Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Unavailable
Hum If You Don't Know the Words: A Novel
Unavailable
Hum If You Don't Know the Words: A Novel
Unavailable
Hum If You Don't Know the Words: A Novel
Audiobook14 hours

Hum If You Don't Know the Words: A Novel

Written by Bianca Marais

Narrated by Katharine McEwan and Bahni Turpin

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Perfect for readers of The Secret Life of Bees and The Help, a perceptive and searing look at Apartheid-era South Africa, told through one unique family brought together by tragedy.

Life under Apartheid has created a secure future for Robin Conrad, a ten-year-old white girl living with her parents in 1970s Johannesburg. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband's death. Both lives have been built upon the division of race, and their meeting should never have occurred...until the Soweto Uprising, in which a protest by black students ignites racial conflict, alters the fault lines on which their society is built, and shatters their worlds when Robin's parents are left dead and Beauty's daughter goes missing.

After Robin is sent to live with her loving but irresponsible aunt, Beauty is hired to care for Robin while continuing the search for her daughter. In Beauty, Robin finds the security and family that she craves, and the two forge an inextricable bond through their deep personal losses. But Robin knows that if Beauty finds her daughter, Robin could lose her new caretaker forever, so she makes a desperate decision with devastating consequences. Her quest to make amends and find redemption is a journey of self-discovery in which she learns the harsh truths of the society that once promised her protection.

Told through Beauty and Robin's alternating perspectives, the interwoven narratives create a rich and complex tapestry of the emotions and tensions at the heart of Apartheid-era South Africa. Hum If You Don't Know the Words is a beautifully rendered look at loss, racism, and the creation of family.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 11, 2017
ISBN9781524775636
Unavailable
Hum If You Don't Know the Words: A Novel
Author

Bianca Marais

Bianca Marais is the author of the beloved Hum If You Don't Know the Words and If You Want to Make God Laugh (Putnam, 2017 and 2019). She teaches at the University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies where she was awarded an Excellence in Teaching Award for Creative Writing in 2021. A believer in the power of storytelling in advancing social justice, Marais runs the Eunice Ngogodo Own Voices Initiative to empower young Black women in Africa to write and publish their own stories, and is constantly fundraising to assist grandmothers in Soweto with caring for children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. In 2020, Marais started the popular podcast, The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, which is aimed at helping emerging writers become published. She's an experienced public speaker who is in great demand for various events. Marais lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Related to Hum If You Don't Know the Words

Related audiobooks

Literary Fiction For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Hum If You Don't Know the Words

Rating: 4.13679230754717 out of 5 stars
4/5

106 ratings42 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love this book. Robins parents are killed in the Soweto student uprisings in 1979. Unable to care for her because of her travel schedule, Robins aunt enlists the services of Beauty, a Soweto resident to care for her niece. The two come from completely different worlds yet form a closer relationship that gets them through some difficult days. Bianca handles such difficult issues as racism and economic inequality so beautifully. She is an amazing writer and I look forward to reading more of her work.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "If people didn’t come in the right colors, how would we know who to be scared of?"Hum If You Don’t Know the Words took place in 1970s Johannesburg, South Africa, during Apartheid rule. When nine-year-old Robin Conrad’s parents are tragically killed, she is sent to live with her aunt who, though loves her niece dearly, chooses to keep her job as a flight attendant. In her absence, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman from a rural village, cares for Robin as she searches for her own daughter after the Soweto Uprising. Told through alternating perspectives, both Robin and Beauty find in the other what they desperately craved – love, acceptance, security, and family. It’s very hard to put into words exactly how beautiful this book was (which is probably why I’ve been sitting on this review for the past few weeks). I loved both character’s perspectives about their lives and commentaries on race, family, and their desire to be happy.Young Robin was so innocent and naïve, yet so willing to help others. She was curious about the world and didn’t always realize the privilege she was born with. It was interesting to see the forces of nature versus nurture when it came to her views on racism: namely, her parents had always hinted at the differences between the two races – whites and blacks – so, as a young and impressionable girl, those thoughts became ingrained in her subconsciousness. However, when under the care of her Aunt Edith and Beauty, she began to see the world a little differently:"Besides, no matter how much I studied the bathroom and the cups and plates, I couldn’t see anything different about them after Beauty had used them. It seemed they were in no way tarnished or tainted by her tough. It was confusing because my mother had been so adamant about Mabel never using our things that I was sure she dirtied them in a way that could never be cleaned."Beauty, on the other hand, was both strong and determined in her quest to find her daughter who went missing after the Soweto Uprising. Although she did not agree with her daughter’s view that a violent overthrow of the government was the way to take power away from the white minority, she loved her daughter and only wanted to see her safely home. On the way, she meets Robin and forms a relationship with the girl filled with curiosity and grows to love and care for her.“Fear is not a weakness, you know.”“What?”“You do not need to shout at your sister because she is afraid. Fear is what makes us human and it is in overcoming fear that we show our strength.”“Brave people don’t get scared.”“I do not agree with you. I think that brave people do get scared and what makes them strong is admitting their weakness and learning to accept it while still carrying on regardless.”Hum If You Don’t Know the Words was a powerful story about hope and redemption, about triumph and overcoming fear, and about two people from seemingly different walks of life learning to love each other like family.Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP (Putnam) for a copy of this eBook in exchange for an honest review.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Actual rating: 4.5 Stars

