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A review by alexture
When the Ground Is Hard by Malla Nunn
adventurous
emotional
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I really enjoyed When the ground is hard. The protagonist, Adele, has learned all the tricks to make the popular girls like her and to be one of them... until suddenly she isn't anymore, dethroned by a new rich girl.
In 1960s Swaziland, broken by Apartheid, a school for mixed-race girls (the richer the kid, the more lenient the teachers; the whiter the kid, the more helpful their "pet" classmates) has an empty room. When Adele is booted out of the Plastics (or their 1960s Swazi equivalent), she ends up in that room, sharing it with Lottie, the daughter of a woman who has boyfriends instead of a proper man, and a dark and fierce girl who fights for what's hers.
A beautiful tale of a child who starts to understand privilege and to question the establishment - all this with the side story, and really it's terrible to call it a side story, of a young disabled kid who would do anything to get out of school, wherever that brings him.
In 1960s Swaziland, broken by Apartheid, a school for mixed-race girls (the richer the kid, the more lenient the teachers; the whiter the kid, the more helpful their "pet" classmates) has an empty room. When Adele is booted out of the Plastics (or their 1960s Swazi equivalent), she ends up in that room, sharing it with Lottie, the daughter of a woman who has boyfriends instead of a proper man, and a dark and fierce girl who fights for what's hers.
A beautiful tale of a child who starts to understand privilege and to question the establishment - all this with the side story, and really it's terrible to call it a side story, of a young disabled kid who would do anything to get out of school, wherever that brings him.