Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Hum If You Don't Know the Words

Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais

6 reviews

justine30's review

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adventurous challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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amandalorianxo's review

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It took me a while to get through this book. Now I normally don’t take a long time reading my library books because of the the deadlines but no one else was waiting to read this so I renewed my loan until tomorrow. Finished this in the Nick of time and I’m left to sit in my feelings. This author is the same woman who wrote Witches of Moonshine Manor (which I read first) but thankfully Hum If You Don’t Know the Words was more cohesive in storyline. We follow two POV’s - Beauty, a Black schoolteacher who is trying to locate her missing daughter & Robin, a ten year old white child who lost her parents and lives with an aunt who doesn’t really want to raise her. I liked the short chapters and the actual story itself until the last 20% ish. Robin acts in such a selfish, mindless way it made me want to scream.

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winterpirate's review

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emotional informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A decent book about apartheid in South Africa in the 70's, told from the perspective of Beauty, a black woman, and Robin, a 9-year old white girl. Robin has been recently orphaned, and Beauty is hired by Robin's aunt to be her new caretaker. Beauty's daughter has also gone missing, and she is trying to bring her home.

I don't know that you necessarily needed the white perspective in this one, and I think the messaging and story in general would have been stronger without it. I feel like this could have been more impactful if it had been told from only Beauty's point of view, or even Beauty and Nomsa's (Beauty's daughter). You would still get the juxtaposition of how black people and white people were living differently at the time from Beauty being ingrained in Robin's life, and we still would have known what Robin was up to. Plus, it would have forced the writer towards a more realistic ending. Without spoiling anything, that ten year old manages to pull off some crazy things.

The author also chooses to add in other kinds of prejudice, peeking quickly into homophobia and antisemitism at the time. I understand the idea behind it, but I feel like it should have been either explored more deeply or left out. The issues of racism and the apartheid were heinous enough on their own to understand the concept of how these things hurt people.

Okay execution of a good concept.

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