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WORK TITLE: We Kiss Them with Rain
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Pretoria
STATE:
COUNTRY: South Africa
NATIONALITY: South African
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born c. 1974, in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
EDUCATION:University of KwaZulu Natal, B.A., 2001, M.A. (conflict resolution); Rhodes University, M.A. (journalism).
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Sunday Times, former journalist. Also worked for Youth for Christ and at L’Abri Centre in the Karkloof.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
South African writer Futhi Ntshingila is the author of two novels dealing with the “with women who are on the peripheries of societies,” according to a contributor in the online Shelf-Awareness. Ntshingila’s debut, Shameless, was published in 2008. This was followed by the 2014 novel, Do Not Go Gentle, published in 2018 in the U.S. as We Kiss Them with Rain.
In a Short Story Day Africa website interview, Ntshingila commented on her road to becoming a writer, after having studied theology and journalism, as well as conflict resolution: “I have always been interested in reading and I was surrounded by women who loved telling stories of the madams they work for as maids. When one of my grans died I knew I would write to remember her. Bits of her story is in Shameless. … I see my work as converting oral stories into a written narrative, it is like a project of preserving what I view as memories that are in danger of being lost because they are in the margins.”
Growing up in South Africa during the era of apartheid, or segregation of society on the basis of race, Ntshingila faced many of the challenges her protagonists do. However, she “projects no aura of victimhood,” according to Margaret von Klemperer writing in News24.com. “Nor do her characters, despite their often difficult lives.” Speaking with von Klemperer, the author remarked in this regard: “I make sure the people I write about aren’t victims. … It’s too easy to label people — their thoughts and feelings may well not be what we assume them to be.”
Shameless
Ntshingila’s short novel, Shameless, focuses on two young women, Thandiwe and Zonke, who grow up as rural children in Mpumuza, but their lives are torn apart in their early teens by the violence of the late eighties and early nineties. Thandiwe loses her mother in an accident and is left an orphan. She then runs away from her guardian to avoid circumcision, and heads for Johannesburg, where she shamelessly takes up work as a street prostitute. Meanwhile, her childhood friend Zonke, who has faced many of the same challenges, follows a more traditional lifestyle in post-Apartheid South Africa. Kwena, a young female filmmaker, approaches Thandiwe to make a documentary of her life, and she shares her story with no sense of shame, for she is a survivor and will fight for her independence even at the risk of her life. Speaking with von Klemperer, Ntshingila commented on the origins of Shameless: “It comes from my personal experience–some very personal. … I was a teenager of fourteen when we had to move to a less conflicted area–and change from a rural life to a semi-urban one.”
A Literary Tourism website reviewer noted of Shameless: “Ntshingila has not written a gloomfest here. Her characters … are feisty, determined young women, making their own choices in life and living with, even relishing, the consequences of those choices.” Writing in the online Letter from South Africa, Omoseye Bolaji similarly commented: “This is a well written, convincing portrait of a ‘lady of the night’ from an inside view–more importantly, the author is a woman and avoids the usual prurience and focus on the physical pleasure a male author would normally dish out. This is more of a psychological work tracing the antecedents of the protagonist; and the view of Kwena late on (as per her documentary on Thandiwe) in this work is also moving.”
Do Not Go Gentle
With her second novel, Do Not Go Gentle, Ntshingila once again focuses on strong women who, despite overwhelming challenges of poverty and oppression, struggle on to shape their own destinies. Mvelo is fourteen and caring for her mother, Zola, sick with AIDS. Mvelo is also damaged, having been raped by a reverand and now pregnant. When she gives birth, the Mvelo leaves the baby on the doorstep of a white couple’s home in a wealthy quarter. The novel shifts back in time to Zola’s youth and her possibilities of happiness, especially with the lawyer Sipho. But when Sipho leaves her for another woman, Nonceba, Zola is on her own again with young Mvelo to support. However, Sipho, who is HIV positive, has given the disease to Zola. In the end, Mvelo is able to continue her life and her connection to the baby she gave up with the help of the former lover of Sipho, Nonceba, who is touched by the girl’s situation.
“The end of Do Not Go Gentle offers readers a sense of closure as Mvelo’s childhood of suffering and loss becomes replaced with love and security,” noted Danielle Faye Tran in Africa in Words website. Tran added: “Though [Mvelo’s] journey through adulthood is still ongoing, the narrative ends on a positive tone. The novel’s closing scene is in complete contrast to the beginning of the text. The vulnerable and lonely young girl who was introduced to the reader at the start of the novel is now a confident and intelligent woman. As Mvelo takes greater control over her life, the past is no longer a burden. Rather, the dark times in her history are shown to have helped develop her strength and resilience in a context where loss, pain, and death are uncomfortably familiar.” A Readings website reviewer felt that this is a “novel with twists and turns revealing the circle of life,” while a 2015 Reading Challenge–SA Books Only website contributor termed it a “gut- wrenching novel.” The contributor concluded: “[T]he characters are convincing and I became immersed in their lives. There is a different sort of authenticity at play when the writer knows the community of which she writes. A book worth reading.” Reviewing the U.S. edition, We Kiss Them with Rain, a Kirkus Reviews critic felt that the novel “doesn’t shy away from the reality of AIDS, poverty, or rampant sexual abuse, but instead of making those subjects its sole focus, Ntshingila folds them in with the other realities of life: love, joy, and hope.” The critic further commented: “Ntshingila’s lyrically wrought North American debut is a slim yet satisfying novel sure to trigger a wide range of emotions.” Library Journal writer April Sanders also had praise, observing: “Those who appreciate realistic fiction will enjoy this novel in which young female characters learn to love themselves, no matter the circumstances.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2018, review of We Kiss Them with Rain.
