Thirteen Cents (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"Thirteen Cents" is an extraordinary and unsparing account of the coming of age of a young street child named Azure trying to make ends meet in this other side of Cape Town. Cape Town, between the postcard mountain and sea, has its own shadow-side lurking in its lap: a place of dislocation and uncertainty, dependence and desperation, destruction and survival, gangsters, pimps, paedophiles, hunger, hope and moments of happiness.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: David Philip, Publishers (November 30, 2000)
• ISBN-10: 0864863578
• ISBN-13: 978-0864863577
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,608,874 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intense & vivid short novel about a South African street hustler, January 19, 2006

By	John R. Gordon (London, London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Azure is a thirteen-year-old black youth who lives on the streets, does drugs, and earns money by having sex with predominantly white gay men. When a local drug-dealer violently initiates him into the world of the gangs Azure enters a fugue state that precipitates a journey from Cape Town up into the mountains that is also a journey deep into his psyche.

This very readable and at times genuinely disturbing book is written from the point of view of Azure with a naturalness and simplicity which conveys a young adolescent's voice convincingly without precluding the concision, elegance and accuracy that poetry can bring. His candour about his prostitution is unnerving and has an authentic feel to it, as does the author's portrayal of the violent and uncertain lives of drug-dealers and gang-members.