of the descriptions. I don't know the area well and sometimes I felt as though the descriptions of places let my mind drift in away from what I was reading. That being said, that is a difficulty I have with reading particularly descriptive passages and books.
February 13, 2017
This remarkable novel employs a distinctive narrative voice drawn from the oral traditions of the author's home community (Limpopo Province) to explore complex questions of urban social problems, xenophobia and modern literary concerns in post-Apartheid South Africa. The communal narrator addressing the dead main character from both the physical and the metaphysical reality may seem to belay the sophistication of the plot structure, but in truth it heralds what was, at the time, an exciting new way of telling stories. My full review can be found here: https://roughghosts.com/2017/02/13/yo...
January 10, 2015
It's an interesting book if one wants to examine the lives of Black South Africans living in a big city after the apartheid. Most of the the people in these neighborhoods have moved from countryside and live in a separate world from White South Africans. The unique thing about this book is that it doesn't deal with White vs Black issues, but its main focus is the attitude and prejudices of Black South Africans toward other Black South Africans and immigrants from other African countries. Interestingly, the rural people feel like Blacks in a city like Johannesburg are dirty, with low morals, and no good can come from associating with them. Their views on Immigrant African are even worse. The epidemic of AIDS is understood in the light of these views--it is believed that it was brought by Black African immigrants from countries like Nigeria.
March 12, 2018
"She understood now that there were May ways of dying, that the choice between suicide and life was not merely a choice between stupidity and intelligence, that sometimes when people threw their own life away, it was because they were intelligent and courageous enough to see and admit that they did not own this life"
I really enjoyed reading this book , suicide , Xenophobia, AIDS beautifully explored in 124 pages. I found it crazy how one can draw parallels between Refentse ( the protagonist ) and the author, this novel felt like a premonition . It was nice to see Refilwe' s mind open despite the painful demise. What a read , also I'm glad I read Ways of Dying just before reading this book m the narrator makes reference to Ways of dying in a beautiful way.
Phaswane Mpe had a beautiful mind ❤🙌🏾
I really enjoyed reading this book , suicide , Xenophobia, AIDS beautifully explored in 124 pages. I found it crazy how one can draw parallels between Refentse ( the protagonist ) and the author, this novel felt like a premonition . It was nice to see Refilwe' s mind open despite the painful demise. What a read , also I'm glad I read Ways of Dying just before reading this book m the narrator makes reference to Ways of dying in a beautiful way.
Phaswane Mpe had a beautiful mind ❤🙌🏾
July 31, 2012
Two stars: it was 'ok' at best.
This tale of life in and around Johannesburg failed to engage me.
The topics covered in this novel (including AIDS, race relations, human relations, and the 'new' South Africa) are treated far better in Dog Eat Dog by Nicholas Mhlongo.
One good thing about Welcome to Hillbrow is its brevity.
This tale of life in and around Johannesburg failed to engage me.
The topics covered in this novel (including AIDS, race relations, human relations, and the 'new' South Africa) are treated far better in Dog Eat Dog by Nicholas Mhlongo.
One good thing about Welcome to Hillbrow is its brevity.
November 9, 2014
I read this directly after reading Ways of Dying, and while I like the messages that it conveys and the story in general, I couldn't get over that it was written in the second person. The second person does help to put the reader in the main character's shoes, but it just isn't a point of view that I want to read for a whole novel. Over all, I much preferred Ways of Dying.
July 2, 2022
This was a sensation in South Africa when it was published, but I wasn't wild about it. I get that it eschews the traditional Eurocentric conception of what a novel is supposed to be, but I've read other African novels that challenge the form and liked them. I just thought the writing was repetitive and boring.
July 4, 2019
I really appreciate the fact that though this a post apartheid era novel, it doesn't focus on what the white men and their system created, but rather on how the black south africans created their own problems and refused to face certain realities. Of course it was easier to blame the foreigners, the Makwerekwere for all the evils they didn't want to spend their energy on.
All the clichés that strengthen xenophobia (Nigerians are drug dealers, AIDS spreaders etc) can clearly be found in here. What about the primitive ways and belief that everything bad is always linked to witchcraft ? instead of searching past the saying of a self righteous sangoma or bone thrower.
The form used in the story telling was typically African, i say that because of the repetition that some who are not used to that might find "useless" but it somehow help us understand what it is that the writer wants to put the emphasis on and why. I will definitely recommend it to anybody wanting to hear and learn more about the hope and disillusion of the black South African citizen after the arrival of democracy, the election of the first black president and the spreading of HIV.
All the clichés that strengthen xenophobia (Nigerians are drug dealers, AIDS spreaders etc) can clearly be found in here. What about the primitive ways and belief that everything bad is always linked to witchcraft ? instead of searching past the saying of a self righteous sangoma or bone thrower.
The form used in the story telling was typically African, i say that because of the repetition that some who are not used to that might find "useless" but it somehow help us understand what it is that the writer wants to put the emphasis on and why. I will definitely recommend it to anybody wanting to hear and learn more about the hope and disillusion of the black South African citizen after the arrival of democracy, the election of the first black president and the spreading of HIV.
October 22, 2020
The second-person narration bring echoes and advise from the dead as Refentše attempts to navigate his way through love, violence, and fear as he moves to a difficult part of the city in pursuit of education. The fervor of freedom and equality in modern South Africa makes way for a backlash of Xenophobia against foreign migrants. This tone mixes with the fear of the poorly understood AIDS epidemic growing in big cities and the taboos of speaking about sex, combining to make this novella uniquely South African in setting. However, the overarching themes of prejudice, fear, struggle, longing, and story are universal and common to all of us. This book is one of the most incredibly touching and profound that I have ever read. Voices from the past and the dead are present as they uncover the layers of Refilwe and Refentše’s stories in simple yet earth-moving moments. They are able to overcome some prejudice and fear but find that in love, community, and even in story, all of us are always a foreigner.
October 18, 2022
While heartbreaking in countless ways, Mpe’s novel/neo-memoir provides irreplaceable testimony to a crisis few people beyond the academy or South African nation would be aware of. Providing a voice and perspective from the most marginalized of post-Apartheid South Africa, Mpe breathes life into what would remain an otherwise absent global narrative, providing a written history for stories of illness and death that the world would rather ignore for its own convenience. I was not aware of the effect AIDS had on South Africa and yet Mpe casts his narrative not through a lens of pity for the deadly impacts the illness had, but rather he creates a narrative allowing the space for processing and coming to terms with the immense loss of life. His beautiful euphemisms and unique second person narrative style certainly make this book one I won’t soon forget!
(Read for ENGL 374 - Post-colonial Literature with a focus on global HIV/AIDS literature)
(Read for ENGL 374 - Post-colonial Literature with a focus on global HIV/AIDS literature)
January 1, 2023
„Heaven is the world of our continuing existence, located in the memory and consciousness of those who live with us and after us. It is the archive that those we left behind keep visiting and revisting; digging this out, suppressing or butying that. Continually reconfiguring the stories of our lives, as if they alone hold the real and true events.“
This is the story of Refentse and Refilwe and Lerato and Sammy and Bohalale. It is the story of love, betrayal, lust, friendship, humanity and death. It is mostly told in the second person as a friend talking to the now dead Regentse. Bit by bit, the reader learns how he died, why and where he is now.
This story feel very much inspired by Romeo and Juliet, two starcrossed lovers - Refentse and Lerato- seperated by communities, featuring betrayals, mistakes, love, comfort, cheating, loss, community judgement and reckoning.
This is the story of Refentse and Refilwe and Lerato and Sammy and Bohalale. It is the story of love, betrayal, lust, friendship, humanity and death. It is mostly told in the second person as a friend talking to the now dead Regentse. Bit by bit, the reader learns how he died, why and where he is now.
This story feel very much inspired by Romeo and Juliet, two starcrossed lovers - Refentse and Lerato- seperated by communities, featuring betrayals, mistakes, love, comfort, cheating, loss, community judgement and reckoning.
April 6, 2023
I felt as though I was taken away to another world while reading this novel, it had the ability to capture my mind through the hardships of those who lived in Hillbrow. In a subtle but invigorating way, Mpe describes the way of life in Hillbrow and the way the community existed around violence and specific stereotypes.
It was an interesting decision to write the novel through a visitor’s lens of the city, in that it puts the reader in their perspective of how the community functions and how the corruption works among the individuals within the community.
The novel focuses primarily on the post-apartheid South African psyche and plays off all the taboo issues that thrive in a community like Hillbrow; such as AIDS, xenophobia, suicide, and the inevitable violence that destroys the young lives of teenagers trying to survive within the community.