School Library Journal, March, 2018, April Sanders, review of We Kiss Them with Rain, p. 130.
ONLINE
2015 Reading Challenge–SA Books Only, https://2015readsabooksonly.wordpress.com/ (January 8, 2015), review of Do Not Go Gentle.
Africa Access, http://africaaccessreview.org/ (May 4, 2018), review of We Kiss Them with Rain.
Africa in Words, https://africainwords.com/ (January 21, 2016), review of Do Not Go Gentle.
African Books Collective, http://www.africanbookscollective.com/ (June 19, 2018), “Futhi Ntshingila.”
Catalyst Press website, https://www.catalystpress.org/ (August 11, 2017), “Women in Translation Month, Futhi Ntshingila.”
Letter from South Africa, http://letterfromsouthafrica-eric.blogspot.com/ (March 14, 2013), Omoseye Bolaji, review of Shameless.
Literary Tourism, http://www.literarytourism.co.za/ (April 12, 2008), review of Shameless.
News24.com, https://www.news24.com/ (April 9, 2008), Margaret von Klemperer, author interview.
Readings, https://www.readings.com.au/ (June 4, 2018), review of Do Not Go Gentle.
Open Book Cape Town, http://openbookfestival.co.za/ (June 19, 2018), “Futhi Ntshingila.”
Shelf-Awareness, http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ (June 19, 2018), “Reading with… Futhi Ntshingila.”
Short Story Day Africa, http://shortstorydayafrica.org/ (October 7, 2015), author interview.
Time of the Writer, http://www.cca.ukzn.ac.za/ (June 21, 2018), “Futhi Ntshingila (South Africa).”
Futhi Ntshingila
Futhi Ntshingila grew up in Pietermaritzburg, and her parents still live there. Now she lives and works in Pretoria. She is a former journalist and holds Masters Degree in Conflict Resolution. She loves telling stories about the marginal corners of society. Do Not Go Gentle is her second novel, her first was Shameless (UKZN Press, 2008).
Reading with... Futhi Ntshingila
photo: Cori Wielenga
Futhi Ntshingila was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. She is the author of the novels Shameless (UKZN Press) and Do Not Go Gentle (Modjaji Books). Her work deals with women who are on the peripheries of societies. She is a former journalist with a postgraduate diploma in journalism from Rhodes University and master's degree in conflict resolution from the University of KwaZulu Natal. Her novel We Kiss Them with Rain was just published by Catalyst Press.
On your nightstand now:
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Favorite book when you were a child:
As a child, I had my grandmother telling me stories and folktales. I would be lying if I said I had a favorite book as a child. I did not have books then. At school, I remember Inkinsela YaseMgungundlovu by Sibusiso Nyembezi. This translates as "The Rich Man of Pietermaritzburg."
Your top five authors:
Ayana Mathis--The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
Sue Nyathi--The Polygamist
Angela Makholwa--current favorite The Blessed Girl
Maya Angelou--Everything of hers
Toni Morrison--Everything of hers
Book you've faked reading:
At school they prescribed an odd book called I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven. I was young and I couldn't identify with it at all. I read bits, but I don't think I finished. In exams I had to give a brief summary of the book. I did despite having not finished reading it. Actually, I should go back to read it again and see if I would feel differently now.
Book you're an evangelist for:
Currently, it's Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Ask me again in three months, it would be another title. I read and fall in love with a lot of books. We are in an age where there is so much creative production; we are left spoiled for choice.
Book you've bought for the cover:
None. I look at the blurbs on the back and I get pulled in. I try not to be influenced by reviews because I think lately reviewers are a depressed lot with acid tongues and excessive meanness.
Book you hid from your parents:
None, my parents have long left me to my own devices with my choices from reading to life decisions that I make. I gained their trust early on.
Book that changed your life:
I don't think I have one because I think with each one I am changed by the time I'm done. I haven't had a definitive Damascus moment with a singular book, really.
Favorite line from a book:
"I know why a caged bird sings"--I know that it is a title of one of Maya Angelou's autobiographies but it is my favorite line because it carries with it so much hope.
Five books you'll never part with:
A collection of Maya Angelou's autobiographies.
The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, Beloved, Paradise, A Mercy and Home by Toni Morrison
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
FUTHI NTSHINGILA
Futhi Ntshingila
Futhi Ntshingila graduated from UKZN with an Honours degree English and Theology. She also has a Masters in Conflict Resolution. Do Not Go Gentle is her second novel, her first was Shameless published in 2008 by UKZN Press. Of her writing Ntshingila comments: “For a long time a large population of South Africans have not had stories that reflect their everyday lives written by people they can identify with. So I try to write stories that can entertain, madden, horrify and affirm.”
QUOTE:
I have always been interested in reading and I was surrounded by women who loved telling stories of the madams they work for as maids. When one of my grans died I knew I would write to remember her. Bits of her story is in "Shameless".
I see my work as converting oral stories into a written narrative, it is like a project of preserving what I view as memories that are in danger of being lost because they are in the margins.
