Themba

by Lutz van Dijk

Recently made into an award-winning film, Themba (meaning hope) tells the story of a young South African boy who realizes his dream of playing for the national soccer team but must come to terms with AIDS that has infected both his mother and himself.

Genres: Young Adult

Paperback

First published September 30, 2008

About the author

bis 1992: Lutz van Dick

Reviews

[Boomerang · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have a teenage boy who likes playing football and you want to get him to read, try this book.
It's about a boy in South Africa who is mad keen on football and makes it to the premier league. Along the way there's heartbreak and pain, a lot of growing up and discovery about who to trust and how to look after yourself.
It says the author runs a charity for AIDS victims in South Africa and inevitably, there are characters in the novel who suffer from this disease and are unwittingly affected - bringing a healthy dose of reality to teenage boys who tend to think they are immortal and will never catch a sexually transmitted disease - let them be warned as they dream of bending it like Beckham.

[Jakob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bringing attention to the topic of HIV and the stigmata assigned to it is all fine and a worthy cause but what’s going on with that weird sexualized relationship between Themba and his sister? That is not necessary in the least for the story but feels like a white author is getting some kick out of having his underage black protagonists touch each other in not appropriate ways.
Apart from that the writing style is inconsistent and infantilistic. On purpose? Maybe but not convincing.
The story idea is fine but the realization is poor and therefore can’t rate highly as a book.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐. Ik that this book talks about important themes. But it was just quite boring written. Maybe if I was older I'd enjoy this book more but I'm not so I didn't. Still a good read (I mean it was a book I read for school so...). But the ending??????? I did not read this whole book to get this mf ending?

[Thando Sithole · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far so good