Amandla’s Mother (who refuses to be called that) is a combination of an Auntie Mame, Peter Pan and Sybill Trelawney from the Harry Potter novels. There’s one problem. Sprightly and lovely as she is, she’s almost completely mad. From practically the first paragraph, we can see how Amandla is forced to take a stand against her mother’s unbending lunacy and yet yield to it if she doesn’t want to the woman to sink into a bottomless pit of dangerous fasting and silence.
Annalisa knows where they’re living and that concessions have to be made if they’re to survive in a street the doesn’t have an official address. She’s only mad north by northwest; when the wind is southerly, she knows a hawk from a handsaw. But Annalisa’s wayward visions send them to off-the-path places that leave Amandla frustrated and anxious. Like a lot of crazy people, her mind is a mystery to her suffering daughter. But Amandla realizes there’s a lot she doesn’t know about her off-kilter mother…
They are dirt poor and Amandla’s father is MIA. However, in this decrepit part of town, bad fathers and poverty aren’t what set them apart. Amandla is black and her mother is white. It would engender little or no problems elsewhere but, in South Africa, the odd looks never stop nor the whispered commentary. However, she’s not the only person who suffers from prejudice. Ms. Nunn’s story opens up to a wider perspective as we gradually see the other inhabitants of Sugar Town and what they do to scrape by in a world that frowns upon them and the company they choose to keep.
Amandla wrestles with feelings of shame that cause her to shy away from the neighbors and embarrassment when circumstances force her to ask them for help. Like many an only child, Amandla longs for a “proper” family with aunts, uncles, non-existent siblings, preferably in a decent house. Yet there is camaraderie, companionship and kindness to be found even in a place like Sugar Town.
This is a story of beleaguered childhood and the burdens placed on children who must cope with absentee or non compos mentis parents. You suspect that there are surprises, startling revelations and harsh decisions that lie in wait. You feel for Amandla and her poor materfamilias and silently root for the girl to find a way out of privation, lunacy and, perhaps, find a way to a whole family even if it’s in places she wouldn’t expect to find one.
Annalisa knows where they’re living and that concessions have to be made if they’re to survive in a street the doesn’t have an official address. She’s only mad north by northwest; when the wind is southerly, she knows a hawk from a handsaw. But Annalisa’s wayward visions send them to off-the-path places that leave Amandla frustrated and anxious. Like a lot of crazy people, her mind is a mystery to her suffering daughter. But Amandla realizes there’s a lot she doesn’t know about her off-kilter mother…
They are dirt poor and Amandla’s father is MIA. However, in this decrepit part of town, bad fathers and poverty aren’t what set them apart. Amandla is black and her mother is white. It would engender little or no problems elsewhere but, in South Africa, the odd looks never stop nor the whispered commentary. However, she’s not the only person who suffers from prejudice. Ms. Nunn’s story opens up to a wider perspective as we gradually see the other inhabitants of Sugar Town and what they do to scrape by in a world that frowns upon them and the company they choose to keep.
Amandla wrestles with feelings of shame that cause her to shy away from the neighbors and embarrassment when circumstances force her to ask them for help. Like many an only child, Amandla longs for a “proper” family with aunts, uncles, non-existent siblings, preferably in a decent house. Yet there is camaraderie, companionship and kindness to be found even in a place like Sugar Town.
This is a story of beleaguered childhood and the burdens placed on children who must cope with absentee or non compos mentis parents. You suspect that there are surprises, startling revelations and harsh decisions that lie in wait. You feel for Amandla and her poor materfamilias and silently root for the girl to find a way out of privation, lunacy and, perhaps, find a way to a whole family even if it’s in places she wouldn’t expect to find one.