'I See My Work As Converting Oral Stories Into A Written Narrative.' An Interview With Futhi Ntshingila.
October 7, 2015
Tiah caught up with South African writer, Futhi Ntshingila, author of Shameless and, more recently, Do Not Go Gentle.
Tiah: Did you always know you were going to become a writer?
Futhi: No, I have always been interested in reading and I was surrounded by women who loved telling stories of the madams they work for as maids. When one of my grans died I knew I would write to remember her. Bits of her story is in "Shameless".
Tiah: How do you view your role as a storyteller?
Futhi: I see my work as converting oral stories into a written narrative, it is like a project of preserving what I view as memories that are in danger of being lost because they are in the margins.
Tiah: In Changing My Mind, Zadie Smith said there are two kinds of writers: Macro Planners and Micro Manager. Macro Planners love post-its, construct their plot and often have stacks of notes already written about each character. Micro Managers are more concerned with tone, rewriting the start of the piece numerous times, before moving on, often uncertain to where they are going. Where does your writing methodology fall into these categories?
Futhi: I would say more macro. I am not anal about it as long as the idea keeps me going. It allows for twists to happen without me tightening up the control of where the story wants to go.
Tiah: You have attended Open Book, Time of the Writer and Franschhoek Literary Festival. What did you take away from these experiences?
Futhi: There is something about festivals lately that gives me the sense that writers can end up writing with writers and reviewers in mind which is anxiety inducing and unfortunate. There is something that is not quite authentic about some of them. Almost like a stage to display sharpness of mind or lack of. Themes that are emerging are becoming restrictive and prescriptive which can have an impact in the actual production of the narratives - this micro local setting vs transnational obsession. I am sure the main aim of festival is to showcase books and encourage reading. The symptoms emerging can be because of the way in which they are structured in terms of representation. I hope that the critiques coming out will lead to constructive way of conducting them in future.
Tiah: Have noticed any intriguing trends in either subject matter or form in African writing recently?
Futhi: I see what I call a conversation between black men and white women. The men are lamenting politics of racial representation in the festivals and the majority of responses are white women saying how this needs to change, how important it is that people should listen. A few white men are grunting "bullshit" but mostly remaining silent. Black women - well - they are a few pieces by white women asking where are black women in the writing scene which means that before we can even enter the fray, it should be clear that as far as they are concerned we don't exist.
On Futhi's Bedside Table
I just finished Sistermoon by Kirsten Miller and The Reactive by Masande Ntshabga. I loved both very much because the theme of familial bonds moves me always.
Futhi Ntshingila is an author of Shameless (2008, UKZN Press) and Do Not Go Gentle (2014, Modjaji Books). Her work deals with women who are in the peripheries of societies. She is passionate about preservation of memory for women whose stories have been historically ignored. She is a former journalist with a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism at Rhodes University and Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution at the University of KwaZulu Natal.
Women in Translation Month, Futhi Ntshingila
Posted on August 11, 2017Author Ashawnta JacksonCategories Fiction, Literary Fiction, News, Translation, UncategorizedTags #WITMonth, #womenintranslation, African Literature, Futhi Ntshingila, We Kiss Them With Rain, Zulu
We’ve loved seeing all of the awesome women being spotlighted as part of this year’s Women in Translation Month. Such an incredible and diverse group of writers. We’d like to introduce you to our own writers who are working in translation. You can read our first post here.
Catalyst was founded with the mission to amplify African voices and to publish books that let readers see Africa through a different lens. This means that we have a platform to bring English translations of Afrikaans novels to the US (as is the case with Chanette Paul’s Sacrificed), and that we have the opportunity to bring attention to writers who are writing in English, but keeping a connection to indigenous African languages. This brings us to our second highlight for Women in Translation Month, Futhi Ntshingila. We Kiss Them With Rain
While Futhi’s Catalyst release, We Kiss Them with Rain (out March, 2018) was written in English, Futhi is also dedicated to publishing it in isiZulu, the most widely spoken of South Africa’s eleven official languages, and is hard at work on the translation. Through her writing, Futhi tells the stories we might not hear, the stories that reflect the experiences of the South African people who may not often see themselves or their lives reflected in literature.
Futhi is a former journalist and the author of two novels published in South Africa. We Kiss Them With Rain, a story of resilience and empowerment set in a squatter camp outside of Durban, South Africa, is her US debut. On translating this novel into isiZulu, Futhi says, “I rediscovered the beauty of my language.”
FROM FUTHI
ON HER WRITING
For a long time, a large population of South Africans have not had stories that reflect their everyday lives written by people they can identify with. So I try to write stories that can entertain, madden, horrify and affirm.
ON THE INSPIRATION FOR WE KISS THEM WITH RAIN
About a decade ago when I worked as a reporter for a newspaper in Durban where, in summer, there can be fearsome flash floods. While rain may be a source of joy for farmers and innocent children to jump around and dance in it, for those living in shacks, it spells death and destruction. After the rains, I had gone there in search of a story and a by line. I found women cleaning up and salvaging bits as they could, while men were drinking their worries away. One family’s grandmother and grandson were washed off and their bodies found five kilometers away under a bridge.
Music was blaring from the shebeens, taxis were zigzagging through the streets and collecting people to town, a group of Indian neighbors were dishing out breyani. I stood there looking and not knowing where to start. Two people had just died; shacks were knee deep in slushy mud; but people there were determined to keep the normalcy going. Of course, the dead would be buried, shacks would be cleaned out and life will be lived. I can’t remember what kind of article I wrote, but I just knew that people like that—with lives and circumstances lived on the margins of society—should be known.
ON THE TRANSLATING HER NOVEL INTO ISIZULU
In South Africa there is a renewed sense of pride for our local languages that were for a long time viewed as inferior to English. It is along the theme of decolonization of our thinking, our education, and our ways of knowing in general. The translation of Do Not Go Gentle (the novel’s title when it was released in South Africa) stemmed from having the book translated into Portuguese. We thought it would be great to translate it into isiZulu, too, and have people that I wrote about read it in a language they understand completely.
Pre-order We Kiss Them with Rain from your favorite independent bookstore or from Amazon
QUOTE:
It comes from my personal experience — some very personal,” says Ntshingila. “I was a teenager of 14 when we had to move to a less conflicted area — and change from a rural life to a semi-urban one.
projects no aura of victimhood. Nor do her characters, despite their often difficult lives.
Plenty of stories to be told
2008-04-09 00:00
Margaret von Klemperer
What To Read Next
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Guess who SA invited to dinner...
Man shocks family by walking into his own funeral
Margaret von Klemperer
FUTHI Ntshingila’s first novel, Shameless, should strike a chord with local readers. Her central characters, Thandiwe and Zonke, grow up as rural children in Mpumuza, but their lives are torn apart in their early teens by the violence of the late eighties and early nineties.
“It comes from my personal experience — some very personal,” says Ntshingila. “I was a teenager of 14 when we had to move to a less conflicted area — and change from a rural life to a semi-urban one.” Hard on everyone involved, an event like that is particularly traumatic in those already problematic teenage years.
But Ntshingila, who matriculated at Georgetown High, projects no aura of victimhood. Nor do her characters, despite their often difficult lives. Thandiwe works as a prostitute in Yeoville. “I make sure the people I write about aren’t victims,” says Ntshingila. “It’s too easy to label people — their thoughts and feelings may well not be what we assume them to be.”
It’s a point emphasised by the novel’s title — Shameless — which has a powerful ambiguity. On the one hand is the negative connotation; “shameless” as a criticism of someone’s behaviour. Or is it Ntshingila saying that there is no cause for shame? “It was a deliberate choice, trying to complicate the judgements we make,” says Ntshingila. “We judge people, but they have their own lives, and don’t care about what we think. It took a long time to come up with the title — I originally had three. This is the one that seemed to stick.”
At 34, with her first novel in the bookshops, Ntshingila might seem to be riding the crest of a wave. But it has not been easy, getting to where she is now. Growing up was tough, and there was no money for tertiary education. Her ambition had been to study speech and drama at a technicon, but that was an impossible dream. A committed Christian, Ntshingila went to work for Youth for Christ and at L’Abri Centre in the Karkloof. Her four years there are a happy memory — a solid foundation and a source of life skills that have stood her in good stead. They were followed by a year overseas, and then, finally, admission to the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Ntshingila’s ambitions had changed — she studied English and theology, doing joint Honours in the two subjects in 2001. She loved her time at university, calling it “the best years of my life”. From there, she went on to Rhodes for a post-graduate diploma in media and journalism, and then took a job as a reporter at the Sunday Times. Now she works in Pretoria at the Office of the President, in the research, drafting and speechwriting department.
But all the while, the story that would become Shameless stayed with her. She wrote it down, but was still not sure what to do with it. Finally, she sent it to Professor David Attwell, who had taught her at UKZN, and asked him what he thought. He sent it to Glen Cowley at the University Press, saying to Ntshingila that he hoped she wouldn’t mind. Ntshingila was delighted — not surprisingly as Cowley immediately wanted to publish, and not change anything.
I ask whether she wrote with a target audience in mind. “No, I didn’t think about an audience. I always knew I would like to write, and would do so someday, but didn’t know what story would come out. I was just telling about the experience, and I hope it will appeal to anybody, from a professor to a student.” And it should, a short and powerful novel, offering a glimpse into the lives of people getting to grips with a new and often raw society.
Already, Ntshingila is at work on another novel, again set in KwaZulu-Natal. And as we talk, it is clear there are plenty of stories to be told. In Shameless, Ntshingila talks about young blacks being mentored in jobs by whites, and the problems that can arise. I ask about this, though she says her own experiences have been good ones. However, she has seen young black professionals, doomed to continue as someone’s protégé because they don’t play golf, or speak Model C English. “You can sense their frustration,” she says.
Shameless touches on another potential mine of stories — the tales told by domestic workers of their madams. It is only a snapshot moment in the novel, and Ntshingila explains that she is drawing on what she heard from her mother, aunts and late grandmother who had all been domestic workers. “They are very funny women,” she says. “And the stories were very entertaining.”
Work puts time constraints on Ntshingila’s writing, and she says she doesn’t write unless she feels she has something to say, but it seems certain there will be more to come from Pietermaritzburg’ s newest published author.
Futhi Ntshingila (South Africa)
Futhi Ntshingila was born and raised in Pietermaritzburg in a family of four sisters. After Matric, she worked with young people on leadership training and women empowerment and eight years later enrolled at the University of KwaZulu-Natal where she majored in English and African Theology. While at the university, she worked as the news editor of the student newspaper, Nux .