    "I didn't know what to say in a world where people were hated and attacked for not being the right color, not speaking the right language, not worshipping the right god or not loving the right people; a world where hatred was the common language, and bricks, the only words."
    Bianca Marais, Hum If You Don't Know the Words

    Hum If You Don't Know the Words is beautifully written and will stay with me for a long time. In this debut novel, Marais addresses race, class, and loss in apartheid-era South Africa in the 70s. The novel took me on an emotional and (at times) heartbreaking journey. However, it also made me smile along the way. Nine-year-old Robin is not your typical kid. She is articulate, perceptive and also quite the snoop. Growing up, Robin has been taught blacks are inferior and “bad” people. She knows bad black men were responsible for the brutal murder of her parents. Thankfully, Beauty shows up and proves otherwise. Beauty provides the love, patience, and attention Robin has been seeking all of her young life. Although the book’s main point is mostly about Beauty and Robin’s lives, don’t get it twisted, it also shows how life in apartheid South Africa created a destructive and extremely harsh life for black Africans. This is the first novel I have read about South Africa and apartheid, but it will definitely not be my last. If you would like to get an inkling about life in South Africa in the 70s, I highly recommend this impressive and well-written novel. Oh, and once you read it, you'll understand the meaning of the owl and parrot on the cover. :-)

