Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Zanele is skipping school and secretly plotting against the apartheid government. The police can't know. Her mother and sister can't know. Her best friend Thabo, schoolboy turned gang member, can tell she's up to something. But he has troubles of his own—a deal gone wrong and some powerful enemies.
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Across the bridge, in the wealthy white suburbs, Jack plans to spend his last Zanele is skipping school and secretly plotting against the apartheid government. Across the bridge, in the wealthy white suburbs, Jack plans to spend his last days in Johannesburg burning miles on his beat-up Mustang—until he meets a girl with an unforgettable face from the simmering black township—Soweto.
Working in her father's shop, Meena finds a packet of banned pamphlets. They lead to a mysterious black girl with a secret, a dangerous gangster with an expensive taste in clothes, and an engaging white boy who drives a battered red car. A series of chance meetings changes everything. A chain of events is set in motion—a failed plot, a murdered teacher, and a secret movement of students that has spread across the township.
And the students will rise. Paperback , 1st , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about When Morning Comes , please sign up. Lists with This Book. May 28, R. What a powerful story!
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- Book Review: ‘When Morning Comes’ - Livemint;
My heart's still pounding. And I learned so much.
I knew about apartheid, or thought I did. But the Soweto Riots were new to me. They happened when I was six years old, and so far this is the first thing I've ever read about them. I loved how different the four MCs one white, one Indian, two black were, how they showed the life of Johannesburg and the story of the Riots from such different angles.
When Morning Comes by Arushi Raina
I loved how raw and real their stories felt -- nothing too neat 4. I loved how raw and real their stories felt -- nothing too neat or predictable. How things didn't work out as they expected or planned, and sometimes they hardly knew themselves why they were making certain choices or what they would do next. It made the story feel visceral and immediate; it also made them all very believable adolescents. The writing style is powerful too -- spare but not simplistic. It fits the profile of YA, but it could easily crossover to the adult market and I think it should.
But often the meaning of these phrases is pretty easy to infer from the context, and if not there's a perfectly fine glossary at the back and it doesn't take long to catch up. Personally, if I could get away with saying "Thula wena" without being an obnoxious mlungu I would, because a milder version of "shut up" could be very handy. For parents and others wondering about "content" issues, there is certainly some violence for obvious reasons, because it was a violent incident in South African history , but it's not excessively or gorily described -- the style is more journalistic than sensuous which in a way makes it hit even harder, because you can imagine what's not being said.
The book has three or four profanities at most, and always in Afrikaans not that you can't guess what the word is, but it doesn't have quite the same effect as seeing it in English. No blasphemy or anti-religious content. Sexuality is minimal and of the fade-to-black variety, so less explicit than many books teens are reading in high school.
Anyway, this is a very fine book and more people should read it. I hope they do. When Morning Comes is a terrific YA novel that should be getting hella more attention than it is. It's the story of four South African teenagers on the eve of the Soweto Uprising -- a black girl involved in the planning of the uprising, her friend who has recently become a gang member, a white suburban boy killing time before he goes to university, and an Indian shop-owner's daughter who comes to know all three of them.
Book Review: ‘When Morning Comes’
Raina tells a wonderful story that manages to avoid didacticism entirely: Her characters aren't learning life lessons so much as they are doing life. The book feels particularly timely in this current political moment, as all four protagonists have to grapple, in their different ways, with living in an oppressive regime and deciding how they're going to respond to it.
May 31, Meg Wiviott rated it it was amazing Shelves: Excellent story of Soweto Uprising--the beginning of the end of Apartheid. Aug 09, Rawan rated it really liked it. I enjoyed following the character of Zenele. She is strong and determined albeit sometimes careless. But aren't all teenagers. The book challenges the walls built by Apartheid bringing characters from different backgrounds together in one story and letting them speak for themselves.
It's a very enjoyable read and I think it relates to our time, where racism and violence against black people, in the US specially, is still prevalent. Well done for a first novel and looking forward to reading more of Arushi's work! Nov 16, Debbie rated it it was amazing.
Arusha Raina gives a compelling account of the Soweto uprising of , told through the eyes of four young people. This gripping story of a watershed moment in South Africa's history is an important book, it tells a story of apartheid history that can't be recreated in a textbook. Aug 27, Jayne Bauling rated it really liked it. Historical YA fiction, with the Soweto uprising of June central to the story. Different kinds of courage are required of four young people.
All four are very well-realised. The brutality of the apartheid police, and the insensitivity and lack of imagination and empathy at best of affluent whites are rendered in a series of short scenes.
The novel is fast-paced and dramatic. Slightly disconcerting to a South African reader in the edition I read was the spelling of certain words — paap for pap, and Coobus instead of Cobus, and an error in the glossary at the end.
When Morning Comes
I understand that a South African publisher is bringing out a new edition, so probably these will be corrected. Jun 22, Yandisa added it. This was my first time reading historical fiction set around apartheid tragedies. Arushi does a sterling job in putting ordinary people in the events leading to and on June 16, Beyond the iconic Hector Peterson image. The book is a little young , in terms of depth but these were teens so it all fits.
Apr 30, Akie L rated it liked it. This book had a very interesting concept. However, I believe it could have been executed much better. Because the book was so short, we didn't have very much time with the characters or to really understand the slang being used. The writing was not bad, just not amazing and that is what really held this book back. The characters went from not really knowing each other to deeply caring about each other and, as the reader, I did not know how or when this happened.
Overall, the book is good. An int This book had a very interesting concept. An interesting history of South Africa, but yeah. Oct 24, Kelly added it Shelves: Without any connection to the characters all of their voices sound the same , the story didn't do anything for me, so I dropped it. I didn't get the same sense of pacing and adventure other readers did. I found things picked up around the page mark, but by then, I had already checked out. The first pages, though, were rough. Nov 13, grdel rated it it was amazing Shelves: I was a child in the seventies, a teenager in the eighties and the anti-apartheid struggle was very much in the news and in our consciousness as we sang along to the Special AKA and stopped buying South African oranges.
But even I only had vague recollections of the Soweto uprising, without full knowledge of its historical context, the utterly repressive regime it protested against and the trigger it became for the antiapartheid movement. This is a fictional account told in four voices: Her mother and sister cant know. No one can know. On the affluent white side of town, Jack Craven plans to spend the last days of his break before university burning miles on his beat up Mustang, and crashing other peoples parties.
Already a chain of events are in motion; a failed plot, a murdered teacher, a powerful police agent with a vendetta, and a secret network of students across the township. The students will rise. And there will be violence when morning comes. Introducing readers to a remarkable young literary talent, When Morning Comes offers an impeccably researched and vivid snapshot of South African society on the eve of the uprising that changed it forever. She now lives and works in Vancouver, BC. This is her first published book.
Bestseller , Recommended Books Publisher: Tradewind Books Publication Year: