African Delights by Siphiwo Mahala

African Delights Reviews

• 
  Boitshepo

  This book can be reviewed in just one paragraph:
  
  In 2012, an author called Ann Morgan, set out to read a book from every single country of the world and after that literary journey,  she came out with African Delights as one of the top ten must-read books in the entire world.
  
  And I absolutely concur.
• 
  Nkolele Mkhondo

  African Delights by Sphiwo Mahala.
  
  African Delights is a collection of short stories and it’s divided into four parts, each part has 3 to 4 short stories that are like the same story from a different point of views. The first part is about The Suit which is like a parody or continuation of The Suit by Can Themba. The second part is White Encounters, which are stories from the perspectives of young black children and their encounters with white people during apartheid. This part is written with this childlike innocence, and it will make you realize the brutality of the apartheid and how it ruined many people’s childhoods. The third part is The Truth which also seemed like a continuation of something that was previously published. In this part we have three different people narrating their version of the truth about the same situation and the last part is called African Delight and it made me throw away this book in anger because what the F#$#%. I was SCREAMING and I could not read anything for days after that.
  
  Please grab this book if you can, it is worth it, trust me it is. And did I say anything about hating short stories before😂? Because I don’t remember. It is very well written, filled with humour and honesty. I can safely say this is one book that made me look at Short Story Anthologies differently.
• 
  Tumelo Moleleki

  Took me a long time to finish the book because life happened and I had to step away from all books I was reading until I could resume them again. I enjoyed part 4 of the book... I thought the other stories were alright but the did not engage me as much as African Delights. I liked how it revealed this tendency that people have to use others for things they feel morally above doing. If you are prepared to ask people to do something, you should also be prepared to do it too, otherwise you are an atrocious person and you don't deserve any respect or consideration from others. Zodwa was okay to expose young girls to perverted foreigners but she was not prepared to expose herself. This is what made me like this book and the ending is fitting for a selfish person... That Simba was a genius because until the end he sounded like an upstanding guy. I also like how it sounds like direct translation of the way people speak indigenous languages. The conversation between the character Themba and the old man.
• 
  Sara

  I really enjoyed this book of stories. They give you a good insight into what was, and is happening in South Africa. The tongue-in-cheek humour which illustrates serious topics is second-to-none. Can't wait to read more by Mahala.
• 
  Tiah

  Another South African short story collection, so of course I had to try it. Different to my norm, as the male characters tend to be 'cool' and trendy and full of macho masculinity. But it is an intriguing collection which leaves much to mull over.
• 
  Ziggy

  Somehow these just didn't touch me at all, so they were interesting in a very abstract level, but nothing I would ever re-read. I found the language very cold and unemotional and the experiences of the protagonists felt very superficial. Maybe I am not African enough to understand!
• 
  Refiloe Nkadimeng **********

  this is powerful collection of funny and witty african stories told by an african....