Luntu Masiza Tells The Truth

​Author: Penny Lorimer
Publisher: Tafelberg
Reviewer: Hazel Makuzeni
This book was awarded the Silver Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature 2021 for very good reasons. It is completely engrossing. The style of writing is refreshingly fun, young and with no limits. It captured my imagination from page one and the more I read, the more I fell head over heels in love with the main character, Luntu Masiza. It’s really not hard to love the teenage boy even though he does 

misbehave badly in some circumstances.
It all starts with sixteen-year-old Luntu been given a holiday project by his teacher, Mr Bali Silal. The assignment: Luntu must write his life story. This, according to his teacher, will help improve his writing skills and his English, teach him how history is recorded and may encourage even deeper self-exploration. Great you say. Not according to Luntu who believes that the assignment is boring and a waste of time. Not when he should be enjoying his July holidays in peace and preparing for the year’s final terms. “It is not matric, it’s true, but all the teachers say that Grade 11 is the most important academic year. Matric is just revision!” he protests.
The first time Luntu met Mr Bali it’s after the Easter holidays, on his first Term 2 Grade 10 English Class. Mr Bali, having taken over from Ms Clare “who left to have a baby”, is his new English and history teacher. He is also his new class teacher. Luntu was not aware of this when he and a friend entered the classroom. “Hey, who is this mophead?” are the first words Luntu uttered. It was downhill from there on. He disagreed with his teacher almost daily. You see, Luntu was loved by all his teachers and had never been challenged before. He enjoyed success and excelled in public speaking. He joined the debating club and in Grade 9 was his class representative on the Student Leadership Council. He was even entrusted to show visitors and funders around the school. All this changed when Mr Bali arrived. And they were at loggerheads as the new teacher saw right through him. That he was all a big act.
What makes the book fun and an easy read is its format. You are reading Luntu’s daily email to his teacher. And each day he covers a different subject. Why Do We Study History? Secrets of The Female Body, Revealed. Romance Is Dead. Mr Bali Loses His Cool. These are some of his colourful topics. He does his writings at an “internet café” which is basically a container filled with computers where one pays money to use one of them. From his daily entries you get to see who this young man is and his struggles. He lost his mother at a young age. He doesn’t know who his father is. He lives with his blind gogo and they survive on her grant and the special grant he gets for being an orphan. He goes to Walter Sisulu High School – a school where most learners manage to pass their matric, unlike other township schools where many fail. He has big dreams for himself but he’s also longing for a father.
The book covers some of the pressing issues faced by many teenagers in this country. It’s frank on teen love and life. It talks about sex, teenage pregnancy, sugar daddies, HIV/Aids, poverty, peer pressure and death. If you manage to get your hands on the book, please read the entry with the subject: The Power of Hair. I caught myself Laughing Out Loud. It’s a thin book and it’s both brilliant and creative. You can’t put it down once you start reading it. ​