it was difficult to get into the story at first - but then i noticed that this was the voice of it, its character, its soul. a long monolgue, or rather a dialogue with only one person doing the talking. talking about life in The Hillbrows, a borough in capetown, south africa. and it hits you with all its south african rainbow nation mixed force. full of intelligence, naivety, love, struggle, hope and despair - full of noise, dust, illness and broken dreams. it is a record of a truth that knows no mercy to open the eyes of those that fail to see the problems which south africa was facing back then - in the 1990s when apartheid had come to an end and which it is actually still facing ( i believe). it has lots of soul this book, very african soul. you have to stick it out till the end.