Ja, No, Man

www.richardpoplak.com

Ja, No, Man
by Richard Poplak

"Boet," said Kevin, "there's a jazz somewhere down by the assembly hall where okes can do what they smaak, and I hear from reliable sources that it's lekker down there."

Like most children of the 1970s and 1980s, Richard Poplak grew up obsessed with pop culture. Watching The Cosby Show, listening to Guns N'Roses, and quoting lines from Mad Max movies were part of his everyday life. But in Richard's country, South Africa, censorship in the newspapers, military training at school, and different rules for different races were also just a part of everyday life. It was, as Richard says, "a different kind of normal."

Ja, No, Man articulates what it was like to live through Apartheid as a white, Jewish boy in suburban Johannesburg. Told with extraordinary humour and self-awareness, Richard's story brings his gradual understanding of the difference between his country and the rest of the world vividly to life. A startlingly original memoir that veers sharply from the quotidian to the bizarre and back again, Ja, No, Man is an enlightening, darkly hilarious, and, at times, disturbing read.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• richard
• poplak
• ja
• no
• man
• south
• africa
• apartheid
• jewish
• johannesburg

[saecobee]

Thanks for illustrating the sheltered existence of white people...we all can play a role in healing our past..I'm a 42yr old guy from Eldos..I truely admire your courage..keep going...let's continue to work toward exposing the truth while moving forward! People complain about B-BBEE without understanding what is needed to change the fate of the disenfranchised and dispossesed unemployed...I'm unemployed at the moment and am using my time to lobby for change...

[shinycrystalball]

typo....Brilliant rather

[shinycrystalball]

The video's amazing......however...the book speaks for itself....I highly recommend that you pick up "Ja no Man"...you won't be able to put it down. Brillaint writing! Honest, forthright to a "T" and genuinely funny!

[goonerfromjhb]

Ja no man, THATS a lekker video my china, not too shabby ek se.