Upon completion of her Honours in English and Theology, the pull into print journalism led Ntshingila to Rhodes University where she completed a postgraduate diploma in Media and Journalism Studies, before starting an internship at the Sunday Times. She was employed at the same newspaper and worked a five year stint in Durban, before moving to Tshwane. In 2008, she published her debut novel, Shameless, the gripping story of Th andiwe, a young woman, who, having grown up in a rural village, moves to the city and sells her body on the streets of Yeoville. But as The Witnesses' Margaret von Klemperer points out: “Ntshingila has not written a gloom fest. Her characters – Th andiwe, Zonke who is her childhood friend and narrator, and Kwena, the young documentary film maker who wants to tell Thandiwe's story – are feisty, determined young women, making their own choices in life and living with, even relishing, the consequences of those choices.”
Ntshingila is currently writing her Master's thesis in Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies (UKZN). She comments: “For a long time a large population of South Africans have not had stories that reflect their everyday lives written by people they can identify with. So I try to write stories that can entertain, madden, shock, horrify and affirm my community. I try to address issues that are not normally discussed openly.”
“At best, a good novel is a mirror in which society sees itself. Through Shameless, a thin book of only 108 pages, Ntshingila has achieved what other less able writers have failed to communicate in tomes that run into hundreds of pages.” – Fred Khumalo, Sunday Times.
Bibliography
Shameless, UKZN Press, 2008
QUOTE:
doesn't shy
away from the reality of AIDS, poverty, or rampant sexual abuse, but instead of making those subjects its
sole focus, Ntshingila folds them in with the other realities of life: love, joy, and hope.
Ntshingila's lyrically wrought North American debut is a slim yet satisfying novel sure to trigger a wide
range of emotions.
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Print Marked Items
Ntshingila, Futhi: WE KISS THEM
WITH RAIN
Kirkus Reviews.
(Feb. 1, 2018):
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Ntshingila, Futhi WE KISS THEM WITH RAIN Catalyst Press (Young Adult Fiction) $14.95 3, 13 ISBN:
978-1-946395-04-7
Ntshingila's latest chronicles the past and present of a young girl suffering life's blows.
Mvelo is orphaned at 14 when her mother dies of AIDS. She's also pregnant after having been raped and
faces a difficult decision. It's a bleak start, but while tragic things happen, this story is not about tragedy: it
is a story of how things happen and how that informs what happens next. Through shifting perspectives,
Ntshingila takes readers back in time and through the lives of the people in Mvelo's life. First there's her
mother, Zola, whose life at 16 takes a turn when she gives birth to Mvelo and loses her partner on the same
day. There's Sipho, the man who loves them both but has his vices, and Nonceba, the ferociously strong
woman he leaves them for. Through beautiful prose and rich imagery, readers step into these lives and more,
connecting the dots to the present day. Taking place mostly in Durban, South Africa, the tale doesn't shy
away from the reality of AIDS, poverty, or rampant sexual abuse, but instead of making those subjects its
sole focus, Ntshingila folds them in with the other realities of life: love, joy, and hope.
Ntshingila's lyrically wrought North American debut is a slim yet satisfying novel sure to trigger a wide
range of emotions. (Fiction. 15-adult)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Ntshingila, Futhi: WE KISS THEM WITH RAIN." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2018. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A525461448/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=386f42f0.
Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A525461448
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QUOTE:
Those who appreciate realistic
fiction will enjoy this novel in which young female characters learn to love themselves, no matter the
circumstances.
NTSHINGILA, Futhi. We Kiss Them
with Rain
April Sanders
School Library Journal.
64.3 (Mar. 2018): p130.
COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No
redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
NTSHINGILA, Futhi. We Kiss Them with Rain. 172p. Catalyst. Mar. 2018. pap. $14.95. ISBN
9781946395047.
An in-depth look at how HIV/AIDS has impacted several generations of women in South Africa and how
mothers and daughters deal with abuse, poverty, and disease while navigating parenthood. After her
mother's death from HIV/AIDS, Mvelo, 14, becomes pregnant after she is raped by a visiting minister.
Though she lives in extreme poverty, she finds resources and hope in unlikely mentors and benefactors.
Readers will learn about the two generations of women who came before Mvelo--her life echoes many of
her mother and grandmother's struggles. These well-crafted characters and their attempts to make better
decisions than the previous generation will resonate with teens. VERDICT Those who appreciate realistic
fiction will enjoy this novel in which young female characters learn to love themselves, no matter the
circumstances.--April Sanders, Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Sanders, April. "NTSHINGILA, Futhi. We Kiss Them with Rain." School Library Journal, Mar. 2018, p.
130. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A529863674/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=91ac0c14. Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A529863674
We Kiss them with Rain
BY ADMIN · MAY 4, 2018
We Kiss them with Rain (Do Not Go Gentle) Book Cover Title: We Kiss them with Rain (Do Not Go Gentle)
Author: Futhi Ntshingila
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Catalyst Press
Release Date: March 13, 2018
Pages: 172
Life wasn't always hard for fourteen-year-old Mvelo. There were good times living with her mother and her mother's lawyer boyfriend. Now her mother is dying of AIDS and the terrible thing that stole Mvelo's song remains unspoken, despite its growing presence in their shack. But a series of choices, chance meetings, and Shakespearean comedy-style exposures of hidden identities hands Mvelo a golden opportunity to overcome hardship. We Kiss Them With Rain explores both humor and tragedy in this modern-day fairytale set in a squatter camp outside Durban, South Africa, in which the things that seem to be are only a fa�ade, and the things that are revealed and unveiled create a happier, thoroughly believable, alternative. We walk amongst the living We, the departed . . . We wander the earth Wondering about the orphans we left behind We kiss them with rain . . . Futhi Ntshingila grew up in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Now she lives and works in Pretoria. She is a former journalist and holds a Master's degree in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution. She loves telling stories about the marginalized corners of society, including women and children in South Africa and particularly those who live in the squatter camps. In her two novels published in South Africa, she features strong women who empower themselves despite circumstances that seek to disempower them.We Kiss Them With Rain is her debut into the North American market.
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The end of Do Not Go Gentle offers readers a sense of closure as Mvelo’s childhood of suffering and loss becomes replaced with love and security. Though her journey through adulthood is still ongoing, the narrative ends on a positive tone. The novel’s closing scene is in complete contrast to the beginning of the text. The vulnerable and lonely young girl who was introduced to the reader at the start of the novel is now a confident and intelligent woman. As Mvelo takes greater control over her life, the past is no longer a burden. Rather, the dark times in her history are shown to have helped develop her strength and resilience in a context where loss, pain, and death are uncomfortably familiar.
Review: ‘Do Not Go Gentle’
BY AFRICA IN WORDS GUEST on 21 JANUARY , 2016 • ( 0 )
Do Not Go Gentle Image
AiW Guest: Danielle Faye Tran.
“It is my wish […] that people should know I died of AIDS” (27)
-from a letter written by character Zola to be read aloud at her vigil
The spread of HIV creates a tense relationship between sex and death. The explicit discussion of the condition raised by Zola through her letter acts to remove the social shame associated with her death. By breaking the silence surrounding the condition, Zola’s last words help to call for an open and honest dialogue concerning HIV/AIDS. This week, Guest Reviewer Danielle Faye Tran reviews Futhi Ntshingila’s second novel.
Do Not Go Gentle (Cape Town: Modjaji Books) tells several stories – with that of Zola’s daughter, Mvelo, at the core – in which a South African community wrestles with the disease and its repercussions. Though its narrative structure is complex, the simplicity of the language employed distills the novel down to the values that are at its centre – those of love, family, and friendship.
Zola is a thirty one year old single mother to her fourteen-year-old daughter, Mvelo. The daily struggle to find enough food and money to survive has led to Mvelo to lose her enthusiasm for singing as her primary focus is now to help care for her visibly sick mother. The reader is informed early on that Zola regularly takes ARVs and is known in her community as ‘the one who is sick with three letters’ (13). The discussion of HIV/AIDS is explored through a rather personal lens, as the reader is introduced to a range of characters affected by the condition and who hold differing approaches in regards to the way in which they digest and voice the subject.
Zola and Mvelo try to protect one another, but they are not always able. Zola encourages her daughter to participate in virginity testing, which is viewed by parents not only as a way of monitoring their child’s sexual activity but also to help prevent girls from ‘keeping quiet’ (13) about sexual abuse. However, when Mvelo is raped, Mvelo chooses not to disclose the events of the rape to her mother but does find a sense of inner strength to take more control over her life and help Zola find peace. This leads Mvelo to confidently advise her mother not to take anymore ARVs, ‘I have to let you go and I am asking you to let go and rest’ (20). Zola responds by telling Mvelo that she can see her daughter’s growing breasts and stomach and asks her to ‘not do anything to harm the life growing inside’ (21). Mvelo gives birth to a girl named Sabekile and on leaving the hospital decides to leave the baby on the doorstep of a house in Manor Gardens. Mvelo’s decision is made with the hope that her child will have the opportunity to live a better life than hers, and is the first independent decision she makes since the passing of her mother.
The novel then shifts in time back to Zola’s youth to highlight the intertwining stories and connection between characters. Zola, a carefree student, falls in love with fellow student, Spora, and hides the pregnancy from her parents. When Spora dies in an automobile accident, precipitating Mvelo’s birth, Zola’s parents disown her. Zola moves in with her Aunt Skwiza, a lively woman who is known as ‘the shebeen queen with a string of taverns across Mkhumbane’ (39). Zola later discovers the news that her parents were killed in a fire. ‘Her father was accused of supporting the wrong political party and a vigilante youth group poured petrol in their house and set it alight with them inside’ (43). The theme of death pervades the text and discriminates against no one. Murder, suicide, illness, and accidental deaths all come together, covering the community in an oppressive cloud where memories of a lost one are never far from the forefront of one’s thought.
Zola has another chance at love when she meets the popular lawyer Sipho, but unsure about his ability to stay faithful, she begins insisting that Sipho take part in regular tests and the use of condoms. Her growing concerns begin to make Sipho feel suffocated within the relationship. He leaves them and takes up with Nonceba, but neither Sipho nor Nonceba are demonized. Over time, Mvelo and Nonceba become good friends and Mvelo admires Nonceba’s love for her African roots. Nonceba even spoke ‘IsiXhosa to her other black colleagues at the law firm’ (63). When Nonceba moves to the US, however, Sipho, (who follows her, but returns when work is hard to come by and is not able to convince Zola to rekindle their relationship) sleeps with numerous women in an attempt to regain a feeling of control and pride, finds that he is HIV positive, and must inform Zola; tests soon confirm her status as well.
