The book Kaffir Boy, written by Mark Mathabane, is a riveting autobiography that explores the life of  Mathabane and his struggle of growing up in the slums of Alexandria. The book tells of terrifying police raids, gang violence, starvation, illiteracy, and disturbing amounts of racism that come in the ugliest of ways. However, we also hear about hope, determination, and, above all, the story of a boy who started out with nothing proved to himself and everyone else around him that good things can happen and that goals can and will be eventually reached.

The book starts off with Mathabane as a small child; he is in his home when yet another police raid begins and Mark is left to fend for his siblings while his parents go into hiding. This becomes a regular occurrence for the rest of the book; his parents, particularly his father, get caught multiple times. Later in the book, Mathabane’s mother makes him start school. He hates it at first; he hates the constant work and the cruel punishments that come for breaking any slightest of rules. He is constantly ridiculed for his lack of ability to fulfill his payments for enrollment. But, towards the end of the novel, everyone realizes that Mathabane is exceptionally smart. He constantly scored above the average student and regularly ends up at the top of his class. Mathabane’s grandma begins to work as a gardener for a nice white family. When he tagged along for the first time, two doors were automatically opened: books and tennis. Mrs.Smith gave him some of her son’s old books and she also gave him an old tennis racket. The books gave a jumpstart to Mathabane’s substantial academic career and the tennis racket led to him becoming a outstanding player and meeting world-famous tennis player Stan Smith. Smith opened up Mathabane's world, which would ultimately earn him tennis scholarship to a North Carolina University, thus changing his life forever.

I highly recommend this book. The book was a very well written autobiography that was very informative and it didn't really hold back. Infact not holding back part is the only flaw of the book.
This book is very vulgar at times and things can sometimes be inappropriate, but only because we are not used to living and hearing about such brutality. Overall, Kaffir Boy is an amazing autobiography that really makes one  think about life. It truly gives a sense of constant hope and determination