Thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this!

This book instantly drew me in, I really enjoyed this book and the plot. This author did amazing. I loved the writing style. I highly recommend picking this up!

This book is really poignant and important in our society today. It would be a really good book to discuss with a book club as it touches on though-provoking and controversial topics in society including, treatment of women, discussion of rape/sexual assault, and family strife/struggle. Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for a copy of this book for an honest review.

I was very interested in this book as a window into a society I know little about. On that front, I was absolutely enthralled. We have a family with relative wealth, trying to keep themselves apart from those they see as beneath them.Everything they do is weighed first on how it can elevate them and how it will be perceived by others. The narrator his fixated on her own appearance. Her brother alternates between being cool and obsessed with justice. We see the difference between their interactions with school peers and people in the neighborhood. The larger focus of the plot is on the role of girls, though. How they interact with each other and what a "good" girl will do. What she wants versus what she will let a boy do. How a girl's body is both power and a danger to her safety. This is not a comfortable read. And for those with a highly developed sense of justice, the ending may be a disappointment. BUt it is satisfying. An excellent choice for discussion with the right group.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This Book Betrays My Brother was such a good book and the narrator did an amazing job as well. Even though it's set in a South African community, it doesn't really shy away from everyday problems we see anywhere else. Boys will be boys and honestly - we are sick of it.

So it was shocking to see that Basi's mother of all people didn't hold her own son accountable for anything. Especially when it came to a possible rape. Then there's Naledi, who saw her own brother committing the horrible deed, and she was just a bystander throughout the book. I really would've liked diving into her POV more because we don't get that much from her. It definitely would've been nice to see how she coped with everything after that event instead of what we got.

In the end, it was still a good book and I'm glad that I got the chance to dive into it.

The narration of This Book Betrays My Brother is perfect. She balances the different voices well while keeping the story's narrator at the forefront of the book.

The story is complicated and not a straight line, much like real life. Our memories don't go from point a to b to c. One event reminds us of something else, and then we circle back to the present. I really enjoyed how the author wrote with this in mind.

The sister worships her brother at the same time. She tries to reconcile the problematic decisions and choices he makes. He is a mystery, he is dashing and strong and all the qualities we see in our older siblings. The listener can watch her growing up and coming of age as she tells her brother's story and what inevitably happened. I listened with a sense of dread, waiting for the shoe to drop, for him to disappear, or get into trouble, or something. The author teased and teased, which kept me listening long past when I should have stopped.

This is a book that is best suited to listening. I felt like I was sitting with the sister as she told the story, and those are the best kinds of narrators. The only confusing part, which wouldn't be confusing if I had read the book, is the very opening before the Prologue, where the narrator goes through different terms and words in the language. It took me a minute to realize that wasn't the story. I had almost shut it off because I didn't know what was going on! I am glad I stuck through it because the story itself is magical.

Although the stories are completely different, it is a similar narration style to the City Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert or Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.

I really loved the characters and the way this story is told.
The narrator for the audiobook was absolutely perfect and really brought another dimension to the book,
Many thanks to ECW Press Audio and NetGalley for the advance copy.

Sometimes, I choose a book "just because" without knowing much about it. I think it allows me to enter into the story without any expectations. It definitely worked in the case of Kagiso Lesego Molope's novel, This Book Betrays My Brother. This author was new to me, I didn't know the book was YA, and I didn't know what the story was about. So there were surprises all around.

This book takes place in South Africa and is a coming of age story of the narrator, thirteen year old Naledi. She begins by telling the reader about her brother, Basi who was born into a family of women. The fact he was a boy meant that he was adored by his family and their community. Basi could do no wrong. Naledi herself doesn't mind the attention and love he gets because she admires her older brother too.

Naledi is interested in clothes and boys and curious about sex and mostly, she looks up to her brother and watches everything he does as he hangs out with friends. They have each other's back, stick up for one another and help each other get away with things their parents wouldn't allow.