With the backstory caught up to the present, Mvelo goes by the house where she left her baby and is relieved to see the white couple caring for her daughter. Frustrated and angry, Mvelo tries to expose her rapist’s crimes, but the shock of seeing her again kills him before she can pursue justice. When Nonceba returns from the US, Mvelo is initially wary, assuming that she, too, has HIV; only when Nonceba’s healthy status is confirmed does Mvelo tell her about the rape and the baby. With the help of Nonceba and her community, Mvelo is able to resume a relationship with Sabekile as well as return to school. Her relationship with Cetshwayo becomes more intimate, and she studies journalism at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
The end of Do Not Go Gentle offers readers a sense of closure as Mvelo’s childhood of suffering and loss becomes replaced with love and security. Though her journey through adulthood is still ongoing, the narrative ends on a positive tone. The novel’s closing scene is in complete contrast to the beginning of the text. The vulnerable and lonely young girl who was introduced to the reader at the start of the novel is now a confident and intelligent woman. As Mvelo takes greater control over her life, the past is no longer a burden. Rather, the dark times in her history are shown to have helped develop her strength and resilience in a context where loss, pain, and death are uncomfortably familiar.
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Futhi Ntshingila is the author of Shameless (UKZN Press, 2008) and Do Not Go Gentle (Modjaji Books, 2014).
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Danielle Faye Tran is currently based at Brunel University London as an Academic Skills Advisor having taught academic writing and language at undergraduate and postgraduate level. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and her interests include postcolonial literature and teaching and learning in HE.
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novel with twists and turns revealing the circle of life
Do not go gentle: A novel
Futhi Ntshingila
Do not go gentle' is a novel with twists and turns revealing the circle of life, showing the current South Africa where survival has brought in people from all walks of life whether, American, Zimbabwean, Afrikaans, Zulu, white or black. It is a mosaic South African story. Each character has a story to tell and life has conspired to ensure that their journeys collide. While all is not certain, what is certain is birth and death. The interesting bits happen in between these two definite facts of life.
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Ntshingila has not written a gloomfest here. Her characters – Thandiwe, Zonke who is her childhood friend and narrator, and Kwena, the young documentary film maker who wants to tell Thandiwe’s story – are feisty, determined young women, making their own choices in life and living with, even relishing, the consequences of those choices.
Shameless by Futhi Ntshingila PDF Print E-mail
Saturday, 12 April 2008 09:51
Futhi Ntshingila introduces her central character, Thandiwe, in the first sentence of her novel with the words: “Thandiwe has been shot”. And then we learn that Thandiwe is a prostitute, working the mean streets of Yeoville. Her life has been hard after her brief carefree childhood in rural Mpumuza came to an abrupt end with the death of her mother in an accident. And things would only get worse – abuse, poverty and then the destruction of her community by the violence of the late 1980s in KZN.
But Ntshingila has not written a gloomfest here. Her characters – Thandiwe, Zonke who is her childhood friend and narrator, and Kwena, the young documentary film maker who wants to tell Thandiwe’s story – are feisty, determined young women, making their own choices in life and living with, even relishing, the consequences of those choices. Kwena, talking to Thandiwe, says her aim is to tell the stories of South Africa with dignity, and that seems to be Ntshingila’s motivation as well.
First published in The Witness.
The characters are appealing, strong young women. Their lives have been tough, but not without humour, and even if the routes they choose are roundabout, you are left feeling that they will get where they want to go, and reach their undoubted potential.
In places the writing is a little uneven, and the changes in time between present and past are sometimes abrupt, but these are minor faults in what is a novel to be lauded, telling a South African story in an assured, concise voice. Let’s hope we will be hearing a lot more from Futhi Ntshingila in the future.
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This is a well written, convincing portrait of a “lady of the night’ from an inside view – more importantly, the author is a woman and avoids the usual prurience and focus on the physical pleasure a male author would normally dish out. This is more of a psychological work tracing the antecedents of the protagonist; and the view of Kwena late on (as per her documentary on Thandiwe) in this work is also moving
THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2013
SHAMELESS (Book) By Futhi Ntshingila
Book: SHAMELESS
Author: Futhi Ntshingila
Publisher: University of KwaZulu Natal Press
Review by Omoseye Bolaji
Is there a dearth of emerging talented South African female (Black) writers; or perhaps the spotlight is not being shed enough on scintillating young (or younger) talent in this wise? I pondered this after reading a short novel by Futhi Ntshingila titled Shameless.
Decades ago, Nigeria’s Cyprian Ekwensi published his superb work, Jagua Nana which focuses on a prostitute and her desperations. But nowadays it appears even prostitutes have their pride; and the main protagonist of the novel Shameless, Thandiwe, despite selling herself, has patent confidence in herself. This does not prevent her from being subjected to the usual perils prostitutes face of course:
“Prostitutes disappear and their dead bodies are found decomposing in the alleys of Hillbrow…some have died horrible deaths in the penthouses of rich men who put their beautiful bodies in black rubbish bags. They ferry them in the dead of the night to Hillbrow bridges, only to be found by the hobos living in the underworld. Often the bodies are found as remains half-eaten by maggots”
(page 27)
There are three quite perceptive female voices here (in this work) though: Thandiwe herself, Zonke, who chronicles much of what the reader absorbs here; and the assiduous Black female “ambitious” film-maker, Kwena. But the emphasis is on Thandiwe, what makes her tick, her background, her profession and how she survives being almost killed in the end (shot by a jealous client, as it were)
Thandiwe unashamedly explains how she “pleases” men: “I am their priestess; I hear their deepest darkest confessions and I give them the absolution that no regular priest can”. ‘After their heavenly absolution from her, they feel satisfied yet empty, in need of another fix.’
