The novel Welcome to Our Hillbrow, was very interesting. It demonstrates what life is like in Hillbrow. It addresses issues such as suicide, aids, violence, prostitution and seduction. Although its about these serious issues the way the book is written makes it easy and enjoyable to read. It takes us on a journey through the story of why Refentse committed suicide, how Refilew dealt with Refentse suicide and why Lerato, Bohale and Sammy all did what they did.

This book is written in a very unique way. There are many different perspectives in this book, which help us understand better the different points of view of the characters. All of the characters are connected so the story flows well together. Since there are so many perspectives in the story its like the reader is getting the real deal unbiased story. We see everyone’s side of the story and can make our own judgments based on that.

For example, in the story Lerato cheats on Refentse with his close friend Sammy. We first see this from Refentse point of view and we automatically start assuming the worse about Letato. But then we see it from her point of view and we find out that the only reason it happeed was because she was seeking help from Bohale to help her relationship. Refentse was acting detached but she didn’t know why. Then we see from Refentse point of view that he had a reason for acting detached.

The book uses this same sort of back and forth style through out the entire book. It was very interesting to see how this sort of style came together. I have read other books where some authors try to do this but it often ends up being confusing. In this novel Phaswane MPE did a very good job at making everything flow together. It isn’t confusing or overwhelming. The book constantly changes perspectives but to give clarity to the reader as to why the characters do the things that they do. It switches from different characters perspectives to and omniscient perspective, where the narrator knows everything that is going on. Overall, I feel that the author did a great job at telling this story by using the different perspectives.