    Thank you to Edelweiss and G.P. Putnam's Sons for an arc of the book in exchange for an honest review. It was an honor!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I was too young during the Apartheid years to want to follow what was happening in the news, but I do remember hearing about it. Still, I had little idea of what the people of South Africa were experiencing and little knowledge of the African culture. Author Bianca Marias brings the events of Apartheid during the 1970’s into focus with a bittersweet story that gives readers perspective from several viewpoints.With Beauty, readers are given a window into what it means to be an educated black woman in South Africa. I was surprised to find that she was not allowed to travel out of her village unless she was working or had papers giving permission. Also, blacks were under a curfew and could be arrested if found on the streets after curfew. The most shocking of all was what happened when an ambulance was called during a health crisis and the paramedics just left the patient without treating or transporting them to a hospital simply because the patient was black.Robin, a ten-year old who has lost both parents to a brutal murder, is trying to navigate her new life as an orphan while living with her aunt Edith. Edith is a flight attendant and party girl who chose the single, childless lifestyle and is having problems adjusting to the responsibility of caring for a child.Through Robin’s eyes, readers see a more equal and compassionate world. With the innocence of the child, readers are shown what people the world over have yet to learn. Where Beauty is the character that is steady as a rock, Robin is the character who brings the fireworks to the story. With Robin’s mischievous, yet loving personality, she makes thing happen in a big way. Marias has tackled a tough subject and managed to bring both tears and smiles to readers as she gives an account what it was like to live through apartheid in South Africa. I enjoyed the book and it has prompted me to want to read more about South Africa.Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for allowing me to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the best book I've read in a long time!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "Night settles swiftly. If you are vigilant, and not prone to distractions, you can almost feel the very moment daylight slips through your fingers and leaves you clutching the inky sap that is the sub-Saharan night. It is a sharp exhalation at the closing of day, a sigh of relief." That is South Africa. Unfortunately, South Africa could also be described during Apartheid as: "There is a river of blood in the street and the children are floating in it. They lie in unnatural shapes, limbs bent at awkward angles. Some of them are face-down, drowning, while others lie on their backs gazing up at the sky; they are human debris swept along in a flood of distraction."This was a moving story told from the alternating points of view of two South Africans in 1976/7 who were trying to maintain their families. Robin Conrad was a nine year old white girl whose parents were killed in Boksburg, Johannesburg, South Africa by some black men after a peaceful student demonstration turned into a riot. Robin was taken in by her aunt Edith who was her only relative. Edith was a flight attendant who did not easily give up her child-free life. Beauty Mbali was a black 49 year old teacher who had to leave her two young sons, Luxolo and Khwezi, behind to try to rescue her teenaged daughter, Nomsa, in Johannesburg where she had gone to be educated in Soweto. Nomsa disappeared after the riots and Beauty refused to go home until she found her. Beauty didn't have permission to be in Johannesburg and didn't have the proper identity papers, so she needed to find work taking care of Robin while Edith traveled. I liked learning a little about life in South Africa during Apartheid. The Afrikaners had not gotten over losing the Boer War to the British, who had imprisoned Afrikaners in concentration camps. The British and Afrikaners may not have liked each other very much, but they were united in their hatred of blacks, Jews and homosexuals. As Robin spent time with Edith and Beauty she learned that blacks, Jews and homosexuals are actually human beings too, which seems to have been a difficult concept for most South Africans. The chapters from the point of view of Beauty seemed slightly more realistic as she risked her life to relentlessly search for her daughter and at the same time developed a loving relationship with Robin. The Robin chapters were most believable when they dealt with her grief, loneliness, fears and love of Beauty. They were less believable when she turned into a miniature Nancy Drew and carried out her own investigations. Overall however, I really liked these characters, so much so that I want to know what happened to them after the book ended.I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Beautiful. Language, descriptions, inner beauty of Beauty and Robin (although Robin seems much older than her years.)Set in the '70s just before the Soweto uprising. Obviously, I was too engrossed with other events to have realized what had happened then. With so much press re:Black Lives Matter, this story may help both sides to realize that one can't continually blame another group of people for what happens in their own life.Hopeful is how it ends, which may be idealistic, but not impossible.