It was even stated by the New York Times that “Hillbrow has come to represent everything frightening and promising about the new South Africa,” and I agree—Mpe does an impeccable job of capturing that fear and reality in Welcome to Hillbrow.
It was an interesting decision to write the novel through a visitor’s lens of the city, in that it puts the reader in their perspective of how the community functions and how the corruption works among the individuals within the community.
The novel focuses primarily on the post-apartheid South African psyche and plays off all the taboo issues that thrive in a community like Hillbrow; such as AIDS, xenophobia, suicide, and the inevitable violence that destroys the young lives of teenagers trying to survive within the community.
It was even stated by the New York Times that “Hillbrow has come to represent everything frightening and promising about the new South Africa,” and I agree—Mpe does an impeccable job of capturing that fear and reality in Welcome to Hillbrow.
February 26, 2023
This book was beautifully written, in second person narration, but I feel even though it is very short, it had a lot of repetition. Hillbrow was depicted as the one I heard a lot about, being born and raised in Johannesburg, and I enjoyed reading about all the street, some I am familiar with. I loved, loved how the author used direct translation of our African idioms into English, without losing their true meaning. Also, Mpe was really brave in challenging how the publishing space dismiss written work, especially when he talks about the freedom to write in a profanity way.
The author has managed to capture Hillbrow into the word of literature and for that, I am grateful for this book.
The author has managed to capture Hillbrow into the word of literature and for that, I am grateful for this book.
March 11, 2021
My favourite book of the year. Was so pleasantly surprised, have never read a post-apartheid South African novel and happy this was my first. So beautiful written and such a clever narrative style that complemented the overall message. The novel deals with issues of race, space, community, xenophobia, the power of narrative/stories/music and AIDS so cleverly. I loved the unique narrative voice and its poetic quality. Definetly would recomend, and would argue it is a must read for anyone. Going to delve into Mpe's other work now!
April 10, 2024
A quick and easy, albeit depressing, read on post-Apartheid South Africa, and what life meant to be young, Black, and educated in that age. Mpe's creative writing, imagining what life is like in heaven, as you reunite with those who departed you and those you departed.
Discussions of HIV/AIDS, xenophobia, colonialism, apartheid and post-apartheid life lend to a better understanding of the individual experience, a welcome alternative to the legal and political double-speak that was meant to entertain and appease the white minority of South Africa more than the Black and Native majority.
Discussions of HIV/AIDS, xenophobia, colonialism, apartheid and post-apartheid life lend to a better understanding of the individual experience, a welcome alternative to the legal and political double-speak that was meant to entertain and appease the white minority of South Africa more than the Black and Native majority.
August 12, 2018
Great book! So much substance was fluidly compressed into 124 pages.
The narrator of this novel is speaking to a man who had already died. He/she begins by summarizing the man's past, before his death, and then continues speaking about how his fatal end sent large ripples of guilt, sadness and anger to those around him.
Themes such as AIDs, betrayal, xenophobia, etc. gave a lasting impact even after the last page. Very glad that I read this.
The narrator of this novel is speaking to a man who had already died. He/she begins by summarizing the man's past, before his death, and then continues speaking about how his fatal end sent large ripples of guilt, sadness and anger to those around him.
Themes such as AIDs, betrayal, xenophobia, etc. gave a lasting impact even after the last page. Very glad that I read this.
August 24, 2021
I liked this book for the most part. I thought it had a really interesting narrative style that was quite unsettling at points - especially through the use of the second person. It was very innovative in that regard which gave for a more unique reading experience.
Overall, I didn’t particularly engage strongly with the plot itself which meant that as a whole it isn’t a book I felt passionately towards.
Overall, I didn’t particularly engage strongly with the plot itself which meant that as a whole it isn’t a book I felt passionately towards.
June 26, 2022
The way this story is told, the language Mpe uses always feels familiar, comforting, and makes me laugh. There are many moments of perfect comedic timing, as well as tragedy, and compassionate political analysis. The topics the book covers are painful, but I enjoy the storytelling so much that it feels like a lighthearted read. I think it’s genius and hilarious. Desperately wish I could speak to the author about it, maybe one day ;-)
March 5, 2018
This is an amazing book. Mpe addresses the violence, xenophobia, crime, and the AIDS epidemic that plagues Hillbrow. It’s a story of grief, despair, isolation, and suicide, but it’s also about love and hope. The song repeatedly mentioned throughout the novel, Stimela’s See the World through the Eyes of a Child, is definitely worth a listen as well.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews