Childish Things: 8

In many ways, the 1970s adolescence of Mart Vermaak, almost 16, is a typical giddy swirl of Me-decade ephemera: David Bowie, disco dancing, platform shoes, halter tops. But Mart is South African, and when she's not daydreaming about boys and poring over magazines for fashion tips, she's worrying about her older brother, Simon, who's fighting in Angola with the South African Army, or coping with censorship laws that forbid her from listening to subversive music, like the soundtrack of Jesus Christ Superstar. In her second novel, South African van der Vyver--author of last year's well-received Entertaining Angels--juxtaposes the coming-of-age adventures of Mart and her best friend, Dalena, with accounts of the political turmoil of South Africa, alternating these sections with letters written by a now adult Mart, self-exiled in England. Mart's teenaged voice is exactly right, and so is her poignant tone as she looks back at her younger self from the vantage point of motherhood. Van der Vyer's simple prose attains occasional poetic flourishes as she describes the monotony of life at a Lowveld boarding school or details the anguish of Dalena's unwanted pregnancy. Though at times the leaps between pimples and politics feel contrived, Mart's awareness of the world around her sets her apart from many solipsistic teen heroines. In introducing political realities into the private traumas of adolescence, van der Vyver brings a thoughtful and refreshing perspective to teenage angst. (Aug.)