Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    After Tears (new edition)
    Unavailable
    After Tears (new edition)
    Unavailable
    After Tears (new edition)
    Ebook260 pages3 hours

    After Tears (new edition)

    By Niq Mhlongo

    2.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    "That was it. I had had enough of Cape Town. The cold Atlantic Ocean, the white sand beaches, Table Mountain, the Waterfront . . . I decided right there, in front of the notice board, to go and pack my belongings and leave for good. The compass in my mind was pointing north, back to Johannesburg, my landlocked city, and Soweto. I was sure that if I stayed in Cape Town for one more day I would go mad. The four years that I had spent there, shuttling between the university lecture theatres and libraries, had come to nil. My fate had been decided. I wasn’t fit to become an advocate the following year. I was a failure." Bafana Kuzwayo has flunked his law studies at UCT. Now, back at home in Chi, Soweto, he has to pluck up the courage to confess the truth to his proud mother and uncle. But maybe, just maybe, it might be easier to let everyone believe that he is a qualified attorney. Especially as everyone in Chi is already calling him Advo ...
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKwela
    Release dateApr 1, 2013
    ISBN9780795703256
    Unavailable
    After Tears (new edition)
    Author

    Niq Mhlongo

    Niq Mhlongo was born in 1973 in Soweto. He has a BA from Wits University, with majors in African Literature and Political Studies. His novels, Dog Eat Dog (2004), After Tears (2007) and Way Back Home (2013), were followed by a short story collection, Affluenza (2016). Dog Eat Dog was translated into Spanish and awarded the Mar de Letras prize.

    Read more from Niq Mhlongo

    Related to After Tears (new edition)

    Related ebooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Cherie Jones

      Jan 7, 2021

      Cherie Jones
      3 min read

    • Article

      Come with Me

      Dec 1, 2022

      Come with Me
      12 min read

    • Article

      Everywhere You Don’t Belong

      Jan 23, 2020

      Everywhere You Don’t Belong
      6 min read

    • Article

      Life In The past Lane

      Aug 27, 2021

      Life In The past Lane
      5 min read

    • Article

      Musings On My Father

      Aug 8, 2022

      Musings On My Father
      5 min read

    • Article

      Finding Peace—and Briefly, Freedom—at My Grandfather’s Funeral

      Oct 11, 2019

      “Saying goodbye with the people who loved him—and me—I remember that I am not the tomb that imprisons me.”

      6 min read

    • Article

      Thirteen

      Jan 30, 2020

      Thirteen
      21 min read

    • Article

      The July War

      Sep 8, 2020

      In summer, our neighborhood quiets in phases. The quieting begins in May. Schools give their older kids, the seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds, a month off to prepare for the baccalaureate exams. Following a ritual as old as our parents, the students

      21 min read

    • Article

      The Night That Changed Me

      May 12, 2021

      The Night That Changed Me
      8 min read

    • Article

      Ghost Girl, Banana

      Aug 21, 2023

      By the time I was 25, there were only two things I remembered about Mumma. The first was that she smelled of watermelons, the second was that we were happy. We’d taken our father’s name of course, but a name is only half a story. The other half exist

      6 min read

    • Article

      Nugrybauti

      Apr 24, 2019

      Nugrybauti
      8 min read

    • Article

      My Dad Sold Fords

      May 1, 2023

      My Dad Sold Fords
      6 min read

    • Article

      Carrot Legs

      Sep 12, 2019

      Carrot Legs
      20 min read

    • Article

      Living Hell

      Feb 11, 2021

      Living Hell
      5 min read

    • Article

      Monster

      Dec 1, 2022

      Monster
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Leather Coat

      Apr 4, 2024

      The Leather Coat
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for After Tears (new edition)

    2.5/5

    9 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      This is a fast read, but there's not all that much to it. The characters tend to be either unthinking or one dimensional, and the writing is a bit amateurish as well. I would say it's an easy read to escape with for an afternoon, but one aspect ruined even the entertainment value for me---bits of African are scattered throughout the text, and while there is a glossary at the end of the book, it only includes certain words. I don't know the rhyme or the reason to it, but when I did care enough to look up the word, it was a word that was never included in the glossary. In the end, this isn't a big deal, but it did become something of a frustration as I was reading. Of course, this annoyance may just be a symptom of how little I was engaged with the book as a whole. In general, it was something to pass the time with, but it's certainly nothing I would really see any need to recommend.
    • 2/5
      A story about Bafana, a college kid from Soweto, who fails out of the University of Cape Town's law school, and is forced to move back with his uncle in Chi, Soweto. Embarrassed and ashamed of his failure, Bafana doesn't tell his family and his friends the truth, but tells them UCT is withholding his school records until he can pay a fictitious debt of over 20 000 Rand. This lie sets off humorous events where Bafana has to continue to lie to the people around him to protect himself. The story culminates with all the lies coming back to haunt him in the end.Although their is some humorous moments, the story is rather scattered, with the author spending time discussing certain topics and incidents for a few pages, only for them to never come back into the discussion. For example, there is a portion of the book where one of Bafana's uncle's best friend is arrested for a bar fight. Bafana has to defend him in court. He quickly gets the man out of jail on bail. Celebrations ensue in the Chi, because of the victory... What victory? His is only out on jail on bail. Their was another court date set. One could assume the issue wasn't resolved, yet in the story, it is never discussed again.Further, As I read this story, I felt that the book didn't really have a fully developed plot. Yes, Bafana is kicked out of school; yes he has to move in with his Uncle. Yes, his mother is trying to sell the Uncle's house so they can make money to pay his non-existent school fees., and eventually, about half way through the book, the house is sold. Bafana takes the money and opens his own law office with a fake degree certificate he purchased from a Nigerian. Soon, he becomes a popular, though not-affluent, lawyer in the township. He's happy; His mom is happy; everyone seems to be happy. Problem solved with about 80 pages left. A bunch of different problems pop up in the last 80 pages (he sleeps with an in-law, nearly has a fraudulent marriage with a Zim, his uncle dies, he gets beat up for his wallet and clothes, etc), but non really connect to the next. Finally, the book abruptly ends, with him getting busted for all his errors with a couple pages left. His mom and the sister in law he is sleeping with storm into the court room where he is attempting to marry the Zim, and tells him she knows all about the lies. He then moves to Durban, and doesn't speak to them again. This all happens in the last two pages!! Overall, not a great effort.