This is a family story according to Naledi, and it is not an easy one. The title itself gives away that there is a secret; there is something we are going to learn about Naledi's brother.

The writing is beautiful. The characters are complex. The story is set up to draw the reader in, drawn into the family relationships, friendships and especially the sibling relationship of Naledi and Basi. Then, Naledi witnesses her brother commit a horrifying act. This changes everything. Naledi knows the truth and is bewildered between what she observed and who she thought her brother was.

Since the story is told by Naledi, I wish that we would have been able to enter into her thought process more. Her actions are the same as a victim and she further becomes a victim because of the wrath of her family and community. It is shown, but I wish we could have had an insight to her inner thoughts especially since she was younger and had to wrap her head around what she saw and then deal with her emotions.

The themes in the book are heavy: rape culture, blame, racism, sexism, violence and gender roles. When Naledi's parents and community defend Basi, their golden child who could do no wrong, there were so many times that I was angry at their words and treatment of Naledi. The story is executed incredibly well.

This is an excellent novel to be added to the #metoomovement literature. I look forward to reading more by Molope.

Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for an audio ARC for an honest review. This book was narrated by Jacqui Du Toit. The narration added to the lyrical language.
It is not rushed and read like one sharing a family story that the listener needs to pay attention to and it's not always comfortable.

Trigger Warnings: rape culture, rape, sexism, and violence.

CW: rape, rape culture, slurs about LGBTQ

The title of this book really drew me in. Set in South Africa in the 90’s. The book is told from the point of view of Naledi. She is very close with and looks up to her brother Basi, and this story revolves around their relationship and how it changes after Naledi witnesses her brother in a disturbing act.

In some ways, this book felt very much like a coming of age for Naledi. She talks about make up, boys, and hangs out with her friends. And the way they talk about boys, the author does a really good job of depicting rape culture that is so embedded where they live and in this time. It’s isn’t called out, it just is.

Naledi keeps referring to a heinous act she witnessed her brother engage in. She accidentally watched him rape a girl he was involved with. Of course, the girl is not believed. She is blamed and shamed for what Basi did. Naledi is put in the position to either publicly corroborate the victims story, or keep it to herself to protect her brother, the golden boy.

The author exposes the depth and complexity of rape culture in this community. It isn’t unlike rape culture in the US. The sexual harassment and assault, and subsequent blame of women and young girls for their own victimization. The boys just being boys trope we’ve all heard too many times. This book makes me uncomfortable, angry, and sad. And I think that’s the point.

As you can likely tell from the title, “This Book Betrays My Brother” reveals a secret to the readers.

All her life, our protagonist, Naledi, has had a wonderful connection with her older brother, Basi. And they seemingly lead a charmed life as teens, having moved up in social class (and even a neighborhood), thanks to their father’s success in post-Apartheid South Africa.

But life is not always what it seems when you’re wealthy. There are still complicated issues to contend with.

This short story is about typical coming-of-age topics: teenage crushes, first kisses, getting to “second base,” being asked to the big dance, trying out for sport teams and sneaking around with kids from the “wrong side of the tracks.” But it’s also about more complicated, heavy issues facing young adults, including: coming out, classism, racism and rape.

The challenge for Naledi is that she witnesses her brother’s crime at the young age of 13. A brother that she’s looked up to, and that her parents and the community adores. Now she must decide whether to remain loyal or tell the truth.

Thanks to ECW Press Audio, I listened to the newly released audiobook read by the talented Jacqui Du Toit. I also followed along in a printed copy of the book, which debuted in 2018. Jacqui has a beautiful voice and her narration helped me to understand the pronunciations, accents and intonations of each character. The South African-born author, Kagiso Lesego Molope, has won several awards for her lyrical prose and Jacqui does the text justice.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4

Winner of the Ottawa Book Award, English Fiction, 2019
Named to Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2018
Named to the Globe 100, 2018
CBC Books, Top YA Pick for 2018
Named to Best Books for Kids and Teens, Fall 2018
Named to Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books, 2018