The Blessed Girl

By: Angela Makholwa

Narrated by: Zuzu Robinson

Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

Young, beautiful, and ambitious, Bontle Tau has Johannesburg wrapped around her finger. Her generous admirers are falling over themselves to pay for her Mercedes, her penthouse, and her Instagrammable holidays. It's a long way from the neighborhood she started out in, and it's been far from easy. 

Along with making sure she always looks fabulous - because people didn't sacrifice their lives in the freedom struggle for black women to wear the same cheap T-shirts they wore during apartheid - Bontle's also hustling to get her business off the ground. And if that wasn't enough, her ex is still refusing to sign their divorce papers. It's not that she stopped loving him; he was just so stubborn about wasting his medical degree on treating the poor. 

Yes, Bontle gets the blues from time to time - who doesn't? - and the shrink keeps wanting to talk about a past she's put firmly behind her, but what she doesn't think about can't hurt her, can it?

©2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Rich characters and story

An upbeat story, but not a simple one. The main character is layered and complex and she shows us a few realities of South African life, especially for women and children. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
The only drawback was the accent and pronunciation of the narrator. It is really jarring to have to listen to a South African story read in a put on South African voice.

Phenomenal

The book is an eye-opener and really gets the audience to understand the life of blessers and blessees. It is a wonderful book and I'm glad there wasn't a lot of vernacular because the narrator struggled with the some Zulu words. Either than that, fantastic book.

Great read ... ++ witty sense of humor!

Rich story .. fascinating twists and surprises and engaging characters. Loved every bit!
Between the lines ,words and characters she speaks to the truth of urban culture in Africa and makes us aware of the relationship between money , resources , culture ,sexuality and the urban hustle !

Excellent read

I enjoyed every line, every page, every chapter of this book!!! Thank you for a beautiful Southern African story.

Well written. Terrible narration.

The author opens up the world of blessers and blessees with all it's pros and cons in a beautifull well written witty way. Bontle's story is one that many young women can relate to and learn from. It is too bad that the narration makes it painful to listen to. The narrator has put on an assumed African accent which completely takes away the authentic South African narrative and feel of the story. In places the accent even changes and becomes more Asian, if I wasn't interested in the story I would have stopped listening after the first two lines. Also the narrator could have tried to learn the proper pronunciation of some of the South African slang words, like how she says Merss for Merc (short for Mercedes Benz) instead of Merck as South Africans say it. How mxm is a sound and not maxim. Just a little research would have gone a long way.

Make sure you sample first...

I couldn’t listen to this narrative. I’m usually tenacious when I find it a struggle to get in on a book... but found this narrative too distracting and unappealing. I love South Africa and thought I would be transformed to the feel of the place but this just wasn’t happening.