Welcome To Our Hillbrow by Phaswane Mpe is a novel written in second person narrative. The novel touches base on subjects such as violence, prostitution, suicide and HIV/Aids. Personally, what caught my true attention with the novel was the dialogue. Each character had his own voice that could be distinguished without clearly establishing who was speaking. Every character had a different story but yet they all somehow connect. In the novel, Refentse and Learto have an altercation. Through Refentse's perspective Learto was considered to be the worst thing ever because she cheated. Once the story continues, and the author begins to portray Leartos point of view, it then becomes clear why she cheated.
I feel like the novel expressed many situations that occur in real life through these characters.
Throughout the novel, Mpe chose many different angles to tell the story. One angle he chose was by telling the readers facts about Hillsbow and the xenophobia that occurs. Another angle that Mpe chose was the fact that the novel was not only written upon the characters, but also upon us as the reader. In the novel Mpe states how sweat begins to run down ones back and how ones eyes begins to dilate. Mpe speaks to us, the readers, directly as he refers to us as "you."
I think that Mpe's style of witting in this novel was a stepping stone needed to portray his approach. In my opinion Mpe tried very much to connect the reader to either, if not all, of the characters based on what each character goes through. For that same reason, I really liked the novel. Although I was unsure who exactly was telling the story, it was clear to me that the narrator had an objective yet very clear cut view of everything that was going on. The narrator never stated his opinion on the situations that occurred, yet Mpe's did a good job on making sure that the narrator knew everything that was occurring.
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