When I Was Bad is the memoir of a young pregnant woman who left South Africa to embark on a new life in London in the 1960s. It’s a thought-provoking insight into South African culture, and I was fascinated by the author’s experiences of living under apartheid rule.
When I Was Bad is the memoir of a young pregnant woman who left South Africa to embark on a new life in London in the 1960s. It’s a thought-provoking insight into South African culture, and I was fascinated by the author’s experiences of living under apartheid rule. Mixed-race relationships were not only frowned upon but carried the risk of death, especially if a pregnancy was involved. The author’s personal stories portrayed a strong sense of fear as she journeyed into the unknown to keep her and her baby safe, shifting from place to place until she finally became more settled. The book goes into a lot of detail, not just about her own experiences in South Africa and London, but also the political and social climates at the time and the people she met along the way. I found the narrative to be a little muddled and repetitive in places (drifting from present to past and then back again), but this could be easily tidied up with some editing to put everything into chronological order. The historical and political background chapters were very interesting, but I wondered if perhaps these would be better placed at the end of the book to keep the memoir flowing more naturally. It was the little personal details that made this memoir complete, bringing people and places to life, and I found it particularly interesting to read about the author’s experiences as an unmarried mother in London, before and after her daughter was born. I felt a sense of relief by the end knowing that she seemed to have finally found a place where she belonged.