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A review by lucieloureads
If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais
3.0
Set in South Africa at the end of Apartheid, and told from the point of view of two White middle aged estranged sisters and a Black girl from the nearby Township the story is very compassionate of its leads. Brought together when Zodwa's son is taken hours after his birth by her dying mother and left at the sisters porch. Once found the well being of the child discovered to be born with AIDs is the priority. The awful acts men can perform on women shadow the novel and cast its shadow on their lives while portraying two different results of a teenage rape.
I don't know as much as I should about South Africa and the climate around the Apartheid as I was barely alive when the change occured. It was interesting to read a novel set with this back drop that has an impact but is not the sole focus.
I was confused by how rich or poor the sisters were considering the loans that Ruth would take and then somehow pay off quite quickly. I also felt like Zodwa's girlfriends return in the final chapter was rather sudden and slightly unearned.
I don't know as much as I should about South Africa and the climate around the Apartheid as I was barely alive when the change occured. It was interesting to read a novel set with this back drop that has an impact but is not the sole focus.
I was confused by how rich or poor the sisters were considering the loans that Ruth would take and then somehow pay off quite quickly. I also felt like Zodwa's girlfriends return in the final chapter was rather sudden and slightly unearned.