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A book of unbearable loss, grief, sad and yet for the most part beautiful as well. South Africa apartheid, the Soweto uprising and a nine year old white girl caught up in the terror, as well as a Nineteen year old black girl who wants to fight for the cause. This book is another that presented me with a conundrum. Loved the character of Robin, she provides most of the humor in her young innocence. Humor mixed with sadness as she has lost both her parents to murder on the night of the uprising. She now lives with her aunt, a childless flight attendant who is away quite often. Enter Beauty, a fifty year old black women who has left her sons, and come to find her daughter, who was part of the uprising. She is now Robin's main caretaker as she searches for her daughter.There are some colorful support characters as well, a gay couple, a Jewish family with a young son Robin's age.The above which presented me with another slight nudge from my inner critic, maybe too stereotypical? Too much, too obvious. Yet, I did love the characters, all of them. Then we come to the last part of the stories and here I was presented with a loud voice from said critic. Too over the top, too smaltzy, way too obvious the authors agenda, and too unrealistic. Robin in that type of situation would probably never have survived. This author quit trusting her readers and just laid it all out there in some unbelievable occurrences. Please understand I liked this book, for the most part. I learned much I didn't know about this part of the world and it's past, for most of the book I was leaning toward a higher rating, but the end of the book.....just too obvious for me to overlook.ARC from publisher.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "?here I am, sitting in one of the pews of the Regina Mundi church in Rockville--the largest Roman Catholic Church in South Africa--and all around me is proof of the attack that took place here three days ago? How is that the apartheid government claims to be such a religious government? How can they assert that South Africa is a Christian state when its police officers attempt murder in a church? What kind of men fire bullets at terrified children in a house of God?" (97)Those are the words of Beauty in 1976 when she learns that her teen-age daughter, who went to Johannesburg for an education, is one of the missing after the Soweto Uprising where many young people were injured and several dozen lost their lives. She leaves her sons behind and makes the arduous journey to the city where Nomsa disappeared. The same night of the Uprising 9-year-old Robin loses both of her parents in a senseless act of violent retribution. The book alternates between the stories of Robin and Beauty in a very personal story of what it was like to live in an atmosphere of distrust and hate for people of different races. To complicate matters, I learned that eleven different languages were in common use in South Africa which influenced the title.I expected to love this book but was ultimately disappointed when Robin's story took over the book and became a girl-detective Nancy Drew type of book. I kept looking to make sure I wasn't reading a story written for young adults. Her thoughts and actions were quite advanced for her age and would probably be enjoyed by a middle school reader. The ending became a series of coincidences that had me shaking my head. It was a quick read and I did like the idea and Beauty's story, but I wish I had done more due diligence before I read it as it wasn't really my kind of book after all.Edit More
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In 1970's South Africa, Robin is waiting to turn ten. White and privileged, she knows little about the world around her. When her parents are killed, Robin's life is turned upside down. Beauty, a Xhosa woman, travels to Johannesburg after receiving a letter than her daughter is in trouble. Arriving amidst a riot, she looks frantically for her daughter, unable to find her. Beauty is forced to hide, because she does not have travel papers. Robin's Aunt, a stewardess, hires Beauty to look after Robin, hoping the arrangement will suite all of them.I thought this was a fascinating story. I have read very few books that take place during this era and found the black and white relationships and dichotomy interesting. I did think that Robin came across as much younger than nine. The book also needed an epilogue, it seemed unfinished. Overall, well worth reading, highly recommended.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was one of my favorite movies before I knew it was a book. It was a pleasure to find more characters who were not in the screenplay and more depth and details. Richard Russo write so well of small ailing towns. I had read and enjoyed Empire Falls several years ago. But with this one I don't know if I would have understood the warmth and humor as well if I hadn't seen the characters portrayed in the movie. I might have found it kind of depressing.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is one of the few cases where I recommend seeing the movie first, because the casting is perfect and helps you enjoy the book even more. Russo's one of our best American writer and Nobody's Fool is him at the top of his form.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I had never read this book by Russo. His depiction of human nature is so on the mark without getting maudlin and preachy. I really hated to come to the end of the book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    How did I ever get to the age of 64 without encountering the novels of Richard Russo? I'd seen them on the bookshelves, but there's LOTS of books on the shelves.NOBODY'S FOOL seems to be a typical Russo novel. Incredibly vivid characters whom the reader comes to more deeply appreciate as the pages turn. And the occasional absolutely hilarious incident.Highly recommended for all ages.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Heartbreaking. Hilarious. Occasionally crude. This was a powerfully raw and heartfelt rendering of small town life in upstate New York. Mr. Russo did a fine job with this one. Recommended.

