‘There are local teenage novels full of rape and resentment, and before
you’re halfway through you know the end is going to be bitter sad. There
are other stories echoing the “real” township South Africa, but aching
to end happily with hope for the future. And now there is The
rules by Dianne Case. She doesn’t shrink from any of the reality,
from gang-war killing, bloody dog-fights, school vandalism, theft,
poverty, even Auntie whose shortage of proper toilet paper gives her
“the best-read bum in the world”. Relentless compelling storytelling of sheer style.
Characters springing to life (and often to despair). I trust that this
excellent youth novel will have the impact it deserves.’