Shedding more detail on her life as a prostitute, Thandiwe goes further: “Dickson became my second client. He hated me and yet, routinely, without fail he came for his fix at Sipho’s flat every Wednesday lunch hour. I think he bragged to his friends because soon I was picking up more clients at their parties…”
Reminiscing on Thandiwe's roots, we read: “To this day, the smell of cow dung reminds me of home. We would follow the cows in the morning and wait for them to shit and we would scoop their warm green shit and pile it up in a bucket. We would get home, sweep the floor, mix the crap with water and smear it all over, making patterns with the sides of our hands, leaving a fresh smell of green,”
(page 35)
We also glimpse how Zonke and Thandiwe became very close. “She saw me watching and her uncle saw her looking at the window. He got distracted, turned to look at me and that’s when it happened. That was the moment Thandiwe and I became blood sisters. It was quick as lightning…”
(Page 42)
And how film-maker, Kwena, bonds with Thandiwe later on: “When the filming is finished Kwena breaks into tears and holds onto Thandiwe. She sobs like a little girl. Thandiwe feels her pain and does what she sometimes does with her sad clients…”
Literary allusions are here in this work, though well modulated. For example on page 51: “At school we were studying Macbeth, and I worried that maybe Thandiwe was going to be like Lady Macbeth now, racked with guilt. She would have visions of bloody hands that could never be clean again…”
West Africans will be pleased to see the (partial) first hand knowledge the author has of food…at a Cameroonian eatery in Yeoville. “They both ask for fried bananas (plantain) and peanut butter spinach”
This is a well written, convincing portrait of a “lady of the night’ from an inside view – more importantly, the author is a woman and avoids the usual prurience and focus on the physical pleasure a male author would normally dish out. This is more of a psychological work tracing the antecedents of the protagonist; and the view of Kwena late on (as per her documentary on Thandiwe) in this work is also moving:
“She said Thandiwe had taught her to push past her fears and her shame – shame about her career and her choices, her life, friends and family – and be the best possible person she could be…the shameless ones are free from illusions. They have mourned the loss of innocence. They choose survival in the periphery’
POSTED BY ERIC AT 11:36 PM
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gut- wrenching novel
the characters are convincing and I became immersed in their lives. There is a different sort of authenticity at play when the writer knows the community of which she writes.
A book worth reading.
Do Not Go Gentle by Futhi Ntshingila is a gut- wrenching novel. It tells the story of Zola and Mvelo, a mother and daughter with no resources struggling to survive in Mkhumbane township. I had no idea that this place I know as Cato Manor has a Zulu name. (I drove past it this morning and smiled to think I had just learnt something new about a place near which I have lived for years).
Mvelo is raped by a pastor. The language used to describe the horror of rape is so apt. Without any graphic detail which could possibly sensationalise the act, the writer focuses on the effects. The rapist “plunged hurriedly and brutally tearing her world and her illusions to pieces”. Those words rip into me and I feel the pain of this fourteen year old girl with the sole responsibility of nursing her mother, “the one that is sick with the three letters”. She wants to hide it from her mother but Zola knows “that something terrible and ferocious had touched her daughter’s soul”.
The way FN writes about Zola, both when she is alive and afterwards at her funeral gives a face and a personality to the anonymity of AIDS. We get to know her as a rounded human being who has touched many lives in her own way, who has loved and been loved, been rejected and hurt, who has beliefs and idiosyncrasies that are unique to her. For example, she is terrified about being buried in a coffin and begs her daughter to ensure that she is buried in a blanket. Apart from really enjoying getting to know these characters, I also think reading a book like this gives the reader a different perspective and can help in breaking down the typical prejudices that exist towards people such as shack dwellers and aids sufferers.
After Zola’s funeral, the narrative goes back to when Zola was at school and all that transpired in her life. Sipho is a major player both in her life and too many other womens’ lives. Noncebo, one of these women, is another fascinating, strong-willed character who often thinks very differently from those around her and is not afraid to speak her mind. There are many strong women in this book; women in dire straits who nevertheless display great courage and strength of character.
Possibly some of the characters are a little preachy, as if the writer is using a character to put across views she holds. I do not mind this because I like to know different ways of looking at things that are counter to the dominant narrative. For example, Nonceba lectures Sipho about wanting to send Mvelo to a private school as she believes it would be better for her to go to a township school. She says, “why pay thousands of rands for fees, transport, endless field trips and even salaries for private tutors when you can fix a school here”.
Perhaps too, some of the coincidences and revelations are a little too convenient though, after such a harrowing narrative, a little redemption does not go amiss. Despite this, the characters are convincing and I became immersed in their lives. There is a different sort of authenticity at play when the writer knows the community of which she writes.
A book worth reading.