    "Make 'em PAY!"
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Richard Russo - writer extraordinaire. He always keeps me pinned to each page without fast paced action or drama, just great characterization, dialog and wit.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What to say about the practically perfect book? If you saw the movie - go read the book it is so much better. I would get lost in the story and start thinking these were people I actually knew. If every writer were like Richard Russo I'd have to quit my job and move into the library!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I never thought I'd see the day when I'd bail on a Richard Russo book. I love his writing and his slice of life in small town stories are great. However, this novel is slow to develop- maybe that's intentional, since upstate New York doesn't sound very 'happening'.

    The main character in Nobody's Fool, Sully, is a likable ne'er-do-well and the rest of the characters are interesting. I think that's the crux of my problem with this book, and I freely admit it may just be specific to me...... Jim Harrison wrote a collection of novellas and novels about a character called Brown Dog, a pseudo-Indian from Michigan's Upper Peninsula who is pretty much the same guy as Sully, only an order of magnitude funnier and more interesting. As I told my wife, I chuckled several times while reading about Sully, but Brown Dog will make a reader laugh out loud. That's hard to do with the written word..... I just couldn't get past the comparisons.

    Anyway, it's probably just me but Nobody's Fool didn't cut it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sully, a guy who lives life by his own code and does what he wants. Still has a heart of gold despite his rough exterior. The characters are interesting and all have their own faults that each other knows about and uses to tweak each other at times.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I decided to try this book when I read the synopsis and it mentioned slyly funny. I love a book that can make you laugh even under the saddest circumstances. Richard Russo does just that in Nobody's Fool. Poor Sully, the main character, can't catch a break in life; although, truth be told, he never tried very hard. He shuffles along on his bad knee attempting to make a living, deal with family, and solve his love life. Things keep falling apart on him, but through it all, he has a good heart that shines through.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    One of my favorite bits of this book was the repeated use of the phrase, "star of my firmament."
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Richard Russo has such a fluid style, and his characters are so believable (to me, anyway). I like how Russo takes what could be "type" characters and makes them multi-dimensional. Nobody's Fool doesn't have a complicated plot--it doesn't knock your socks off the way Empire Falls does, but it's a good read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Donald Sullivan, nickname Sully, is 60 years old and resides in an upper-floor apartment of a house owned by Beryl Peoples. She is in her 80s, a retired 8th-grade English teacher. These are the two main characters of the book, who, even with all their warts, the reader becomes enamored with, mostly. I add that qualifier because I did get somewhat frustrated with Sully's poor decisions that continually landed him in hot water. But in the end, he does the right thing and redeems himself. This is a character-driven book where the characters are dealing with the day-to-day struggles of life in a small town with a dying economy. I wouldn't say this is my favorite Russo book, but it is Russo! His books are always worth the time to read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Sully is one of my favorite all time literary characters.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love all Richard Russo's books, but to me this is his best, Well developed characters, so funny. The characters are memorable even now, many years after reading it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Small town life a la Russo. Good characters and well written.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is almost a definition of a perfect 'good read'. It's like listening to a warm hearted teller of stories, someone you would be addicted to as a guest, especially around a dinner table. Inconsequential things go on in all our lives, and Russo seems to know all about us. He reminds me a bit of Garrison Keillor. But not really, because he's emphatically his own voice. A charming and beguiling writer.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I saw the movie first, and it remains one of my favotites. The book, as always, adds much more detail and depth and is just a funny, in that sad, oh-so-familiar way.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Beautifully written story set in S. Africa during apartheid. Beauty is a black woman searching for her daughter who has gone missing. Robin is a 10-year old white girl who is now living with her aunt after the death of her parents. Her irresponsible and usually drunk aunt leaves Robin for weeks at a time, and hires Beauty to care for her. Robin initially looks down on Beauty, as this is how she has been taught. But, through the caring of others, and how they treat Beauty, as well as the love and care Beauty shows to Robin changes their lives, and brings out the true meaning of family. Lyrical and touching.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    didn't like the writing, but kept my interest1975--80, apartheid and uprising in Soweto South Africa. Two people whose lives are very different. A white, 10 yr old girl whose parents are killed by blacks at the beginning of the uprising goes to live with her aunt. jA black, educated woman from a small village has to raise her children alone after her husband dies in the mines. her daughter is in school in Soweto and gets very involved in the uprising. The black mother goes to look for her daughter. meanwhile, She becomes a "nanny" to the 10year old girl. their lives are compared and their relationship evolves--blacks & whites can learn to live together.