If You Want to Make God Laugh
(Sprache: Englisch)
From the author of the beloved Hum If You Don't Know the Words comes a rich, unforgettable story of three unique women in post-Apartheid South Africa who are brought together in their darkest time and discover the ways that love can transcend the...
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From the author of the beloved Hum If You Don't Know the Words comes a rich, unforgettable story of three unique women in post-Apartheid South Africa who are brought together in their darkest time and discover the ways that love can transcend the strictest of boundaries.In a squatter camp on the outskirts of Johannesburg, seventeen-year-old Zodwa lives in desperate poverty, under the shadowy threat of a civil war and a growing AIDS epidemic. Eight months pregnant, Zodwa carefully guards secrets that jeopardize her life.
Across the country, wealthy socialite Ruth appears to have everything her heart desires, but it's what she can't have that leads to her breakdown. Meanwhile, in Zaire, a disgraced former nun, Delilah, grapples with a past that refuses to stay buried. When these personal crises send both middle-aged women back to their rural hometown to heal, the discovery of an abandoned newborn baby upends everything, challenging their lifelong beliefs about race, motherhood, and the power of the past.
As the mystery surrounding the infant grows, the complicated lives of Zodwa, Ruth, and Delilah become inextricably linked. What follows is a mesmerizing look at family and identity that asks: How far will the human heart go to protect itself and the ones it loves?
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chapter oneZodwa
21 November 1993
Sterkfontein, Transvaal, South Africa
A thread of smoke snakes up into the cloudless sky and serves as Zodwa's compass needle. She trails it until the sandy path dips suddenly, revealing a squat hut nestled in the grassland below. A woman sits waiting at the threshold. She's hunched over like a question mark, her headdress of white beads partially obscuring her face. A leopard skin is draped over her shoulders and the sight of it reassures Zodwa; the gold-and-black-spotted pelt ibhayi signifies the nyanga is a healer of great power.
The woman chews tobacco, which she spits out when Zodwa reaches her. "What took you so long?" she gripes, rising up on arthritic knees.
"How did you know I was coming?" Zodwa herself hadn't known she'd be making the journey until the early hours of that morning.
"The ancestors told me." The nyanga holds out her palm.
Zodwa reaches into her bra and withdraws a few crumpled notes. They are everything she has. "How much will it be?"
The nyanga's knobbly hand shoots out and snatches it all away before Zodwa can protest. She disappears into the gloom and beckons for Zodwa to follow. Inside, it looks like a regular hut with its circular walls, thatch roof, and dung floor, but Zodwa knows it's imbued with the spirits of the clan members who have gone before; the ndumba is a sacred place.
The healer motions for Zodwa to sit on the floor. "How many years do you have, child?"
"I'm seventeen," Zodwa replies. "Almost eighteen." She knows she looks younger and blames it on her rounded cheekbones, which lend her face a childish quality.
The healer's eyes inspect Zodwa from head to toe and Zodwa flushes, knowing that the
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old woman disapproves. Her pleated black skirt is hemmed to just below her knees, but still it's too short for traditional wear. The white blouse is a fraction too tight, but this is because Zodwa has outgrown it, not out of choice.
The nyanga holds up a gourd. "Undlela zimhlophe," she explains before swallowing its contents. She limps to her mat and kneels down.
It's past midday and the powerful root has to be consumed on an empty stomach so that it can induce the lucid and prophetic dreams that will help her hear the ancestors' voices. The old woman must be hungry. Zodwa's hungry too, though not because she's been fasting. Her hunger isn't the temporary kind that will soon be satiated; it's the gnawing kind that takes up residence in a stomach that has been empty for too long. It's a hunger born of poverty.
The nyanga begins groaning while rocking back and forth. The smell of impepho burning saturates the air, and the sage fills Zodwa's lungs with every breath she takes, dulling her senses with its hypnotic scent. The hut, darkened and warm, reminds her of home. At least, the home she'd lived in with her grandmother in KwaZulu before she joined her mother in the sqatter camp earlier in the year.
Her grandmother had been reluctant, at first, to relinquish Zodwa to Leleti and considering everything that had happened, Zodwa couldn't blame her. Her gogo had lost her only son, Zodwa's father, to a mining accident in the City of Gold, and then Zodwa's eighteen-year-old brother, Dumisa, disappeared less than a year after leaving for Johannesburg when Zodwa was seven.
"Be very careful, my child," Zodwa's gogo had cautioned her before she left the village for the township. "Bad things happen in the city. Its gods are very hungry and must be appeased. Don't become one of the sacrifices made to it.
"You must study hard, mzukulu wami," her grandmother had continued. "You must be brave but do not try to be as brave as your brother was
The nyanga holds up a gourd. "Undlela zimhlophe," she explains before swallowing its contents. She limps to her mat and kneels down.
It's past midday and the powerful root has to be consumed on an empty stomach so that it can induce the lucid and prophetic dreams that will help her hear the ancestors' voices. The old woman must be hungry. Zodwa's hungry too, though not because she's been fasting. Her hunger isn't the temporary kind that will soon be satiated; it's the gnawing kind that takes up residence in a stomach that has been empty for too long. It's a hunger born of poverty.
The nyanga begins groaning while rocking back and forth. The smell of impepho burning saturates the air, and the sage fills Zodwa's lungs with every breath she takes, dulling her senses with its hypnotic scent. The hut, darkened and warm, reminds her of home. At least, the home she'd lived in with her grandmother in KwaZulu before she joined her mother in the sqatter camp earlier in the year.
Her grandmother had been reluctant, at first, to relinquish Zodwa to Leleti and considering everything that had happened, Zodwa couldn't blame her. Her gogo had lost her only son, Zodwa's father, to a mining accident in the City of Gold, and then Zodwa's eighteen-year-old brother, Dumisa, disappeared less than a year after leaving for Johannesburg when Zodwa was seven.
"Be very careful, my child," Zodwa's gogo had cautioned her before she left the village for the township. "Bad things happen in the city. Its gods are very hungry and must be appeased. Don't become one of the sacrifices made to it.
"You must study hard, mzukulu wami," her grandmother had continued. "You must be brave but do not try to be as brave as your brother was
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Autoren-Porträt von Bianca Marais
Bianca Marais is the author of Hum If You Don't Know the Words . She holds a certificate in creative writing from the University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies, where she now teaches creative writing. Before turning to writing, she started a corporate training company and volunteered with Cotlands, where she assisted care workers in Soweto with providing aid for HIV/AIDS orphans. Originally from South Africa, she now resides in Toronto with her husband.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Bianca Marais
- 2019, Internationale Ausgabe, 448 Seiten, Maße: 14,9 x 22,8 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: Penguin US
- ISBN-10: 0593085825
- ISBN-13: 9780593085820
- Erscheinungsdatum: 16.07.2019
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
"Lovely....Marais showcases her talent for pulling beauty from the pain of South African history with a strong story and wonderfully imperfect characters."--Publishers Weekly"This earnest novel burns with the consequences of forbidden romance, betrayal, and the redemptive power of love."--Booklist
"Marais excels at creating compelling characters; readers will be turning the pages, wondering what life has in store for each."--Library Journal
"Bianca Marais renders her home country and the issues that plagued it during this era -- with the nuance of an insider."--Refinery29
"Once again, Bianca Marais writes beautifully about her home country."--Hello Giggles
"A moving portrait of the choices women can make--and the ones we can't. Beautifully crafted and powerfully drawn, this book had me in tears."--Jill Santopolo, bestselling author of The Light We Lost and More Than Words
Told with meticulous detail and compassion, If You Want to Make God Laugh is a portrait of a country in transition--and of three women at their own crossroads. Bianca Marais shines light on the injustices and barriers experienced by her characters without shying away from their complicated humanity. Over the course of this nuanced second novel, Zodwa, Ruth and Delilah consider what they owe to others--family, friends, country--and, just as importantly, what they have the right to seek themselves. Chloe Benjamin, bestselling author of The Immortalists and The Anatomy of Dreams
"A story of three remarkable women at crossroads in their own lives against the backdrop of South Africa at the moment of stunning transformation that will keep you reading late into the night. Marais deftly completes a writer's hat trick, leaving you gutted, smiling through tears and soaring with hope."--Steven Rowley, bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus and The Editor
Bianca Marias gripping second novel twists and turns from one end of
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Johannesburg to the other....Hard to put down, emotionally riveting, and tackling tough subjects with grace, If You Want to Make God Laugh shows how the resilience of the human spirit can triumph over the most traumatic circumstances. Siobhan Fallon, author of You Know When the Men Are Gone and The Confusion of Languages
You will absolutely love this book. You will. Why? Because Bianca Marais s heart is immense and full of love. With unsparing insight into the human condition, she unspools a tale that is at once heartbreaking as it is merciful, validating our frailty while eulogizing our endless capacity for generosity and love. We all need the deep refuge of Bianca Marais s exceptional voice. Robin Oliveira, author of My Name is Mary Sutter and I Always Loved You
You will absolutely love this book. You will. Why? Because Bianca Marais s heart is immense and full of love. With unsparing insight into the human condition, she unspools a tale that is at once heartbreaking as it is merciful, validating our frailty while eulogizing our endless capacity for generosity and love. We all need the deep refuge of Bianca Marais s exceptional voice. Robin Oliveira, author of My Name is Mary Sutter and I Always Loved You
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