THE Violent Gestures of Life, young author Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho's first novel, typical of first books of fiction, has whiffs of autobiography.
It is a coming-of-age story and the protagonist's name is Gift while the author's is Given.
Even the blurb describes the book as "a novel about incarceration by one who understands it from the inside".
In America they call it "street lit" or "hip hop fiction" and some of its prominent proponents are Sister Souljah, Omar Tyree and Teri Woods.
In South Africa we call it the "kwaito fiction", and writers synonymous with this appellation include Niq Mhlongo and Sfiso Mzobe.
Mukwevho - who in 2011 published a collection of short stories, A Traumatic Revenge - is kwaito fiction's new entrant.
Both here and across the Atlantic, "street lit" speaks in the cadences of the streets, is laced with bling-bling, drugs, crime, high fashion, in-your-face sex and has an attitude all its own.
Gift, the protagonist - who is aged a tender 14 - runs away from his unhappy home (his stepfather and biological mother are abusive) and soon finds himself caught in the maelstrom of the streets.
A chance encounter with small-time thugs from Zimbabwe gets Gift entangled with the law.
He is condemned to a youth reformatory named Qalakabusha (Zulu for get a new start), the irony of which is not lost on the reader as it becomes clear that most of the teachers here are not interested in giving the young, vulnerable inmates a fresh start.
They are generally sadists - obviously with some exceptions.
The opening of the book is a potent street klap: a young inmate has died in a stupid and preventable accident.
It is a traumatic moment for young Gift as he was close to the boy who has died.
The novel is, by and large, an exploration of how a young man, Gift, deals with the trauma of loss.
Having lost his biological family, the young Gift has now lost a new close friend.
This book a worthy and entertaining contribution to a genre that is quietly, but confidently claiming its own space in the South African letters canvas.
lThe Violent Gestures of Life is published by UKZN Press and retails for R150
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
Mukwevho - Kwaito fiction's new recruit
THE Violent Gestures of Life, young author Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho's first novel, typical of first books of fiction, has whiffs of autobiography.
It is a coming-of-age story and the protagonist's name is Gift while the author's is Given.
Even the blurb describes the book as "a novel about incarceration by one who understands it from the inside".
In America they call it "street lit" or "hip hop fiction" and some of its prominent proponents are Sister Souljah, Omar Tyree and Teri Woods.
In South Africa we call it the "kwaito fiction", and writers synonymous with this appellation include Niq Mhlongo and Sfiso Mzobe.
Mukwevho - who in 2011 published a collection of short stories, A Traumatic Revenge - is kwaito fiction's new entrant.
Both here and across the Atlantic, "street lit" speaks in the cadences of the streets, is laced with bling-bling, drugs, crime, high fashion, in-your-face sex and has an attitude all its own.
Gift, the protagonist - who is aged a tender 14 - runs away from his unhappy home (his stepfather and biological mother are abusive) and soon finds himself caught in the maelstrom of the streets.
A chance encounter with small-time thugs from Zimbabwe gets Gift entangled with the law.
He is condemned to a youth reformatory named Qalakabusha (Zulu for get a new start), the irony of which is not lost on the reader as it becomes clear that most of the teachers here are not interested in giving the young, vulnerable inmates a fresh start.
They are generally sadists - obviously with some exceptions.
The opening of the book is a potent street klap: a young inmate has died in a stupid and preventable accident.
It is a traumatic moment for young Gift as he was close to the boy who has died.
The novel is, by and large, an exploration of how a young man, Gift, deals with the trauma of loss.
Having lost his biological family, the young Gift has now lost a new close friend.
This book a worthy and entertaining contribution to a genre that is quietly, but confidently claiming its own space in the South African letters canvas.
lThe Violent Gestures of Life is published by UKZN Press and retails for R150
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
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