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White Wahala
Cash Tshabalala is a notoriously brutal money-lender and snazzy dresser who operates in Scottsville, Soweto, from a kiosk he calls, ‘The Last Best Hope Financial Service’. Unashamedly violent when the need arises, Cash’s willingness to lend where reputable banks fear to tread has earned him a reluctant but steady clientele.
A chance meeting between Cash and Alasdair Nicholson, a closet drug user and only son of a fabulously wealthy white family, changes both their lives forever. Desperate for a fix, Alasdair drives to Scottsville to buy drugs, only to discover he doesn’t have enough money on him and he has to borrow what he needs from Cash. When Alasdair fails to keep his side of the transaction, Cash declares war on the Nicholson family and events spin dangerously out of control, eventually becoming a matter of national importance when populist activists step in, intent on realising their own agendas.
The conflict between Cash and the Nicholson family cleverly exposes the seeping wounds that still bedevil South African interactions two decades after the end of apartheid, forcing both communities to recognise the harsh realities of their past.
A chance meeting between Cash and Alasdair Nicholson, a closet drug user and only son of a fabulously wealthy white family, changes both their lives forever. Desperate for a fix, Alasdair drives to Scottsville to buy drugs, only to discover he doesn’t have enough money on him and he has to borrow what he needs from Cash. When Alasdair fails to keep his side of the transaction, Cash declares war on the Nicholson family and events spin dangerously out of control, eventually becoming a matter of national importance when populist activists step in, intent on realising their own agendas.
The conflict between Cash and the Nicholson family cleverly exposes the seeping wounds that still bedevil South African interactions two decades after the end of apartheid, forcing both communities to recognise the harsh realities of their past.
- GenresAfrica
312 pages, Paperback
First published November 27, 2012
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53 people want to read
About the author
Ekow Duker
4 books24 followersEkow Duker is a fiction author living and working in Johannesburg, South Africa, most notably recognised for his novel White Wahala, which was shortlisted for the European Union Literary Award in 2011/2012. Duker was born in Ghana, and educated in the United Kingdom, the United States, and France.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 17, 2024
I didn’t finish this book, but here is my reason for the two star reason:
I found it the plot hard to believe and the plot development too fast and not emotionally deep enough. I am a South African myself and was really looking forward to a a story set in SA. I think there are so many really drugs and real scenarios to explore there and this didn’t catch me.
I did enjoy the descriptive character images.
I found it the plot hard to believe and the plot development too fast and not emotionally deep enough. I am a South African myself and was really looking forward to a a story set in SA. I think there are so many really drugs and real scenarios to explore there and this didn’t catch me.
I did enjoy the descriptive character images.
May 1, 2019
"fuck it, I'm too old for this crap" Cash Tshabala. This was an enjoyable read. I needed one more chapter though....
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews